For students and new grads – a conversation with Career Education Specialist, Ken Lee

Tell us what you thought of this episode - send us a text!

Show Notes

In this first episode of 2021, Sujani sits down with Ken Lee who is a Career Education Specialist at Ryerson University. His role is to specifically support students in the area of health. I love this conversation because the episode offers practical tips for students and new graduates. We really wanted to provide guidance to help navigate their careers.

You’ll Learn

• What a Career Education Specialist’s role (also known as a Career Centre or Coop Centre) within a university is, and its value.
  • What students can expect from these services career centre (i.e. resume writing, networking).
  • How Career Centre services have changed in the face of a pandemic.
  • Why students should reach out as early as possible (i.e. first year) to these Career Centres/services, even if they don’t need any help or guidance just yet.
  • Whether students’ questions and concerns for their public health careers have changed since the pandemic.
• How Career Centres help students achieve their goals: we take a common goal that students come to Ken about and talk through the type of advice we’d offer them. 
  • A specific question we tackle and discuss strategies for is: “how do I get policy/research type roles and/or experiences?” 
• Strategies related to the following top questions received by PH SPOT from public health students and new graduates:
  • How do I get public health experience – specifically, if I am about to graduate soon and need to quickly build experience?
  • What cover letter tips should I keep in mind? (Hint: Regurgitating what the organization knows about themselves is not enough anymore. It’s no longer about “what” you said, but how you say it.)
  • How do I get a mentor? Do I need a mentor? What’s the difference between a sponsor and a mentor? How to build strong relationships and give back to your mentors.
  • Skill building: How to build skills outside of your academic courses?

Resources

• Articles related to Sponsorship versus Mentorship
  • The Relationship You Need to Get Right, Harvard Business Review
  • A Lack of Sponsorship Is Keeping Women from Advancing into Leadership, Harvard Business Review
  • Sponsors Need to Stop Acting Like Mentors, Harvard Business Review
• Building public health experience: Example – UN Volunteer
• Discovering public health experience: PH SPOT’s Public Health Newsletter
• Skill Building – Infographics 101: How to design public health infographics with software you know and use.

Other PH SPOT resources:

• Share ideas for the podcast: Fill out this form
• Never heard of a podcast before?

Support the show

Join The Public Health Career Club: A global membership community where public health professionals connect, learn, and support each other in building meaningful and impactful careers.

Go from feeling confused, alone and overwhelmed, to feeling confident and in control of your life and career!