Üsküdar Üniversitesi organized Career Days, which continued with the Faculty of Health Sciences (SBF) and Vocational School of Health Services (SHMYO) Sector Meetings. At the event, Üsküdar Üniversitesi Human Resources Director and NPİSTANBUL Beyin Hastanesi Quality and Human Resources Director Serdar Karagöz took part as a speaker.
Karagöz stated that idealism is generally at its peak in one's 20s; “We think we are equipped with theoretical knowledge. But especially in the field of health, as we know, there is a process that we need to observe, from manipulation, manual dexterity, touching the patient, contact, from the admission of all patients in the hospital to their discharge, and sometimes even home care services after discharge. But we usually think that as soon as we graduate, as an energy devoid of insight, we can directly deal with all patient care, manage it, and if we have graduated from a more managerial department like health, we can directly become a hospital manager or director. Therefore, our expectations are high.”
“It is necessary to set measurable and achievable goals”
Karagöz gave examples from his own life; “After graduating first in my education, I applied for jobs with high expectations that I would definitely get hired, but it didn't happen that way. When I entered the hospital, the atmosphere there was different. As you know, hospitals are managed by matrix groups. The medical staff has administrative superiority. Therefore, amidst that chaos, my theoretical knowledge was certainly very useful, but in the 'kitchen' of the work, I saw that our manual skills and manipulation developed by giving an injection to a patient. After entering working life, I started to gain insight about myself. I realized that I had crammed all the expectations I had accumulated throughout my life into the day after my graduation. So, it is necessary to spread this over time so that we can minimize that conflict of being experienced versus being unable to get a job without experience. I was a brilliant student; I finished faculties first, but far from getting a job, even the place where I interned was the technical service of a good hospital because they didn't accept me for an internship. When I went to apply with my documents, they said, 'We don't need such an intern.' When I asked, 'What do you need?', they said, 'We don't need anything, but talk to the technical service, maybe you can get a position.' I was from a small town in Turkey, and I didn't know anywhere in Istanbul. The reason I mention these is that we need to experience certain limitations so that we can put effort into overcoming them, increase our awareness about what comes next, and proceed with more concrete goals. I worked in technical service with those masters for a whole summer. When I stepped into that place, I was a brilliant student, I had graduated from Marmara University, I knew English, but I did my internship there for 3 months, staying in on-call dormitories. Later, by networking with people I met, even in an elevator, I asked, 'Can I observe your activities?' At the end of my 3rd year, I started working as a quality manager at the hospital. Those who underestimated my internship and my friends who went on holiday and made fun of me, later interned with me in their 4th year. I am not saying these to boast, but we need to spread our expectations over time and set measurable and achievable goals for ourselves. We might not be very aware of this at that age; we need to get ideas and support from professionals in this field. It's not very possible to draw the course of life; there are many environmental factors. While we cannot interfere with our genetics, we also cannot interfere with the flow of life; what we need to do is to be able to say in the future that 'I did my best.'”
“People who do not draw inspiration from their own assets cannot be successful”
Karagöz, stating that geography is not destiny; “This is entirely in response to learned helplessness. In our time, there was no YouTube, no educational platforms, we couldn't watch English TV series. Now, with so many resources, people ask, 'Don't you know English?' I am not a college graduate, I never took an English course. Alongside the study routine I mentioned during my student years, on Saturdays and Sundays, I would go to Sultanahmet early in the morning and sit somewhere until evening, waiting for someone to say 'hello' to me in English, and then engage in dialogue; I would 'chase' tourists. Years later, I gave a presentation representing my country at the White House in the USA. Therefore, the geography you are born into is not your destiny; on the contrary, the geography you are born into is your strength, and the family you are born into is also your strength. People who do not draw inspiration from their own assets cannot be successful.”