Round and Round I go

The job market is a tricky thing.  As graduate from my Masters program with a Masters in Public Health in Community Health/ Environmental and Occupational Health in May of 2009, I am still facing the same issues as I was before I started my program, I have no experience and no certifications.  So what am I suppose to do? I am constantly looking at wide range of job sites like: Monster.com, USAjobs.com, Career Builder, ESH Careers, Public Health Careers.com, Job.com, jobfox.com, Linkedin.com and STL jobs Today.com and submitting applications..... and silence because my phone or e-mail box is not getting a response. So where do I go from here? What am I doing wrong? Is there something on my resume that is not appealing? Am I going about applying for these jobs inncorrectly? Currently, since I do not have enough experience in my field, I am not qualified to take my Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) exam yet or my Certifie Safety Professional (CSP).  So I am stuck once again round and round I go like a dog chasing its tail. I have yet to catch it.

Safety hits close to home

The evolution of safety in the workplace has come a long way since the 50's and 60's when my father worked for a well known gas company here in St. Louis. He was on the street department in the main crew repairing leaks on gas main and restore services to houses and businesses. On many of occasions he would have to dig ditches by hand without the use of the equipment and machinery that are available today. He did hard manual labor for all of his life up until he retired when he was 62.

During the very beginning of his employment in 1957 he on call he responded to a leaking gas line with his partner and crew. It was raining that night so everyone was in rain gear. My father was in the ditch/ hole fixing the leak when it was engulfed in flames. His partner ran for fear of catching on fire while my father was still trapped in the ditch. During those fiery moments the rain gear melted to his skin. The flames were extinguished and he was pulled from the ditch. He spent the next 2 months in the hospital recovering from 2nd to 3rd degree burns all over his eyes, hands, face and head. He had to endure many skin graphs and surgeries to mold his face back. There was fear of long term damage to his eyes and permanent loss of dexterity and use of his hands where most of the skin graphs occurred. He recovered with little lingering side effects. His face nor the rest of his body show the markings of being severely burned, which is amazing since reconstructive plastic surgery was so primitive during the 50's and 60's. After he recovered he went right back to work with his same crew.

This event occurred before my time, and it was not discussed often in my house hold because of all of the painfully memories that came with it, but it is forever engrained in my memory. In addition to the events from my family, other close families and friends who are also dealing with the illnesses from exposures to asbestos, welding and other trades during the time where workplace safety was not enforced. They too have to live and have died with the consequences of the lack of enforced workplace safety.

This experience along with others have added to my passion of wanting to create safe work environments so that workers can go home to their families at the end of each day in one piece and in good heath.

It all started on that day.......

When did my passion for this field start? It is really hard to pin point when my love for the environment and safety started. My family swears it has been since I could walk and talk. I always have had love for nature, trees and any animal I could get my hands on.

Recycling, being conscious that your actions has consequences to the environment and that we only have finite amount of resources has always been something that I talked about when I was young. I was always doodling recycle signs, the earth and "Save the ______" animal of the day or week on my notebooks during middle school and grade school. In 7th grade I had this eccentric science teacher whose was very passionate about the proper treatment of animals and taking steps to reduce pollution. We watched many videos about how human actions are degrading our environment and that animals are going extinct. We did many of fundraisers for "Save the whales, cheetahs, dolphins, polar bears",you name it we tried to save it. We did a Environmental T-shirt sale for one of our many fundraisers. I was lucky and was able to use my allowance from my very own bank account to buy a shirt from the catalog. The quote on this shirt is still a quote that I remember to this day.

"Only when the last tree is going, the last river is dammed, the last field has been paved over when we realize that we can't eat money".

During that impressionable time in your life where you absorb things like a sponge absorbs water I took in the fiery passion of my 7th grade teacher, she lit my passion for the environment that stayed strong to college. This is where I met my next inspirational person, my professor Dr. John Kramer. I took every class that I could fit in my schedule trying to absorb all of the experiences that he has been through in his career and the knowledge that he had to share in Industrial Hygiene and Environmental and Occupational Safety. He solidified my path and direction in life of wanting to become an Industrial Hygienist or Safety Professional which then led me to obtain my Masters in Public Health in Environmental and Occupational Health.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog. I decided to create this blog as another avenue that my name and resume can be found in hopes of landing a great job. I am new to the blogging world and putting yourself out on the world wide web.

I will be blogging about current topics in public health and experiences that I have had so far in the field. I also want to highlight my passion that I have for the field of Industrial Hygiene, Enviornmental and Occupational Safety and Health.

So enjoy!