Career Services hosted Tuesday a panel of seven professionals from a variety of homeland security and forensics positions — fields that require extensive training but are growing in demand.
The discussion took place Tuesday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the LSU Union Colonnade Theater.
Career Services Coordinator Cindy Seghers said panels like this one aid students in the career decision-making process.
“We wanted to give students a forum to ask everything they wanted to ask but never knew who to go to,” Seghers said.
The panel of seven first explained their occupations and then fielded a series of questions from the audience.
Homeland security overall is a growing field, said Barry Mounce, administrative assistant to the Baton Rouge fire chief.
“Where in the past we only hired 30 or 35 students, we’re projecting to hire about 60 students in 2004,” Mounce said.
Capt. Mike Edmonson of the Louisiana State Police said his department is looking to hire 50 to 100 students in the coming year.
“Retirement of employees that were hired in the ’70s is going to cause an almost complete turnover,” Edmonson said.
By hiring student workers, Edmonson said the police department is making up for the turnover but is also helping students advance toward their profession.
“For them, getting some experience and gaining contacts is the biggest part of it,” Edmonson said. “It allows them to get their foot in the door.”
Edmonson said experience is crucial in his field.
“It’s almost like we don’t have time to train people on the job,” Edmonson said. “The educational part of it needs to come before the job.”
There are a variety of majors that can tie into forensics and homeland security, said John Pine, director of LSU Disaster Science Management.
Pine encouraged students to consider minors they may not have thought of as applying to their majors.
“Think about minors that would broaden your perspective and make you more attractive to employers,” Pine said. Learning another language is an effective way to do this, he said.
Yvonne Lemoine, chief of operations at the East Baton Rouge Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness said both a degree and work experience are required to be employed by her organization.
Adam Becnel of the state police crime lab said those with a computer science degree “sit pretty well” among employers.
“With computers being everywhere, they are often the subject of the crime,” Becnel said.
Many cases require workers who are capable of extracting information from computers, as well as catching hackers and child pornographers by using computers, he said.
One student in the audience showed concern for the separation of sex in the field and the domination of military personnel in some branches of homeland security.
“Obviously, we’re looking for people with experience,” Mounce said. This experience has come primarily out of the military, he said.
“The pool to choose from has been small, but I am confident that this will change in the next few years,” Mounce said.
Forensic social worker Cecile Guin said the field of social work is prominently female, but she is seeing a growing number of male graduates entering the field.
Guin said her job, while depressing and disturbing at times, gives her a chance to help those who need it, such as death row inmates and victims of violent crimes.
“You always feel like you’re leading a meaningful life and are always doing something good for people,” she said.