As graduation nears, I begin to reflect on the experiences I have had throughout my college career, as well as my employment with the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). Come the end of this month, I will have been employed with the UNH-IOL for three years and at that time I will be seeking employment within the healthcare field. Despite the fact that the UNH-IOL has not provided me with experience in regards to healthcare, it has given me a solid foundation as I go on to become a young career professional.
From working at the UNH-IOL, I have learned how to interact with a diverse group of people, people with different educational backgrounds, thoughts, and ideas. Along with this, I became experienced with working in teams within the work place, an essential skill to have. As a member of the Marketing Department, we promote a transparent style of work. With this, we are able to stay up-to-date and aware of what each member of the team is working on and how others can help. For us, this has worked really well and I feel that we truly function as a team. I can only hope that my future careers provide me with that opportunity.
Not only has the UNH-IOL helped me to gain experience in the working world, but they have also lent a helping hand in my present job search. One of the highly valuable aspects of the UNH-IOL is that they continuously work to not only train and improve their students, but also help to place them out in the industry. As previously stated, I am not a student with an engineering or computer science background, but nonetheless my co-workers are willing to help place students into their field of choice. Here, we are comprised of students from a diverse educational background. We have theatre, biology, engineering, computer science, to name a few. Then there is me, a health management and policy major. For the UNH-IOL, it does not matter what your academic preferences are, but rather that you are driven, willing to learn, and passionate for that which you are learning.
The experience and skill set that I have acquired from having worked at the UNH-IOL will follow me throughout the remainder of my career. I will be forever grateful to those who taught me, worked beside me, and helped shape who I am.
Pamela Woodland, Academic and Marketing Coordinator