What are the risks of pursuing a career in radiology?

These couple of posts coming up will be long...if you aren't interested, please just pass them over....however, I have been out of school for almost two years now and have never found full time. I have been working different prn jobs and I have started to write letters to the various people who I think should take responsibility for what is going on in our profession. I've written the ASRT, they never respond. I've written twice to a committe in my home state that is supposed to be the committee that looks at what programs the community colleges teach. They will not respond. I've written for the second time to the JRCERT, this is the organization that certifies the programs that are willing to voluntarily apply for certification. I wrote a lengthy letter on how hard it was to find a job and how I could not pay back my student loans right now and how someone should be responsible for the schools turning out way too many techs. I thought I would post that reply from the brave, professional person who finally responded to my letter and then post my response back to her/him. (The person's name is Leslie and I am unsure of the sex, probably female, but there are some men named Leslie.) Anyway, here goes:

Michelle,

Unlike any other health care profession, programmatic accreditation in our field is voluntary. Students can apply for the certification test and not graduate from a JRCERT accredited program. Therefore, newly developed programs in most instances do not have to apply for accreditation. We can only monitor those programs that are accredited by the JRCERT. We require our programs to assure that they have sufficient resources to support the currently enrolled students. Furthermore, the JRCERT requires programs to monitor job placement rate. Programs that do not meet JRCERT policy for job placement rate must submit a plan that describes how they intend to meet this policy. Many programs will reduce enrollment. If they continually not meet job placement

I assume by "risk" you mean being exposed to radiation or radioactive materials. There are many safeguards in placs to protect the technologist from exposure. As you ho through your clinical eeducation you'll learn the proper handling of such materials that wull prevent your exposure. There is also a monitoring system that tracks yours exposure monthly.

As for the previous post concerning job security, just like any other profession, radiology is competitive. Your job interview begins once you start you clinical rotation so it's very important to know your material, study ahead, ask intelligent questions, and network. As long as you do those things job placement shouldn't be difficult.