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Meagan Dugan: Hi everyone, welcome to I Am GPH Podcast. Today we will be diving into all things public health internships. My name is Meagan, I'm here with my co-host Gabby. We are back for anyone who saw our last episode and we are both career coaches at NYU Wasserman. So we're happy to be back and we're happy to chat about internship searches today.
Gabby Sanes: Yeah, thanks Meagan. So if you're a grad student in Public Health or you're looking for internships and it could always feel like a whole separate job, it could be very overwhelming. You don't know where to begin, don't worry, we got you covered 'cause today we're gonna talk about tips, resources, and some insider knowledge to help you snag that perfect internship here in public health.
Meagan Dugan: Absolutely. And for any people who are watching who maybe are considering coming to NYU GPH, just know that these are some resources that we have and some tips and trips for our students. We work directly with our NYU GPH students, kind of helping them, everything career related. But yeah, we are gonna kind of go through a bunch of things today kind of thinking about tips and tricks on how to navigate, get in that internship and kick-starting your career. So the first kind of like we're gonna do this in sections, that way it's digestible and easy to understand. So the first part that we're gonna go into is about tailoring your application materials.
Gabby Sanes: Yeah. So first up, your resume and your cover letters. So I know, I know you've heard this all before, but tailoring these documents to each of the internships is actually a game changer. When it comes to public health, you wanna focus on your skills, your relevant experiences and how that applies to the certain field you wanna go into. So whether it's epi, whether it's research, whether it's social and behavior analysis, whether it's global health, you know, whether it's mental health and hygiene. You really want to focus in on you know, how your transferability of skills, whether it's data analysis, research or project management. How does that apply to the roles that you wanna pursue?
Meagan Dugan: And so when we're talking about tailoring your materials, the biggest thing to think about is like using the job description that you will have based on the roles that you find interesting and using that to your advantage. Mirror the language from the job description to your experiences, especially if they are similar. You wanna think about finding ways to, our coworker used to say like spoonfeeding the employer. Like you really want your materials to be exactly aligned with what that employer is looking for. To basically bridge the gap between your experiences and your background and what they are looking for, you being the solution to their problem. I believe Gabby's who said this to before to me, I feel like I'm looking at her and I'm like, I'm having deja vu from our last podcast episode.
Gabby Sanes: Because I tell students that at the end of the day when you're applying to jobs or you're applying to internships, and I apologize, I will use those words interchangeably because experience is experience. When you're applying to these opportunities, you wanna make sure that you realize that the employer has a problem, they don't have someone to do this work. And so when you are drafting your application documents, when you're drafting your resume, when you're drafting cover letters, they need to be the answer to that problem. It's not about look at me, this is all the amazing things I've done. But truly what have you done that is relevant to this role? What have you done that's gonna make you the obvious choice to this particular employer.
Meagan Dugan: It's also a reminder too that not everything that you've done that's gonna be the most relevant to this role is going to be a previous internship or full-time job opportunity. Remember that you have projects that you are currently taking in the classes that you're in that are probably equally as applicable and deserving of being like shown as relevant experience on your documents that fit the role and making sure that you're pulling from various aspects of your background and your life experiences to know that they can show up and be able to be providing like quality content on your resume that match what this employer's looking for. And so you're not stuck to just, oh well I had one job scooping ice cream, I promise you like although that probably has some fantastic transferable skills that Gabby and I 100$ could help you walk through and make sure that we're highlighting. We also can talk about your projects and the various ways that you are able to show that you have the knowledge and experience that that employer's looking for.
Gabby Sanes: But even, let's go back to the ice cream scooper, you know example, right? Okay you were an ice cream scooper 'cause that's the job you needed to get through undergrad. And now as you embarking on your grad career journey, you wanna go into more analytical work, right? You wanna be a data scientist if you wanna go into biostatistics, right? Or like project manager, whatever it may be that you probably had public health work related to that role, right? You had to assess the health and safety protocols of your environment to ensure that you know, it was up to code, right? You had to ensure like quality compliance, right? Quality assurance. We can finagle and help you make sure that it sounds not only sounds professional or sounds fancy but that are you pulling out the work, not the ice scream scooping, right? But the more public health related work, the more analytical work, the assessment of it all that is relevant to the roles that you wanna pursue. So we'll make it happen but you gotta tell us what you did.
Meagan Dugan: Exactly. And also remembering like tailoring your resume can also be about finding ways to talk about your experience in a lens that's like confident and you feel comfortable and you're proud of. But also that way it will like bleeds into a little bit. But like you will able to then talk about that experience no matter what it is. If it's ice cream scooping, your academic project or that internship, you are able to talk about that in an interview with such confidence in such like matter of factness that will help you when you're thinking about looking for internships. So just know like as you navigate the tailoring of your documents, you're also setting yourself up to feel comfortable and confident when talking about your experiences in real life scenarios such as interviews.
Gabby Sanes: And I know we talked about the transferability of skills, but there is one big elephant in the room that we aren't talking about is ATS systems. So applicant tracking systems are things that students need to recognize are here, looks like they're here to stay and they're constantly getting more and more advanced with the evolution of AI. So how do we help students optimize their documents for ATS is one of the key resources that are exclusive at the Wasserman Center, right? Is that if you come to GPH, you have access to all of our tools on Handshake. So what are some of the tools you recommend students use?
Meagan Dugan: The first one would be, it's gonna sound counterintuitive but we'll listen to here, it's called Big Interview. And so it is a platform where it has an AI filter for not only just practicing your interview like responses but also has a tool where you can upload your job description and your resume and the AI will essentially do what the applicant tracking system would do and it will tell you what matches what doesn't match, kind of like that sort of development. And so it's nice to know that you have the ability with some of these resources outside of meeting with a career coach, which you also have access to and you get our undivided attention for 30 minutes and it's amazing. But you also have these platforms and tools that will do that for you as well so that you have multiple like options. 'Cause I think every recruiter, every job that hires is going to view documents differently. So it's nice to get a couple of different opinions that way you're not just stuck with the one and if you know it doesn't work out, that's not anyone's fault. It's just every single person is gonna view these documents differently, whether it's a computer or a person. And so you wanna make sure that they're being evaluated from a variety of people in the industry, not in the industry AKA also a computer. And it's like that way you have the understanding of where you can improve and continue to optimize your experiences and how you talk about it on your documents so that you're putting out the best version of yourself. Because I'm pretty sure in this last podcast Gabby said it best, your resume needs to speak for you when you're not in the room.
Gabby Sanes: It does, it needs to speak volumes. And so that's why I tell students don't forget the cover letter, right? Your resume says you could do the job but your cover letter is your opportunity to specifically tailor to that job that you're applying to. Not just the role but that you wanna do that work at that employer and why. There's a reason why students get a degree at GPH because they have this passion for public health and they want to learn it with the best faculty. I'm biased. And so why not bring that passion into your application documents? You have so many people in the world that could do all these amazing things. What sets you apart? What sets you apart is your drive. It's what brought you into this. So how can you align your why, your passion, with the mission and vision of the organization, right? That's what's gonna make you stand out in addition to your qualifications. But that's an great opportunity that's underutilized. But come to Wasserman, come to GPH and we're here to help you connect the dots.
Meagan Dugan: Exactly. And it's also like I tell students constantly in coaching sessions, when you're making that connection and showing your passion and your purpose and the why you would be a good fit. Remember that the why can be a variety of different things. Sometimes you might be more inclined and attracted to the work that is being done in that particular position or on that particular team and that's where all of your passion lies. Or sometimes you have a passion for the overarching mission and vision of the company and it does not matter which one that is. But you wanna make sure that in your cover letter you are talking about how those align with you and your personal either background skills or just general passion for the industry, and therefore making that like hard evidence that you are a good fit and you already align with the values of either the work that they're doing or the mission as a whole entity of that company. 'Cause I joke with my students constantly, I could apply to a job at Google right now and let's hypothetically say I somehow get through the applicant tracking system. I'm like, they ask me why do you wanna work at Google? And I could be like, oh I wanna work at Google because like I use Google every day. Or I could say something along the lines of like, you know, I see that Google is one of the top innovative companies kind of utilizing technology in this world and I have a passion for that and I try to bring new, you know, innovative ideas into everything I do at work.
Gabby Sanes: And this podcast is not sponsored by Google.
Meagan Dugan: At all. But the example is, you know, the idea here is just that you are showcasing outside of that it's a cool company name or they are doing something that you've just heard of, really going into that specific of to why it resonates with you. And that will speak volumes to the employer as they are navigating multiple resumes and cover letters that come through. It's nice when they also feel wanted. So just like a reminder that you're allowed to get specific.
Gabby Sanes: No, a hundred percent. So in summary, it's like when you're working on your application documents, tailor the resume to the job titles that you're entertaining, tailor the cover letter to the specific job, make sure everything is relevant, right? And relevant to like what your career goals are. And leverage our tools at Wasserman, right? So before you hit send on the application, check out our tools on Handshake, whether it's our resume guide, we have sample resume templates you can look at. We have cover letter sample templates on Handshake and we have, as Meagan pointed out, Big Interview that has the resume AI function just to make sure that it's all optimized. You have everything you need to make your application online the best it could professionally be.
Meagan Dugan: Exactly, and come to coaching. We'd love to see you, us and our colleagues. We'd happy to have you just so that you can also have that human touch too when thinking about reviewing everything. That way you feel confident when you press send. Absolutely. So that was just step one of the internship process. I promise you there's only two more steps left, but we will be here for a hot second. But our next kind of moving into like you know already like you're tailoring your application materials, but where are you finding these public health internships? So that's gonna be the next thing of like how to navigate finding a role that you find interesting that you're gonna then tailor your documents to.
Gabby Sanes: No, honestly. And I say if you really don't know where to start, start with Handshake. That is one platform that we are gonna plug throughout, but it is a platform that's exclusive to NYU students. So GPH students, if you come, well prospective students, if you're considering GPH as a school, it is a platform that you can check out. it has its own job board. And so if you wanna explore the job board, see what potential public health specific internships you may want to entertain, the filters in there are very helpful for creating like safe searches, which I tell students to leverage because who has times to check the job board every single day, right? I mean, you can do that but I'm all about working smarter or not harder. So when you go into the filters, you can select that. Do you match all qualifications so that, are they looking for graduate students? Are they looking for someone that's your year level? Are they looking for someone with maybe your GPA, right? A lot of internships do require a certain level of a GPA. So have that worked into your filter in your search. Make sure you click public health, right? Make sure you click things that are important to you, right? If you're an international student, does the internship accept OPT/CBT? Click that filter so that you don't have to worry about that after you find internships. Embed it into your search. We have filters for if it's work study eligible, right? Is it remote, is it hybrid, is it in person? What location is it? These are if you want it paid or unpaid, right? I'd rather students work in that criteria into their search than just put public health internships in the search bar and then afterwards, oh but this isn't really what I want. Oh this isn't really what I want. Like let's be very intentional with the search part. So that way the outcomes, you know, what populates afterwards, then you can put in the specific job titles that you're entertaining into that search bar after you put in everything that you value and it's important to you in the filters. So that is a strategic saved search process to make it a saved search. You click notify me about additional opportunities and then anytime a position gets posted by an employer that fits all that criteria, you get a nice little email in your NYU email so that way you can be an early applicant. And that is a great strategy for folks who are looking to secure internships. You know, ATS and AI and technology and the internet, it's made it very easy to apply to jobs in large volumes. So that means that recruiters are getting a lot of applications at the same. So how do we ensure that our application's gonna be seen? You've gotta be part of the first batch. So saved searches have saved a lot of my students a lot of time, a lot of energy and ensure that they're one of the first applicants that a recruiter will take a look at.
Meagan Dugan: I also wanna kind of point in the point of view of like, let's say you have no idea where you even wanna begin with an internship. I think Gabby's point of view about like really making those saved searches, if you have an idea, amazing. Because in that way you're like really making sure your criteria fits what you're looking for. If you have absolutely no idea what you wanna do, I would argue kind of the opposite as a good starting point. Which is just put in public health internships into LinkedIn or Handshake, see what's out there. However you have to do the work. That's the difference between me and Gabby's approach is I'm personally someone where it's like I wanna personally filter out things because I want it to fit my exact needs but know that my way also is time consuming. But it's a good place to start if you have not a clue where you wanna go. If you just have a passion for the industry but have no idea what is even out there. We also on Handshake, have industry insights, which is a great guide where you can kind of, we have one for public health, we have one for a ton of other different industries, but it has job titles on there. It has job boards specifically to those roles. And ideally they're a good place to start just because then you can start to realize, you know, I know myself, I'm not trying to live in Excel all day so I need to be reading those job descriptions to make sure that it is not saying that I am doing data analysis where you know, that way, I'm filtering for my specific needs and then getting specific as you know what you like and what you don't like. And so just know neither way is right or wrong. It will be independent to the person searching. But just know, I think sometimes a broad search is helpful if you have no idea where to start and then you can kind of keep tailoring from there. But absolutely to Gabby's point, you do need to be one of the first people applying. And so making sure that whatever case that is is whether you are checking every day, also filtering on recently uploaded that way it's been uploaded within the last day, the last week. And really looking at those roles and then that way you're able to kind of apply quickly and get your materials ready in a timeframe that allows you to be in that first batch of people.
Gabby Sanes: True, and I like that you mentioned industry insights because that is a resource that's available on Handshake and we have one specific to public health as you mentioned. But in that it also gives it overview of the high level, I'm not gonna say popular, but more common job titles within certain fields and we've actually separated it by the areas of study. So that you can be familiar with the language and say, oh yeah, like I'm studying biostatistics. These are some common job titles for a biostatistics area of study. And then underneath we have the public health specific job boards and then in the end the gold mine, the professional associations. Like I know you're going to a conference coming up. But the APHA, which is, I hope I don't butcher it, the American Public Health Association. They have their own job boards. Or they'll have other opportunities for internships that they may promote that may not be on LinkedIn. Because a lot of times there may be public health organizations that can't pay for LinkedIn. Right, or just choose to promote within public health specific spaces. And so look to those spaces. So professional associations are also a great point of exploration when you're trying to look for what to do.
Meagan Dugan: Exactly. And just know like with the opportunities on Handshake employers who are looking to hire NYU students are ironically working directly with me for our grad student population and I am sending them directly to Handshake. So just know like those opportunities on Handshake are more likely than not employers seeking out NYU students. And so just know that is a great place to start. I also recommend that's not the only place you should go. I am team you should look at as many job boards as possible that you are also capable of handling. I think sometimes the other thing that I feel like we didn't necessarily schedule into our outline here, but it's making sure you're making sure that you're taking time for yourself in this process. It is a very daunting, very stressful process on top of the fact that you are also fully in classes and you are living your life and doing other things.
Gabby Sanes: And life lifes sometimes.
Meagan Dugan: We know that too well over here. But just know, like take finding a routine that matches your lifestyle. We are all different. Gabby is my organized queen who like loves a spreadsheet and knows how to optimize things in the best way possible. My brain cannot compute that way. I appreciate it about Gabby so much and I wish--
Gabby Sanes: No, you gotta play to your strengths.
Meagan Dugan: Yes.
Gabby Sanes: I appreciate you sharing that 'cause like you said, I am structured right so I was like, all right, this is the things we gotta cover today. And you're like, no but hold up. We have to also think about the student right? And like what you bring to the table. No, I really appreciate you bringing that up.
Meagan Dugan: So just know like whatever way works for you, the biggest thing you wanna think about is it becoming a part of your routine. So when you're searching for internships, you need to find a structure in like a schedule that works for you. I'm like in the past for me, I would do it once a week schedule like four hours of my day finding roles. I also was always at a coffee shop 'cause I love coffee and then I was applying, tailoring my materials and submitting and then I wasn't thinking about it the rest of the time. Because for me I can only focus hyper-focus in very short spurts. And then I need to do the rest of my things and I need to have a balance outside of that. Every person is different. I'm also like, I could not keep up with a spreadsheet to save my life, but do make sure a tip that I need everyone to listen to, save the job descriptions after you apply. I don't care if it's on a folder on your home screen or if it is in a beautiful, you know, Excel document hyperlinked with the PDF, I don't care which one it is, save it. So then that way you are preparing for the day that you get a call about an interview and you wanna make sure you know what job you are interviewing for. Job and internship, again, like Gabby said, we will use that interchangeably. But we are talking specifically about public health internships here. Save those job descriptions. They will be gone before you know it and then you're suddenly talking to FEMA and you're like, I don't know what, I don't know what I said I was gonna was capable of doing what? What are they looking for? So just know. However you need to stay organized.
Gabby Sanes: You've gotta stay organized. Staying organized in the job search will save you a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress. And will help keep you centered. Is definitely like the secret to moving forward. But there's another secret that a lot of people don't talk about when it comes to the job and that's pivoting to like our next step in our the whole how to find an internship and that's networking. You gotta network who you know matters.
Meagan Dugan: For example, I host some events that, you know, NYU students are able to come to called career conversations. And they have various topics on various industries. But for example, I just had one on data careers and we had two GPH, NYU GPH alumni sitting on it who are doing data related things in the public health space. And they were wonderful, highly recommend them as like individuals to connect with. But the goal there was that you're able to see people either with your background or doing things that you're just interested in doing and you're able to learn from them, get their insight during this panel as well as we open these conversations up for student questions. And a lot of times our panelists are like, if you were attended this session, please message me after I would love to help you. And ironically, during the session, two of our panelists had actually done networking outside of the panel previously because one was interested in the other's work and reached out and they were able to connect and gain insight and helped the panelist pivot into a data career. But having a focus in public health. And it was so cool to watch firsthand the benefit that interviewing or informational interviewing and networking can have literally play out in front of my face on this panel. It was beautiful. But that kind of goes into this next part of that hidden gem behind the job. An internship search, which is networking.
Gabby Sanes: GPH alumni love to help students. 'Cause even then it's like I know like you do more than one career conversation, right? You have pharmaceuticals. You do a pharmaceutical one, you do the international public health one.
Meagan Dugan: Yep, we do healthcare consulting. And government careers
Gabby Sanes: And government careers. And that's just some of them partner events with GPH, we do obviously a lot more, but we're very intentional partnering with the GPH community. Because we want GPH students to be set up for success and get these connections with GPH alumni who are so willing to connect. So ready to hop in and chat with you and make sure that you are set up for that next step. Because they were once you, and I think the benefit of kind of networking and informational interviewing in general is even if it's just to learn from someone else, people one, like to talk about themselves. Two, giving direction or giving advice of any kind feels good no matter who you are as a person.
Gabby Sanes: Generativity.
Meagan Dugan: Exactly. And remembering like ideally if you're reaching out to fellow alumni of these programs, they were once you, they were once equally stressed about fighting an internship or finding a full-time job after graduation. And now that they're on the other side, they are probably more than happy to come back, circling back and be like, don't do this. Don't fail like I did, let's switch this around. 'Cause I know that's why I'm in this career is I don't want anyone to fail how I failed. And I wanna make sure that we are setting you up so that you can hopefully a little more gracefully than I, move on to these next steps and get you where you wanna be. Let me do the failing for the both of us and therefore you can kind of like--
Gabby Sanes: It's feeling supported, right? It's feeling supported. I know you mentioned like even connecting in the informational interviewing. I wanna be mindful, I know there may be students that are listening who may not know what that is. So informational interviewing is more like a coffee chat, right? Like when you meet with somebody to have a conversation to learn a little bit more about what they do. It's informational interviewing because you are interviewing them. But it's not in a formal capacity that the interview stage would be once you actually apply to a job. It's really strictly for information.
Meagan Dugan: Yep.
Gabby Sanes: Informational interviewing.
Meagan Dugan: Yep.
Gabby Sanes: That's my definition.
Meagan Dugan: But yeah, think about journalism. Like a journalist reaching out to someone to learn about their story or their background. That's more of the energy of an informational interview.
Gabby Sanes: Exactly, so you're reaching out to someone and how you can find people is like either Violet Network, which is a resource you get as an NYU student that is available on Handshake or as a GPH student. You can use LinkedIn. Well you can always use LinkedIn, but GPH has their own alumni page. So if you go to the NYU GPH page, you can click on the alumni tab and have access to the alumni population. And NYU has one too. But this is something that as GPH, they're so committed to making sure that it's easy for you to connect with alumni.
Meagan Dugan: Yep.
Gabby Sanes: And when you reach out, hey I see you're an alumni, I see you're studying this and doing this, would love to learn more about you. So it's also not only that you can do this, but how would you do it? Where to go? GPH makes it very easy.
Meagan Dugan: And just know too, we've talked a lot about Handshake. If you take one thing away, I joke about this every time I talk to any student, if you take one thing away, Handshake is the number one place, especially for NYU Wasserman. But we have a networking guide where, and we have where you can like have informational interview questions ahead of time. You obviously could bring your own, no expectation that you have to use ours, but in my opinion, work smarter, not harder. Don't reinvent the wheel, if you're panicking, we got you with some questions that you can use. And then we also have templates on how to reach out on LinkedIn or how to follow up after an event or how to send that thank you email after you meet with them.
Gabby Sanes: Send that thank you email please.
Meagan Dugan: That too. That's another hidden gem that no one talks about. Make sure that you are, I think going backwards, just a step. So when you are reaching out to these alum that you're finding on the GPH LinkedIn page or on Violet Network, you're going to be one, respectful, two, considerate, and make sure that you're kind of, I would be be a little specific, look into the people that you're reaching out to and be like, oh hi, nice to meet you. I'm so and so, I'm a current GPH student. I saw that you also started studied epi and that you're now working for the CDC. I would love to chat with you if you have 15 minutes. Something along those lines. Again, thinking about the character count on LinkedIn will come into play here, but ideally you wanna be specific with them. You don't wanna just reach out to anyone being like, hey, do you have time to talk? Because it doesn't feel personal, you know? And so I think going in with some specifics and then being prepared when you eventually connect and have that time set on the calendar that you're gonna hop on that Zoom or you're gonna show up to that coffee shop and have an idea of what you want the conversation to look like. Because showing up unprepared is not gonna help you in this scenario.
Gabby Sanes: Don't make more work for that person. You wanna talk to them. You wanna learn more about them. So come with your questions, I'd rather you have like your list of 10 questions. Guess what? We have it in our networking guide. Who needs ChatGPT when you got Handshake? But you really want to like come with a goal. I've actually had students reach out to me for informational interviews for my field. Higher ed. And I'm like, all right, so like what's up? And they're like, oh, oh, awkward silence insert cricket sound Chris. But then we're sitting there awkward, right? And then I feel like I now have to do work and now I'm like, all right, I don't know if I'm gonna follow up even though I really wanna help people. But I'm like, okay, maybe let's go to coaching. Maybe you need coaching, let's connect you with coaching. Which we do coaching for alumni too. So definitely that's something that is a perk at GPH and at NYU. But you wanna have those goals, right? You wanna have a strategy, you wanna have a plan.
Meagan Dugan: Because ideally, like you come on with your questions, it could potentially be the blandest informational interview you've ever had and that you at least get your questions answered and then you leave and it was kind and it was respectful. You still send that thank you email and that's it. Or you make a new professional friend who you're able to connect with in the industry who has been through the study that you are going through, who is doing the work that you wanna be doing. And you kind of in a way can potentially start formulating the relationship of a potential mentor. You don't know until you show up and you're there. But I think being prepared, worst case you have the questions they get answered, you move on, you've learned more than you might have known walking in. And that to me is worth it. Knowing that you also have, in the same vein the potential of meeting someone who could help you navigate, you know, the start the beginning of your career. That could also be potentially a new colleague, a potential boss, you don't ever know.
Gabby Sanes: Or potential referral too. Like going back to the point of all this is if you're hoping to find an internship and you're meeting with this person to help narrow down potential possibilities, you can, you know, follow up, right? Like after the thank you emails, follow up when you are now applying to a role and say, hey, thank you again for sharing your insight on this. I'm actually now applying to this opportunity. Was wondering if you would be open to considering being a referral. Right, even if there's not a referral, like a formal referral process for an internship, you can, they can maybe put in a good word with the hiring manager, right? Or put a good word and let HR know that you've applied. The possibilities are endless. So it's really sustaining the connection and seeing how it could help you along the way to either be a referral for a current internship or they can let you know if any opportunities arise.
Meagan Dugan: Yep, the two things I also think about when it comes to networking. One, leverage your professors. If you are a current GPH student, your professors have been in the field.
Gabby Sanes: And they're so nice.
Meagan Dugan: They're the best. They're so nice, they're so knowledgeable. They have been in the field, they have their own connections and their own network that they could potentially tap into. Go to those office hours, ask those questions, get to know your faculty because they will be able to provide you with help and insight and connect you with people that can lead you to where you wanna go. The other thing would be utilize in-person events, not just Wasserman. We have a ton, we have networking events, we have different opportunities virtually like our career conversations and in person where you can meet with alumni for GPH as well as just NYU in general. But you're able to meet with these alumni, practice your networking skills, get to know new people. But additionally just there are going to be professional associations that might have networking events. GPH has sometimes have networking events. We have one at an upcoming conference that will probably be after this airs, but, or before this airs. But still like there are gonna be different opportunities where you can meet people in person and you can build your network that way. But there are also virtual options and there are informational interviews and so just know there's like a plethora of ways in which you can network and learn from people and gain that insight that will kind of help you continue to navigate these next steps. Whether that's an internship, full-time job, all of that.
Gabby Sanes: And I wanna be mindful 'cause I know like GPH has a lot of online students, right? So like how do you network if you can't necessarily come to the city for, or travel to all these conferences or partake in all these in-person networking things. I would say leverage office hours, right? Office hours or even like your classroom settings. Because with your professors are keys to the network in the public health field and they're so willing to help. And so it's setting up that office hour, going office hours and be like, hey professor, I'm considering this. What are your thoughts? Or Hey, like I was looking into this professional association, what do you think? Is it worth it? Like what do you recommend? Right. It takes three times for a professor to remember your name. Like on on average. So you wanna be able to build that connection because they may be aware of opportunities, employers and alumni may share opportunities with 'em. And you'll be able to build that connection that could potentially lead to mentorship. Lead to solidify recommendation letters for internships if you need it. And just overall just help you gain more supportive community throughout your internship journey.
Meagan Dugan: Absolutely. And I will say for any online student, in my personal opinion, with informational interviews asking for it to be virtual the first time, you're gonna have probably much more likelihood of someone saying yes. Because they can carve out 15 to 30 minutes of their schedule when they don't have to leave their office or their house and they can hop on a zoom with you and chat versus commuting to a coffee shop, maybe nearby, maybe not spending that time with you and then going back to work or their home or their personal lives. And so just know, like, although in person of networking events are also wonderful, in a great way, you can easily do the same thing and achieve the same goals by asking people to, you know, have these informational interviews virtually and then go from there.
Gabby Sanes: So I know we talked, we talked a lot today. And I just wanna be able to recap so that y'all know like what game plan you can have, so we talked about tailoring the resume. So you wanna make sure you tailor your resume, tailor your cover letter for each of your internships that you're doing, exploring all the resources available to you. I know we named a lot, but whether it's Handshake, whether it's the professional associations, whether it's the resources and events that happen at NYU and at GPH or even, you know, internships that you learn through the public health post, right? That GPH sends routinely, and step three, network, network, network, network, network. Whether it's informational interviewing or connecting with the alumni, you wanna be able to put yourself out there, get helpful information from people who are doing the work you wanna be doing and apply that to your learnings
Meagan Dugan: And some like actual next steps that you could take. If you are a current NYU student, you are more than welcome. We highly recommend scheduling a career coaching appointment. Meet with us. We can, you know, look at your resume, we can update your profile, look into career fairs coming up or anything that can potentially have the opportunity for you to find an internship that's of interest to you. And we kind of talked about it 101 times, but really look at Handshake, I promise you there's events, there's networking, there's you know, job postings, there's career coaching sessions, there's all of our resources. So just know you have everything you could possibly need for like this next step of finding this internship. And we are here to support you along the way. We appreciate you listening to us and having us back. So thank you guys again for listening to the I am GPH Podcast today and we hope you have a great rest of your day.
Gabby Sanes: Thanks y'all, we got your back.