Health Professional Students

Get Career Ready

Career development isn’t a one-time decision—it’s an ongoing lifelong process. 

The Career and Professional Development Health Team has developed a specialized HPS career readiness framework to help students strategically plan their time and build their skills with clarity and confidence. 

Begin your self-assessment for each stage below.

Stage 1: Self-Assessment & Career Planning

Focused inward on developing self-determination, exploration, and planning insights & skills. 

Health professional student outside thinking
I know and can:
  1. Set short-term and long-term goals aligned with one's interests, skills, and values.
  2. Assess alignment between one's interests, skills, and values and professional opportunities.
  3. Identify internal and structural barriers affecting career decisions and develop strategies to access resources that address them.
  4. Identify and apply personalized criteria to make informed career decisions.

→ Not sure where to begin? 

  1. Use our customized Career Readiness Assessment Tool to evaluate your skills, receive personalized feedback, and identify opportunities to support your professional growth. 
  2. Explore your learner group's CPD Resource Hub for resources to build competency in this area, (i.e. Pharmacy CPD Resource Hub, etc.)
  3. Lastly, don't forget to schedule a career counseling appointment to begin creating your annual career plan.

 

Stage 2: Enhance Professional Communication & Relationships

Navigate the transition between personal goals and external realities by developing workplace navigation skills and building mentorship support to balance competing priorities.

Health professional student outside with tablet
I know and can:
  1. Describe one’s professional communication and feedback preferences and assess the
    preferences of others.
  2. Strategically navigate conversations to advocate for one’s professional learning.
  3. Identify and assess implicit and explicit professional norms and expectations, including hidden
    curriculum dynamics, across professional settings.
  4. Initiate, manage, and transition mentorship relationships in alignment with one’s mentorship
    goals.

→ Not sure where to begin? 

  1. Use our customized Career Readiness Assessment Tool to evaluate your skills, receive personalized feedback, and identify opportunities to support your professional growth. 
  2. Explore your learner group's CPD Resource Hub for resources to build competency in this area, (i.e. Pharmacy CPD Resource Hub, etc.)
  3. Lastly, don't forget to schedule a career counseling appointment to begin creating your annual career plan.

 

Stage 3: Build a Professional Brand & Community

Refine and align an evolving professional identity with building recognition for strengths and contributions within their professional community. 

Health professional student outside looking at tablet
I know and can:
  1. Develop and refine a professional identity and brand.
  2. Communicate and adapt one’s professional brand to varied audiences.
  3. Build a robust professional network aligned with one’s networking goals.
  4. Develop and strategically leverage professional communication strategies (written, digital, and social) within team and organizational dynamics.

→ Not sure where to begin? 

  1. Use our customized Career Readiness Assessment Tool to evaluate your skills, receive personalized feedback, and identify opportunities to support your professional growth. 
  2. Explore your learner group's CPD Resource Hub for resources to build competency in this area, (i.e. Pharmacy CPD Resource Hub, etc.)
  3. Lastly, don't forget to schedule a career counseling appointment to begin creating your annual career plan.

 

Stage 4: Career Launch

Leverage developed self-awareness and agency to confidently pursue competitive post-graduate opportunities with greater strategic focus. 

Health professional student smiling outside
I know and can:
  1. Identify and assess fit with professional opportunities during a search and selection process.
  2. Develop tailored application materials that effectively communicate one’s skills and experience.
  3. Communicate one’s goals, interests, skills, qualifications, and personality during an interview.
  4. Evaluate and negotiate offers in alignment with one’s support and compensation needs.

→ Not sure where to begin? 

  1. Use our customized Career Readiness Assessment Tool to evaluate your skills, receive personalized feedback, and identify opportunities to support your professional growth. 
  2. Explore your learner group's CPD Resource Hub for resources to build competency in this area, (i.e. Pharmacy CPD Resource Hub, etc.)
  3. Lastly, don't forget to schedule a career counseling appointment to begin creating your annual career plan.

 

→ Not sure where to begin? Use our customized Career Readiness Assessment Tool to evaluate your skills, receive personalized feedback, and identify opportunities to support your professional growth 

Start the Conversation

Meet the Team

Anna Reeves

Anna Reeves, MS, APCC
Assistant Director, Health Careers

More about Anna >>>
  • Anna leads the Health Careers team, where she manages team operations, trains and supervises Health Careers staff and a graduate Career Counseling Intern, and provides career counseling while creating tailored programs and resources that guide students through complex  workplace training concerns and career decision-making.
  • She has supported health professional students at UCSF since 2015.  Previously, she counseled pre-health students while working in UC Berkeley's Career Center.
Sarah Tanase

Sarah Tanase, MA
Program Director, Health Careers

More about Sarah >>>
  • Sarah designs and facilitates career and professional development programs, creates resources, and counsels students. She also co-supervises the Health Team's Career Outreach Peers.
  • Sarah previously worked for Stanford Career Education, similarly developing a career development program curriculum and providing individual counseling to their students and alumni.
Carla Vaccarezza Bass

Carla Vaccarezza Bass, MA
Health Careers Counselor

More about Carla >>>
  • Carla provides counseling to health career professionals at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
  • Prior to UCSF, Carla was the Associate Director at Kellogg School of Management. She coached Evening & Weekend MBA and Executive MBA students, managed an innovative career education portfolio, and led strategic initiatives. Carla also coached biomedical students, researchers, and trainees at Stanford School of Medicine. Her counseling experience spans time at UC Berkeley Goldman School and Stanford Career Education where she served as a strategic partner to graduate and undergraduate students.
Kathleen Cassidy

Kathleen Cassidy, MS, CPCC, BCC
Health Careers Counselor

More about Kathleen >>>
  • Kathleen provides career coaching to health professional students and trainees through the UCSF Office of Career and Professional Development.
  • Kathleen has more than 25 years of experience in higher education, counseling, coaching, and career development. Prior to her current role, she served as Assistant Director and Associate Director at Stanford Career Education, supporting undergraduate, master's, and PhD students in career exploration, internship and job searches, and professional development. 
  • Her previous experience also includes serving as Program Director/Career Counselor for health professional students and alumni at UCSF and as a Career Counselor at UC Berkeley Counseling and Psychological Services, helping students clarify goals, make educational and career decisions, and pursue meaningful opportunities.

Move forward with confidence and clarity.

Reflect on your growth, identify your strengths, and discover how prepared you are for your next professional opportunity by using our customized Career Readiness Assessment Tool 

Schedule an appointment