The Phi Lambda Sigma Pharmacy Leadership Society hosted a lecture on Nov. 7 featuring Tara Bradford, a Career Coach, Leadership Consultant and Host of the “For the Love of Giving” podcast. At Marillac Terrace A, students learned a variety of skills in order to strengthen their leadership skills and boost their confidence in starting their future careers, with fine dining of free pizza and soda.
Phi Lambda Sigma is the Pharmacy Leadership Society on campus. “Its mission is to support pharmacy leadership commitment by recognizing leaders and fostering leadership development. Students can apply to PLS in the Spring semester of their 3rd or 4th year of the pharmacy program, followed by an interview.”
The President, Isabelle Latvik, organized this event in order to, “educate students on the qualities a leader possesses and [to provide] different tips on how to lead effectively as well as job interview tips.” She continues, “I wanted a very baseline approach to leadership, not necessarily for those very experienced with leadership roles. Even students that feel like they are great leaders, there is always more one can learn.”
Throughout the lecture Bradford touched on topics such as how to market yourself, building a resume/cover letter, how to attack a job interview, how to confidently present ideas in the workplace and how to professionally solve disagreements. Bradford said, “There are things that you can start doing right now to be a leader in your program that don’t require you to have a job title, or to be a boss or to have any experience. You can start doing them right now in your classes, in the teams that you are a part of, so that you can start developing those leadership skills.”
These skills can include basic things such as voicing questions as soon as they arise, being 100 percent present during every class, a question every class, checking-in with professors about your performance regularly and joining a club. Applying these strategies as soon as possible could help them come more naturally later on in future careers and allow for increased success, according to Bradford.
One message delivered that many people may want to utilize is how to navigate conflict or share an original idea. This strategy may be an advantage to many who are unaware how to navigate discourse. When encountering these conversations, Bradford recommends, “…PAUSE, and take a deep breath… And listen to them and wait for them to finish talking…”
She explained that the PAUSE acronym stands for practice, acknowledge, understand, slow down and empathy. Practice the conversation with a friend in advance, acknowledge what the other person is saying so that they know you heard them, understand how you are reacting and their position and empathize with the reason this person is feeling or acting this way.
She also gave information tips about obtaining jobs, like researching the company before you apply for the job then asking questions about your research in the interview, which demonstrates your researching. Also find things when researching that you can include on your resume and cover letter that the specific company may value most.
Sammi Wu, a freshman PharmD student in attendance at the event said, “The talk really helped me become more motivated in reaching out to people. I really liked what she said about [using] LinkedIn and how easy it is to reach out to people.”
Another undergraduate student, Ann Maria George, a junior PA major shared that she learned, “how to approach hiring committees at jobs, resumes and how to interact with people.”
