Hello Tom!
Ever considered being a doctor in the military? That is where all of the overseas stuff comes from. Otherwise, it means working as an NHS (or private) doctor, which is still a really great career. I wish you the very best of luck!
Programming is actually my backup plan
For me, I like being active, and doing something useful. To me, the very thought of sitting in meetings and committees, in an office all day, doing management work which really gets nothing done, pushing numbers around Excel, or writing reports which never get read...*shudders*...couldn't think of anything worse to waste my life on!
However, there are problems with CEOP. Getting a long term career with them is difficult. You see, secondment opportunities are usually only 6 months - 2 years at CEOP because after that the staff suicide rates become unacceptably high - even with staff who have been picked for being emotionally strong characters, even with compulsory counselling for ALL every 6 months, even with so many psychologists and switched on people to look out for danger signs, even with staff who know how to combat these sorts of stress, and counsellors available 24/7, it still happens - a lot. People just can't cope.
In that time, the victim identification team consisting of around 4-5 people have seen over 1,000,000 pictures and videos of child exploitation, and almost everything which can be done to a child, they have seen. And it comes back to haunt them, and it sends them mad - clinical mental health issues, depression, suicide etc. etc.
But you know what, I still want to be a part of it! It is still the only job I want to do!
My greatest worry is not passing the psychological tests. I am absolutely terrified of that possibility. I think that many of you have already seen my ups and downs, times when I don't really participate, reply to PMs or VMs or threads, and other times when I am perfectly chatty and active! Several years on, I am still on compulsory counselling (a joke really - it will stop becoming compulsory when they think that I am a bit better!) However, it is giving me a true goal to reach - something to work hard at at school, something to try to attain.
About degrees, for CEOP, I don't really need anything very specific as far as I am aware, so most likely maths for me (which will also leave me in a good position for programming or any other career change)
For some of the others though, I might need psychology.
Probably the best thing to do would be to work for the nspcc for a little while after graduation and additional training, and work on something like a childline call centre. Maybe then I would have my best chance at CEOP, and I would probably try for CEOP then.
If they don't take me, it will be a bitter disappointment. I would be absolutely broken. I don't know...time to give up ever getting that dream job?
Richard
