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MODULE 2 - CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Welcome to the Career and Professional Development Module. RVU advisement is divided into two different specialties: Academic Support and Career & Professional Development. You will be utilizing both services as you go through school. You just met your Educational Learning Specialists —now let’s meet your Career and Professional Development Counselors!
Jeddie Herndon and Madison Tarleton are here to support you in a variety of ways, including helping you explore your medical career opportunities, creating an ePortfolio, fine-tuning your CV, and much more! Also, be sure to take notes as you go through the information, including responding to the reflection questions. Your responses to these questions may be used during Orientation and also during individual advising appointments.
Why Personal and Professional Development Matters
One of the most important decisions you will make during medical is which specialty to choose. Many factors go into this decision: your personal history, your values and interests, your strengths and areas of improvement, your experience during rotations, the duration of the training involved, and financial/lifestyle considerations. The more you know and understand yourself, the easier the decision will be; therefore, your “personal development" is an integral and important part of your “professional development” as an aspiring healthcare professional. The difference is that the development of the person begins before the development of the professional.
Professional development is not merely about increasing skillsets or refining specializations. The most effective, inspiring, and celebrated professionals (and leaders!) are individuals who continue to make their personal development primary and see it as essential to their professional excellence. These professionals know that being willing to grow and explore outside their comfort zones in many areas of their lives enhances their ability to innovate, increases their overall potency within their chosen field, and enriches their living.
The aim of personal and professional development is to help you manage your own learning and growth throughout your career! Take a couple of minutes to watch one of our Career Peer Coaches talk about their own personal and professional development.
Now that you've watched the video, please write down your answers to these questions:
- How would you describe yourself to a person you just met? How have you come to know these things about yourself?
- Write three characteristics and three competencies you want to develop during medical school?
4-Year Career Advisory Plan
Now that you better understand check out this 4-year Career Advisory Plan and pay close attention to the milestones and timeline for medical students. Once you have reviewed this plan write down your responses to the questions below.
Related Questions:
- Referring to the 4-Year Career Advisory Plan, which of these milestones are you confident you will reach without much effort or any issues?
- Which of these milestones or achievements make you feel out of your comfort zone?
Self-Assessment
Your Career Counselor(s) will be utilizing various self-assessment tools to help you identify your skills, strengths, values, interests, and preferences in order to determine what careers in medicine are of interest and would be a good fit.
These tools will not tell you what career is the perfect match, but they will help you gain insight about yourself so that you can articulate what is important to you, focus your job search, and assist you in evaluating options.
Your first two years will be spent exploring specialty options and learning about yourself. We want you to discover what kind of a physician you want to become.
What are your values and strengths?
How do they fit in with different specialties?
One tool we will use during medical school is the Careers in Medicine Assessments. You'll get access after starting medical school and be able to take the assessments as many times as you like.
Congratulations on completing the Career and Development module!!!
Here are your next steps:
- Save the questions to your answers in an accessible place because you may discuss them with the Career Peer Coaches and will also review them with your Career and Professional Development Counselors.
- Enjoy your Summer before medical school!
- Attend Orientation. See you there!
REFLECTION QUESTION
Answer the following question in the comment section below before moving to the next module:
How do you plan to demonstrate a commitment to yourself and your peers during coursework?
How do you plan to think about and engage with DEI initiatives during medical school?
What are you looking forward to in your Medical Career journey?
What are you interested in learning about Career Development?
Take time to read and engage with your classmates' answers, as well! You can return to this page at any time to carry on the conversation.
How do you plan to demonstrate a commitment to yourself and your peers during coursework?
I am going to demonstrate commitment to myself by setting up a study and productivity plan and sticking to it. To my peers, I am going to stay committed to study groups and go out of my way to help others, when they are struggling with a topic.
How do you plan to think about and engage with DEI initiatives during medical school?
I would really like to get involved in a club or a group, I always try to be aware of these initiatives, but I know I would really like to learn more about it.
What are you looking forward to in your Medical Career journey?
In my medical journey, I would like to take advantage of everything that my professors and peers can offer. I was to soak as much in as I can. I really look forward to building new relationships and expanding my passion with people who also share a passion for medicine.
What are you interested in learning about Career Development?
I think this is a big piece that is a part of the long journey to being a physician, finding what specialty or program that you fit into. I am excited to work with counselors who can help guide me and show me different paths that maybe I have not heard of.
I will commit to myself by taking care of my mental, emotional, and physical health as best I can. I will commit to my peers by being as prepared as possible for lab/group activities.
I will be respectful and open-minded towards everyone, including my classmates and mentors.
I am looking forward to learning a lot about the human body and how to help different people achieve health.
I wish to learn how career development can be used to help students.
I plan to demonstrate a commitment to myself and my peers by promising to support one another through tough times. I will support myself by taking a break, reminding myself of why I am here, and doing something I enjoy. I will support my classmates by taking initiative to let them know that I am there for them if needed. I plan to engage with DEI initiatives during school by connecting with other classmates of different cultures and backgrounds. I am looking forward to working with other smart and compassionate students and being on this journey with them. I am interested in learning more about leadership and what skills it takes to become a better leader.
I think acting with professionalism and mutual respect goes a long way to demonstrating commitment. I am excited to see where the journey of medical school takes us all!
I plan to demonstrate commitment by keeping a strict schedule. I would think and engage with DEI initiatives in my school by always asking the correct questions and by trying to always be inclusive. I am most interested to learn how to correctly treat people and to help them on their path to better health.
I always remind myself that what we see and hear about another peer’s life is only a fraction of what they choose to present. We all have stressors on top of being medical students now so, one way I will illustrate my commitment to my peers is: I will always respect your time. Just be honest — whether you are stressing out and can’t study, totally fine. If you need a last minute study buddy, awesome — how can I help? We are going to be future physicians working together and team work makes the dream work and we gotta respect each other’s boundaries.
Regarding DEI, I plan on just taking a step back and seeing if I have any biases during any case studies because these thoughts or actions can be detrimental to a peer’s learning and could also impact a patient’s overall wellbeing.
I am looking forward to life-long journey of learning and being able to answer all the “why’s” I’ve had while growing up and pursuing a career in medicine. I think it’s amazing that we get to spread knowledge about we learn to others in ways they can understand to make a fully informed decision on their health.
I am a first generation student so I am interested in learning everything that has to do with career development!
I plan on checking in on myself and my peers frequently, specifically regarding both physical and emotional well-being.
I hope to attend, and potentially volunteer at, various DEI events.
I am looking forward to learning about and exploring all of the various medical specialties during clinical rotations.
I am interested in learning more about what I can do during medical school, especially during my 1st and 2nd years, to make me the strongest candidate I can be for residency programs.
I will demonstrate commitment by continually improving. To engage with DEI initiatives, I plan on listening and learning from my peers and sharing my own viewpoints and experiences when needed. I am looking forward to building and strengthening relationships and promoting wellness. I am interested in learning how to best prepare for residency and how to search for jobs after residency.
I plan to demonstrate a commitment to myself and my peer during coursework by setting study goals and staying on task.
I plan to think about and engage with DEI initiatives by interacting with others and learning their names, who they are, and how we can work together toward common goals.
I am looking forward to additional knowledge and using that knowledge to serve individuals in my community.
I’m excited to learn more about my interests and strengths that will guide me to where I can serve best in the medical community.
I want to push myself to try new things and consider different avenues for success. Moving to Utah, has already pushed me to try new things and I think I am capable of doing more at RVU with the help of the Professional Development Coaches. I am excited to explore the different opportunities in medicine and determine the speciality that is best suited for me. I am eager to meet my peers and mentors who can help me grow, personally and professionally!
I plan to demonstrate a commitment to myself and to my peers during coursework by leading through example. I will strive to be a student that pushes others towards our goals of mastering the material by regularly encouraging and leading studying sessions. I will also regularly focus on the 4-year plan throughout medical school so that I can avoid tunnel vision and become a well-rounded, well-prepared student. I will regularly engage with the career development office so that I can ensure that I am on the right track. I am very excited for this journey ahead, particularly with learning the hands-on aspect to trauma care, as that is what I plan to specialize in. I am most interested in learning all the many ways I can work on patients with acute trauma and master the many many skills that will be required of me as a physician. I am very excited to learn!
I plan to demonstrate commitment by sticking to a plan and a schedule for both myself and those around me while going about my coursework, stay true to how I learn and do what I need to do individually that helps me understand things, and then get into groups with peers and expand that knowledge upon them or them upon me. I think I will be interacting with DEI everyday with who I am as a person and constantly interacting with those around me everyday in the environment I will be a part of. I am looking forward to mastering the knowledge enough to where I don’t feel like an imposter and I can confidently express ideas and knowledge to others in a comfortable way knowing I understand what’s going on. I am very interested in learning how to exactly stick to a plan and guideline for the next four years and stay on schedule with the things I need to do to ensure I am competitive and proactive in my time spent.
I plan to commit to my coursework by sticking to a study plan and using school resources to help me succeed. I plan to demonstrate my peers my commitment to coursework by respecting class time, our campus and the city Ivins. Additionally, I will be an active member of our class by joining student organizations.
I will participate in most if not all DEI events and meetings as DEI is very important to me as a Mexican-American, first generation college graduate.
I look forward to all the learning about the human body especially the osteopathic manipulative techniques. I look forward to reaching milestones that seems so far out.
I am interested to learn if my specialty interests are likely to change throughout my medical school career, as well as figuring out what specialties are good fits for me.