By snoadmin
The Career Development Center welcomed a panel of gerontology professionals Wednesday, who offered insight and relief to a conference room of 20 students in search for the best internship opportunity.
The panel represented a diverse group of professionals from all aspects of the gerontology field, including Edgar Riviera of Older Adult Services on Mental Health, Anne Kanter-Edwards from Lakeview Senior Center in Irvine, Ericka Danczak from the County of Orange Office of Aging, Elisabeth Nelson of Guadalupe Manor in Fountain Valley, and Theresa Marino from the Long Beach Bureau of Public Health.
The panelists all agreed that the best advice for any gerontology intern is to be ready for the unexpected.
“You have to know how to be creative in your engagement with older adults who are not willing to admit that they have a mental problem,” Riviera said.
Riviera discussed the difficulties of working with individuals who are at a point in life where admitting they need help is hard. The panel overwhelmingly agreed that gerontology is not a career to go into if you do not have patience and compassion for helping others.
“If you don’t have a servanthood heart for working with older adults, you’re in the wrong field,” Nelson said.
Nelson, who works in affordable housing for adults on fixed incomes, explained how gerontology covers many different fields.
“Seniors want quality goods and services just as any other person,” Nelson said. “Don’t have tunnel vision in your job choices. Be open to trying new things that will make your career interesting.”
Innovation and assertion were identified as key characteristics for those seeking gerontology internships.
“We understand that many undergrad students have other important obligations in their lives,” Kanter-Edwards said. “We are open to service projects where students have come up with projects on such things as hearing loss and other topics that interest them.”
Students in attendance were more than interested in the advice given by the panelists.
“It was a great opportunity to find out about different jobs in the industry,” said Ellen Wong, a gerontology graduate student.
Wong, who works in the Career Development Center’s Research Library, has personal experience working with the County of Orange’s Office of Aging.
“A lot of the things the representatives said were true,” Wong said. “Building other skills outside of the field is very important.”
Wong said that as an intern, she did more than she expected. She worked at different health fairs and had five years working case management for older adults.
“[Students] can’t come into internships saying, ‘I don’t do this. This is not what I came here for,'” Nelson said. “Gerontology requires responsibility, adaptability, and an open mind.”
Nelson cautioned students about the pressures and stresses that come with the job, saying she literally has put out fires, dealt with the government housing agency on a daily basis, and “like any other job in the field, you are going to have to deal with death.”
Internships can be a make-or-break addition to a student’s résumé, with real-world experience that employers are looking for.
“You can learn about gerontology from textbooks in school, but it’s not going to get you anywhere,” Kanter-Edwards said. “You’ll learn more from actual life experiences as an intern, which allows you to go to managers and other individuals in the field for more insight.”
