Science Career Development Coordinator: Kristen’s Story
/By Mariana Hernández-Hernández, WorkStory Ambassador at Memorial University
Kristen’s work story, like many others, teaches us that “careers are not linear.” She, who pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Education thinking that she would be a K-6 teacher, is now a Science Career Development Coordinator.
As a Science Career Development Coordinator, Kristen helps university students, especially science students, with their job search, resumes and mock interviews. She also connects science students with alumni and employers working in the industry by creating and hosting networking events on campus.
On a normal day, she holds one-on-one career consultations, she plans, organizes and facilitates career networking events for science students, Science Career Talks (science alumni present to science students about how they navigated their job search and landed their careers), weekly career development workshops for science students, and she also helps her co-workers with other on-campus events, such as the Career Fair.
What she loves about her job is that it’s the perfect balance between counselling (helping/ guiding) and teaching, and she enjoys very much meeting with students in a one-on-one setting.
How did she get to this position?
After gaining her Education degree, she had difficulty in finding a permanent position as a teacher. So, for four years she had to hold various part-time positions such as substitute teacher for K-6, various tutoring/teaching positions, ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) Therapist and housekeeper.
Still uncertain about what to choose as a career path and aware of the job hunting skills that she had lacked as a new graduate, Kristen decided to go back to school. She knew now that teaching in a classroom setting wasn’t her passion after all and that perhaps she preferred working more one- on- one with individuals. She knew she loved helping others and working with students, so she thought that pursuing a Master of Education (Counselling Psychology) would take her to the right professional path, which still remained unknown to her.
Kristen started her master’s program without still having a clear idea of what she was going to do with her degree when she finished. During her master’s degree, Kristen completed a Career Counselling course. Since she had struggled with finding a job after her Education degree and also with deciding what to choose as a career path, the idea of helping people as a career counsellor seemed very attractive. Wanting to know more about this career path and hoping to be selected, she applied to a four-month internship position at the university Career Centre (Career Development and Experiential Learning).
Upon a successful application, for four months, she had the opportunity to experience what it would be like to be a Career Coach. During her internship, she provided career advice to students and she assisted them with the preparation of resumes and cover letters as well as with mock interviews. She also helped at career and experiential learning events organized by the Career Development and Experiential Learning Centre.
After this four-month experience, which she really enjoyed, she knew that it was her calling. In the meantime, Kristen had to look for other options. She was able to find an alternative job on campus in Human Resources, and although Kristen liked many aspects of this other positon, her heart had stayed at the Career Centre… Luckily, after five months of working in Human Resources, one day, she noticed a job opening for a Science Career Development Coordinator at the Career Centre and applied for it. She ended up gaining an interview and landed the job. Kristen couldn’t be happier.
Now, after one year working at the Career Centre, Kristen still loves what she does and hopes to continue working there.
Finally, Kristen leaves us with some career advice:
Research reveals that the average person changes their career SEVEN times in their lifetime! Therefore, people shouldn’t become discouraged just because they change their mind about what to do in life. It is “normal” to have many interests and have various jobs in our lifetime. Besides, we live in a contractual society, so it’s becoming more and more common for people not to work “permanently” in the same job. What is ‘essential’ in our society is to know how to ‘transfer’ the skills that you gain in one job to lead you to the next one.
Be proactive in finding your career (finding a job can be a full-time job!) Learn how to best articulate your skills to employers. If you are at Memorial University, come visit the Career Development and Experiential Learning Centre to gain knowledge of your own career interests and what career opportunities there are for you. Not at Memorial? Take advantage of similar services – while you are a student – at your college or university! It will help you in the long run.
