Human Capital

Listening to a report about the economy, unemployment and human capital got me thinking about myself......

What is my education? I have a Bachelors of Science in Radiologic Science/Nuclear Medicine option from OIT. I'm an Eagle Scout. I've taken a week long certification course in being a Radiation Safety Officer. I also took and passed the course for Emergency Medical Technician-Basic.

I also applied to Physician Assistant school at the University of Utah. I made the cut from 900 applicants to 100 people taking a test and interview. From that 35 people were given firm offers and 10 people on stand-by. I was on stand-by but did not progress. In looking at my weaknesses in this process it was determined I needed to go back to school and update some of my sciences, organic chem and bio chem. To do this would have then had me not starting work as a PA until almost 4 years later. To me it did not seem worth the time. Though I do really wish I would have made it the first application.

What did it cost? I still owe about $22,000 on my student loans for my BS degree. The RSO course was paid for by my employer at the time, SAIC. I took the EMT-B course on my own and paid cash for it. So I am still paying for college, 8 years after graduating.

What do I make? I will answer this totally truthfully for the major jobs I have had. Right now I don't work, so my current income is $0.
Journeyman Produce Clerk: $13.86 hourly in 1999.
Nuclear Medicine Technologist: $22 hour in 2001 and $49 hour in 2005.
Bicycle Mechanic: $7 hour in 1996 and $10 hour in 2010.
Radiation Safety Officer: $11,500 a month in Iraq, $4,500 a month in San Diego.

What have I done? Before college the only things I really did with any regularity was working on bicycles and the produce department of a grocery store. After school I worked as a nuc med tech for years. When I moved to San Diego and couldn't find a job doing that the only thing I did for any time, and at that only 3 months or so were radiation safety jobs. So wrenching on bikes, stacking fruit, nuc med and reading a Geiger counter. I also tried to start work as a personal trainer but did not receive the support I was promised from a partner and that fell through.

So look at what I have done the longest employment wise, produce clerk and nuc med. Nuclear medicine has reliably paid me the most, provided the most benefit to society and uses the schooling I'm still paying for. For me to not be doing this is a huge waste of human capital.

Previously from 2001 till 2005 I had my choice of nuc med jobs wherever I wanted to move. When I moved to San Diego it took me 4 months to find a job doing registry work for a local staffing company. For $20 less per hour than I made in the San Francisco Bay area! I had one HR person down her tell me "We pay you in sunshine." Really? Really.

When the staffing company I worked for lost contracts and cut hours, Tc99m was in short supply and reimbursement for nuc procedures decreased I was let go. That is when I went to Iraq and also did various radiation safety jobs here in San Diego, none of them successfully. In that time I did get a job offer at SONGS as an entry level Health Physics tech. I turned it down for the UCSD job. I look back on that now as possibly a career mistake but I am unsure about my personal life.

People are always surprised to hear I have such a specialized degree, in the health field and it is impossible for me to find a job in San Diego. I have seen one full time opening in 4 years. I have seen 3 part time and 2 per diem openings in that time. I applied for all of them. I did not receive one email, phone call or anything expressing interest in me. I even applied to be an assistant, doing step and fetch work in a nuc med department and couldn't even score an interview. I applied to be the manager of the nuc med department at a local hospital, at the behest of two people one of them a physician, who worked in the department. I made it to the interview stage but was not extended an offer.

In my experience the problem with nuc med jobs here is that UCSD graduates students into the community each year, Navy techs from Balboa moonlight the weekend and call spots, techs come here to retire and work longer equaling a low turn over rate. From my experience temping nuc med I would also say this is very much a "who you know" place to get a job. I am too new, though many people know me I'm further down the line. Or I suck at nuc med and don't know it but everyone else does.

So to an economist I am currently a huge waste of human capital. I have a skill, education, a specialization, possibility of good income but am not employed at all in a way to take advantage of that.

What's left? I don't know.......

Following my motto, what am I going to do? 2011 is going to be the year of my best jiu jitsu. It's all I have..............