From Business to Healthcare: How One Woman Found Her Calling
The last few years brought about a very different working experience for everyone when the pandemic swept across the globe. Here, in Singapore, COVID-19 response teams sprang into action, changing the way that people worked and lived. During that time, Isabella Ang was part of one of these teams in charge of COVID-19 operations. Currently a secretariat in the healthcare industry, she shares why she chose to stay on in the healthcare industry even after Singapore eased back into pre-pandemic situation.
The End of a Season
As COVID-19 operations died down and big operations downscaled, many of those who had contributed to safeguarding the nation in that time started looking for other jobs. Isabella turned to JobStreet to begin her job search and eventually applied to be a manager of central region trauma services. Her job scope includes community outreach and awareness as well as managing regional workflow for a total of six public hospitals.
“It’s tough but it’s a good kind of challenge,” Isabella shares when asked about her new job. As it is a role in healthcare, some aspects of her job scope are niche or specific, but she finds it interesting to learn and pick up new things. Additionally, her department is relatively new so she says that it is difficult to find someone with the exact hard skills to fit the role requirements.
Prior to joining the healthcare industry during the pandemic, Isabella was in business, doing development and property investment. Isabella says that her time in a COVID-19 response team helped to ease her into her current job as a secretariat. She saw that there were similar operational aspects and that many of her skills were transferrable and could be used in different contexts, such as soft skills related to PR and communications, liaison, and corporate communications. A certain degree of medical background was also necessary to understand the severity of situations, which was what she picked up in the COVID-19 response team.
She faced some difficulties during the transition between jobs, sharing that communication and levels of understanding are very different between people in the various parts of operations, such as people who work on the frontline and those in the backend. To overcome these challenges, she had to work hard and upskill. Not only that, but she also had the support of a tight-knit team.
“Along the way, I met very good people,” Isabella shares. “There was this understanding that everyone is in this together.” As her department is relatively new, she says that there was a lot of trial and error, and everyone tried different things until they made things work. By doing so, they were able to learn together and grow as a team.
One Thing You Can Do for the Rest of Your Life
When asked how she searched and prepared for her current job, Isabella says she started by asking herself, “What is one thing I can do for the rest of my life?”
Isabella had a clear idea of what she wanted to do so she narrowed down the industry she wanted to work in according to how relevant it was to her interests and previous experiences. Following that, she narrowed down the job scope to avoid roles which did not match with her preferences. “Throughout my entire career, I’ve only used JobStreet,” Isabella admits. She says that the jobs filter function helped her streamline her job search and she was recommended roles that gave her a high chance of matching with an employer’s requirements. Hence, the process of applying for a job to getting hired was a relatively smooth process for her.
“For a lot of people, the first thing they do when they wake up in the morning is check their social media and emails,” Isabella explains. During her job search, she was sent job recommendations and matches according to her preferences by LiNa, JobStreet’s job alert system, and she would scroll through them after waking up in the morning to see what was suitable for her. She says that employers put their expectations clearly in their job listings, so it was easy to filter out which jobs she wants to apply to.
For many making a mid-career switch like her, Isabella found JobStreet’s resources helpful in streamlining her search for a job she wanted, which has helped her get her current job in healthcare.
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