The moulding of an investigative person

Victoria Seiketso Sethibe | Thursday March 9, 2017 16:06

It all came to light when the seven year old Dipotso* started spending school holidays at his uncle, Taolo’s place back in their home village. Taolo*, being the first born in his family, automatically succeeded into the post of chieftaincy, after his father had passed on.

One of Dipotso’s* favourite moments at his uncle’s place was when there was a customary case going on at the kgotla (customary court), which was very close to and directly opposite Taolo’s* residential place as is usually the case in most villages. Since children are not allowed into the kgotla, especially during the kgotla proceedings, Dipotso* devised a way of secretly observing the proceedings by peeping through the window inside the house.

Despite not being able to hear what was said, he became curious of exactly how these people ended up at the kgotla and what could they have possibly done to deserve punishments, such as flogging. Basically, from a tender age Dipotso* was intrigued in learning how criminals operate and the rationale behind their actions.

Later on, when Dipotso* became a teenager he began to read crime and mystery novels and also developed the habit of watching investigation channels on television.

As time went on Dipotso* decided that he wanted to be a forensic scientist, an idea he got from the forensic scientists he had been following on television. Once he had made a career choice, Dipotso* started to research extensively on what was required to follow his dream career, which institutions offered the program and whether both the respective institutions as well as the program were truly accredited.

Investigating whether an academic institution and a program of interest are accredited is a very important part of career planning. Such information is accessible to the public from accreditation bodies. Even though Dipotso* is naturally an assertive person, he went through a reliable career guidance and counselling program before he could finalize his career decision making.

Now at the age of thirty, Dipotso* is an established forensic scientist and he is so passionate about his job. His work typically involves going out into crime scenes, collecting any contact and physical trace material associated with crime such as fabric, blood, fingerprints, hair, weapons like knives and guns before analyzing them in the lab and finally documenting the results.

Forensic scientists will always be relevant in the work place for as long as there is an escalation in crime the same way medical practitioners will always be relevant for as long as there is an escalation of diseases worldwide.

What does it take to follow an investigative career?

Investigative people like Dipotso* are very inquisitive as alluded to earlier on.  Dipotso*, like his name suggests, prefers to work in an environment that allows him to be actively involved in doing research to satisfy his curiosity.

Investigative people also enjoy working in environments that are unstructured and academic, usually in fields inclined towards mathematics, science, medicine and technical fields requiring extensive research. Their work usually engages thinking much more than physical activities and working with other people.

They also usually work optimally with minimum supervision as evidenced by just how self-driven Dipotso is.

Which other occupations fall within the investigative career code?

Investigative career code offers a whole variety of valuable careers such as botany, forestry, food technology, pharmacy, economics and market research analysis.

What can be a stumbling block in stimulating the investigative trait in children?

Children are naturally quite exploratory but that trait seems to fade when they experience mockery from the outside world. Children, unlike mature adults, are not self-actualized and they need validation and encouragement even if they ask questions or make statements others perceive as “silly.”

It is a lot easier for adults (not all of them though) to go ahead and follow their dreams despite opposition from critics than it is for children to do the same.

Everybody needs to have some degree of an investigative trait to survive on daily basis, especially when it comes to decision-making.