Career Corner

Interview & Questions for Heather Krasna

By Jessie Shutte-Aine MPH ‘94

Heather Krasna is the Assistant Dean and Director of Career Services, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Background:

When did you come to Mailman?

I started at Mailman in June 2013. I was previously the Director of Career Services at the University of Washington’s School of Public Affairs.

How did you become interested in focusing on career services for public health students and alumni?

I feel lucky to be at Mailman!  I have a passion for working with people who want to make a difference.  When I reflect on my own personal history, I’ve also always been a mission-driven person.  In my high school, for example, I was the founder of the first environmental club at the high school.  In college, I co-founded a non-profit organization and worked in the non-for-profit sector.  In graduate school, I studied non-for-profit management and organizational development at the New School.

Can you describe the changes you’ve overseen during your time as director of career services at Mailman?  (e.g., increasing staffing, enhancing online resources)

There have been quite a few changes since I’ve been here.  One of the first things was to benchmark other public health schools to learn about the programs they offer. 

I arranged meetings with department chairs to learn more about public health. I had conversations with alumni working in organizations that alumni repeatedly mentioned as an interesting place to work. 

When I started we did not have student workers and now we have students manning the front desk.  We also started conducting evaluations of appointments to get feedback from clients.

We realized that the number of employers in our database was declining so we wanted to find out why.  When we looked into the employee database we realized it needed refreshing.  So we worked to create a solid database of employers.  I tried to boost employer outreach by attending conferences and events such as APHA.  I remember making it my mission to get a contact from each exhibitor at APHA and actually managed to get a business card from each employer at APHA, I think it was about 180 new contacts. I also brought in my own contacts from past experiences. We now have approximately 7000 contacts with employers.

We also improved the knowledge rate of where students are going after graduation. We call these employment outcome surveys.  We improved the knowledge rate from 50% to 94% -- so we have a better understanding of where students are placed.

In March 2014, we launched a program where we make field trips to explore career options.  Our first visit was to Washington DC where we leveraged the alumni population and students were able to explore career options in global health and government.

I wrote a book for students. It’s a handbook with about 150 documents collated and has career related information, resume examples, networking, interviewing tips and more. This book is only available for Mailman School students and alumni. It is downloadable here: http://tinyurl.com/ocshandbooknew. 

Career Services:

E-Mailman is geared toward alumni readers.  Some alumni may not know that career services are available to alumni.  Can you describe the services offered to alumni?  What resources do alumni find most useful in your opinion?

Career Services is committed to providing free, lifetime career services to alumni.  So any alumni who find themselves in career transition can reach out and make an appointment.  We now have 4 staff on board to support this and we all have background/training on resume writing, networking, interviewing, salary negotiating and other relevant skills.

We also have a job board that alumni can access as well as students. Alumni can access online resources.  Alumni can also make appointments with Career Services – however, during the semester we ask that alumni limit the number of appointments to no more than 2 per semester so that we can prioritize current students. However, during the summer there are no limitations to the number of appointments.

Recent graduates – meaning 1 year after graduation - are still considered students and can still have up to 2 appointments per month. Of course, if an alum has been struggling and is unemployed, we will try to accommodate as best we can.

We are proud of this service because not all schools provide career services to alumni.

We also have an alumni relations director and we try to encourage students to reach out to alumni.

Do you have recent examples of how the Office of Career Services has helped alumni in their job search?  Can you give us a couple of examples of alumni whom you linked to new jobs?  People always like to hear about success stories.

Actually approximately 17%-18% of our appointments are with alumni. We recently had an alumna do a practice interview over Skype. She had not done a job search in a while. We helped her to talk through the answers for the interview and she was much more confident after the session.

Another alumnus was navigating a difficult situation where he had been let go from a job. We helped him navigate how to deal with references as he didn’t leave the last job on good terms.

We’ve helped alumni with disabilities on how to disclose or ask for accommodations during the job search process.

We’ve also helped an alumnus who took off 5 years to raise a family and was trying to re-enter the workplace.

We make introductions between alumni and organizations where alumni want to work.

What advice would you give to recent graduates about job-seeking?

A job search is a journey – know what your goals are so you can be strategic in targeting. On the other hand, it’s not always a straight, direct line for everybody. Many people have a meandering path. So, put yourself in the right place at the right time.

Alumnus Francisco Ramirez who spoke on a panel recently put it nicely.  He works at Planned Parenthood and has also worked for the United Nations. He told a group of students on a panel how he was invited to a party and met people working in the UN.  He ended up getting a job at the UN because of those contacts from the party.  So he always says – “go to the party.”

In other words, put yourself into situations that may lead to a job. 

Some other tips from Heather:

• Apply even if you’re not sure you’re qualified, as long as you meet the majority of the requirements.  What are the odds of getting a job if you don’t apply?
• Make sure you have a quality application.
• Make use of our Career Services.  It helps to improve your odds ratio so that you have a better chance of getting the offer. These are skills that don’t necessarily get taught in class. Career Services is here to help you do your best in each step of the job search process.

What advice would you give to mid-career grads about job-seeking?

People in careers easily forget that you need to continue to network. You just never know when something could happen – so maintaining relationships with people and continuing to build your skills is always important.

Stay on top of trends in your field, new technology, professional development and advocate for yourself. Always aim for growth – if your existing job has an opportunity for growth, go for it.

Don’t take your job or career for granted. Keep your network fresh.

Personal:

If there were one thing you would like our alumni to know about you, what would it be?

I’m in this field because I love every second of it!   I love the students and the alumni and enjoy working as an ally to people in transition.

Mailman is a community and alumni should feel a part of the community.  Alumni should know that you always have a home at Mailman. 

Come back and mentor people. Come back and hire people either as graduates or interns. But if you need us we are here to help.