Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

Interning in the Healthcare Industry as a Business Student

I discovered my desire to work in the Health Care industry on accident. It combined my two passions: operations and medicine. I was unsure of what to expect when I began my internship this summer with the performance improvement team at Cambridge Health Alliance, but I knew I had a passion for helping others. Interning at a safety-net hospital that provides care to under-served populations has reignited a desire to make a difference in my local community. The environment is fast-paced and requires a lot of it’s employees. I have been working on projects that involve data-analytics and paper writing. These two areas are very difference but have shown me the breadth of pursuing a career in the industry. I have found that the work-environment is difficult in a hospital setting. It creates leadership teams that comes from both clinical and business backgrounds and can cause disagreement around the best way to get tasks done. It makes roles harder to define but it also creates a space with ample opportunity for growth. I thrive when I am placed in environments filled with challenge and I have found it to be a place where I can both utilize skills and find new ones. The depth of the health care industry makes it a hard space to jump head-first into, but that also means there is always more to learn and become competent in. Over the years at Babson, I found myself jumping from concentration to concentration not sure where I wanted my future to take me. I have realized the most important part is that I am always learning and growing and therefore have found a niche of operations management that I still plan on pursuing in the future.