Career Services Spotlight Transcripts

RECORDING OF: YouTube Video Career Spotlight: Landing a Dream Job in Health Services

TRANSCRIBED: March 20, 2015

FOR: Walden University

MERILEE S. JOHNSON, RMR, CRR, CBC, CCP PARADIGM REPORTING & CAPTIONING, INC. 612.339.0545 CAPTION@PARADIGMREPORTING.COM

(Nicolle):  Hello, I'm Nicolle Skalski, career services advisor at Walden University. I met Linda O'Daniel at the Ph.D. residency in Atlanta, Georgia. Linda worked with Career Services to obtain assistance with her job search. The job search strategy obtained helped her land her dream job as a medical case manager. She shares her career story with us.

(Linda):  Hi, my name is Linda O'Daniel, and I want to share my story about Walden University Career Center. I'm in the Ph.D. health services. My specialization is policy and procedure. And I'm residency three. I was unemployed, which I thought was just very challenging trying to finish my education, but still worrying about my finances. I had so much experience that I knew I could get a job, but I wanted the right job. I wanted something that was in alignment for what I was going to school for. And if I had to wait it out another couple months or another year, I think I was willing to take that chance, because having a dream job, compared to having any kind of job, is not going to do me any justice at all, period. I'll be back where I started at; Frustrated, with a job, that I really didn't like. So we started off with the skills -- building a resumé, an effective resumé. Posting on LinkedIn. Also looking at other search engines, and which I thought was great because I knew -- I didn't know so many search engines existed. I only knew careerbuilder.com. I was targeting what was in my discipline, health services And I was also making sure that I stayed in my discipline because I was going to school for. Which made me a hot commodity. I'm going to school for, which she explained to me -- you're going to school for health services, why not pick a job in that discipline? These organizations look at LinkedIn. Think look at certain search engines that's in alignment with their discipline. With their organization. So she called me and she said, you know, I found your resumé on a database. I'm highly interested in you. She knew that I was somebody highly educated, that I could take over -- that I could get the job. And it was like -- it's an excellent opportunity for me. I have gained full-time employment, excellent benefits in my discipline, as well as be able to be long-term for this company. I'm doing medical case management. They have brought this humongous contract and it's huge. And I -- it's -- it's a great opportunity for me. My final message is that, truly, do the work. And if you do everything from A to Z, which you might say, Oh, I'm exhausted, I don't want to do this, it's not going to be beneficial. It is 100% beneficial. And I'm here to tell you, because I was employed for -- I was unemployed for two years. The help of Walden Career Services, I was able to land a job with a Fortune 500 company.

[This text is being provided in a rough-draft format to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings]