Trail Blazing Healthcare Careerists: Leveraging Internship and Fellowship Experience

NCHL presents the Trailblazing Healthcare Careerist, a series part of the Guide for the Healthcare Early Careerist. It provides the perspectives of both early careerists and seasoned healthcare executives and changemakers in a variety of workplace issues that early careerists often need help navigating.

This episode focuses on leveraging internship and fellowship experience post-graduation. How do I leverage my limited experience in job interviews? | How do I relay my skills to potential employers? | What can early careerists do to prepare for interviews? are all questions being answered by Dr. Kristin Wilson and MHA candidate Briani Baboolal from the University of Iowa MHA program.

What makes you stand out from your peers or colleagues?

B: My unique upbringing and experiences are what ultimately allows me to stand out. For example, growing up with a mother with a disability, navigating higher education on my own, and having a biracial identity. In addition to this, during my time in my graduate studies at Iowa, I wanted to be sure I capitalized on internal and external opportunities. These experiences have led me to my career path driven by passion and dedication.

Who needs to know you so you can reach your goals?

B: In my opinion, there are three people that you should know so you can reach your goals and they include yourself, a mentor, and a sponsor. It is truly important to know yourself for you to understand what your interests may be and the goals that you are looking to achieve. You want to strive to have mentors in your life for them to build you because they are the ones who typically will give you guidance, advice and provide professional development. Having a sponsor has importance on your career trajectory because they will assist in promoting you on your behalf for new roles aiding in your advancement in your goals.

What are your values?

B: My top three values would include accountability, integrity, and authenticity.

What’s your ultimate career goal?

B: As an early careerist, my interests tend to be diverse because I am still in the stage of wanting to dip my toes in as many opportunities as possible and would not be surprised if my ultimate career goal were to change over time. However, I have found a significant interest in human resources and equity and would love to purse a director or management role in these sectors which can aid my skills to ultimately become a Chief Operating Officer.

Who makes up your support system?

B: My support system is made up of the people who provide me with support and who aid in my personal and professional development. These include my family, friends, and classmates.

What brings you joy?

B: Having meaningful conversations, helping others to the best of my ability, long walks when the weather is nice, trying new restaurants, and making the time to travel home to see my family and spending time with friends.

What is your superpower – the thing you do better than anyone else?

B: As much as I would love to say my superpower is teleportation, it's not. My superpower is being an empath which leads to my inclusive abilities. I am aware of my own feelings as well as others, I continuously find myself being sure to make those around me feel heard and seen. This fosters the environment to have a sense of belongingness, leading people to feel valued.

What’s your favorite way to communicate?

B: Face-to-face communication is my favorite method because it allows myself and others to communicate verbally and have our conversations include genuineness. I enjoy seeing others and having the