-: As a career advisor for the UVM MPH program,
I am working with onboarding students, current students
and alumni to meet their public health career goals.
This can mean a lot of things.
So, we are working on resume building cover letters and CVs
and we are also working on finding a job
that suits your needs, your experiences in your backgrounds.
Additionally, as we know, public health is all
about networking and who you know.
So we are working a lot on getting students connected
with internships, fellowships, different mentors
and different avenues to reach their career goals.
From a really early age, I always knew I wanted to go
into a service-based field.
Starting as undergrad, I always assumed
that path was medicine, but after taking some time off
after undergrad and working in the workforce,
I actually realized I was more passionate
about community health, which ultimately drew me
to the path of public health.
When I was given the opportunity to be the career advisor,
I felt that this was an opportunity I could not miss.
While I was in the MPH program here at UPM
my connections to of my professors and my instructors
were incredibly invaluable to me,
in terms of helping me reach and identify my career goals.
I felt it was a great way to give back
and be that same voice and voice of reason
for other students in the program,
so I became the career advisor.
In my personal opinion,
there is a really great career outlook for anyone interested
in public health right now.
As we are doing this interview,
we are currently in the COVID 19 pandemic,
meaning there is an immediate need
for public health professionals
to address the current pandemic.
However, as we leave this pandemic,
we cannot ignore the many disparities
that have been identified in light of the pandemic.
We are going to need anyone interested in creating a change
in working towards addressing these disparities,
to join in the public health workforce and enter
into one of the many fields to truly make a difference
in reach health equity.
In addition, the BLS handbook identifies many specialties
within public health, having a great increase
in projected job growth in the next couple years.