How to Gain Pre-Career Experience as an Undergraduate Bioscience Student: A Personal Reflection
In 2015, I attended my first Nigerian Society for Microbiology conference at the University of Lagos. There, I realised that microbiologists and other bioscientists “cannot” work in Nigerian hospitals. As an aspiring biomedical researcher, I found this revelation shocking and appalling. In Nigeria, “only” medical laboratory scientists are licensed to conduct medical diagnostic services in hospitals. While this restriction is deeply rooted in the country’s drastic rate of unemployment, I strongly believe that it is one of the factors impeding the Nigerian healthcare system, a challenge I intend to address in the future. However, since many Microbiology students in Nigeria aspire to become biomedical professionals, the lack of insights and prospects about microbial science beyond working within hospitals affect their understanding of careers in microbiology.
I recently read Chris C. Anderson’s newsletter — Career Forward, where I came across the term “Pre-Career Experiences”. Despite being my first encounter with the term, it sounded quite familiar because it reminded me of a journey which began during my undergraduate days at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. As an undergraduate student of Microbiology between 2014 and 2018 at the Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Ilorin, I engaged in relevant activities that helped build my skills and confidence as a professional microbiologist. These activities include work-study programmes, volunteering, undergraduate internships, and research projects. Whilst some of these activities were voluntary, most were done to cope with the financial challenges I had at that time. I later realised these activities, although overwhelming and quite challenging to combine with school activities, were worthy causes that effectively positioned me for opportunities I accessed after my university education.
My pre-career experiences were very instrumental in helping me gain a relevant job position before I completed the National Youth Service Corps. Currently enrolled in a Vaccinology masters program, I have had 4 years of work experience across different sectors including environmental management, animal health, food safety and public health.
What are Pre-Career Experiences?
According to Anderson, these are jobs you will typically leave out from your resume post-graduation as you advance the career within your chosen profession. They generally are “random” jobs you may have explored during your university education or internships and industrial attachments you engaged in as part of your learning.
My ‘Pre-career’ Experience as an Undergraduate Microbiology Student
It is now a norm to witness the shock on the faces of many Nigerian microbiology students I have mentored over the years or interacted with at seminars when I tell them I got a job before concluding the National Youths Service Corps program, a mandatory one-year national service for cultural integration of the Nigerian youths.
Although I knew that the numerous jobs I took up positioned me for this opportunity, I had never expected them to yield such positive impacts. As I write about these experiences to inspire undergraduate students in biosciences, I hope that by accessing related opportunities, they too can break into the job market, especially in a discipline that is difficult to navigate, given Nigeria’s current unemployment realities.
How the Young Iyiola Would Spend a 3-month Break
In 2015, after concluding my first year as an undergraduate, the university had a break that I considered very long. I wanted to maximise this break, so I sought an opportunity in a hospital close to my residence. I was curious about what went on in the medical lab. The Chief Medical Officer tasked me to write an application (submitting a resume and cover letter) to serve as an intern and gain access to the medical laboratory, which doubled as a tuberculosis testing centre.
I thought this was a strange request as I had no experience that could be included in a curriculum vitae. Thinking deeply, I realised I had experience serving as a sales assistant for my mom’s merchandise. I also had videography experience, with skills in video editing and graphics design, which I had picked up naturally in my dad’s video-editing studio.
Although these skills were not relevant to the position, I compiled them alongside a few online courses on medical science and public health (which I had taken to impress the Chief Medical Officer). Then, using samples of CVs I found online, I designed my CV from almost scratch. I did not leave out my educational achievements so far, particularly the excellent grades in the chemistry and physics laboratory courses I had taken in my first-year.
The skills and experiences I gained during this internship, which laid the groundwork for my career, are summarised below.
- I gained skills in routine medical diagnostics, including testing for sexually-transmitted diseases (e.g. HIV), genotype testing, and Widal testing for cholera.
- I got exposed to tuberculosis testing using GeneXpert, and gained hands-on experience in acid-fast bacilli staining technique.
- I realised the public health implication of immunocompromised patients (most HIV patients come down with tuberculosis) and the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance (due to multiple-drug resistant tuberculosis).
- I gained practical knowledge of the usage of lab equipment: electrophoresis machine, compound microscope, etc.
I have alighted these experiences to show the benefits of utilising free time during undergraduate education, especially in light of the academic strikes most students would have to grapple with during their education. In Nigeria, these strikes result from the tussle between the federal government and the academic staff union of universities.
Driven by Survival, Motivated by Pain…
Losing my father during my freshman year at school in 2015, motivated me to seek job opportunities as a student. My dad was a major contributor to my finances, a best friend, and an unspoken mentor and model.
However, the dynamics changed after his death and I faced the risk of dropping out of school. Easing my mother’s aggravating financial burden became vital, so I explored some student jobs throughout my university years. They include:
- The work-study programme, Technical and Entrepreneurship Centre, University of Ilorin
When I discovered that the Technical and Entrepreneurship Centre of the University of Ilorin offered student-job opportunities for students with a CGPA of about 4.0 out of 5.0, I applied for this competitive job in my second and third years. I worked at the Faculties of Civil Engineering and Veterinary Medicine for 10 hours weekly, respectively.
Although these job activities were typically administrative duties, they taught me time management (I never missed a class session due to these jobs), communication, teamwork, interpersonal skills, and resilience.
- Part-time Teaching
I started teaching A-level courses in Chemistry and Biology for students preparing for IJMB (Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) and JUPEB (Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board) examinations at two different centres in my third and fourth year in school.
These experiences solidified my knowledge of the subjects and helped me scale through the biology courses I explored during my undergraduate education. For instance, I obtained distinctions in five plant biology courses and 15 distinctions out of the 18 microbiology courses I studied as an undergraduate — the perks of teaching.
Teaching built my confidence, verbal and written communication, and presentation skills. Although I was often faced with the daunting challenge of educating people that were older and more physically built than me, and it occasionally resulted in bullying and mockery, I had to make money after all. I learnt to stop looking at Uche’s face.
- Home lessons
Realising I had excellent teaching skills, I started exploring home lesson teaching opportunities. I helped several parents prepare their wards in high school for O’-level exams (WAEC and NECO) and UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination). Aside from the cool cash, this act often came with free food.
Struggles with getting a SIWES (Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme) and the Relevance of Building a Network by Working Diligently
The reality of securing a relevant job position as a Microbiology student dawned on my colleagues and me in our third year as undergraduates.
I communicated my stress with the senior administrative staff at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and he recommended the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH), University of Ilorin at Sabo-Oke.
This astute healthcare facility provided animal health care for pet-owners, animal agribusinesses, and veterinary research to improve global public health. Observing my SIWES at VTH, UNILORIN redefined my career path as a microbiologist. Every laboratory skill I could boast of as a graduate of Microbiology in 2018 emerged from there.
Posted to the Central Diagnostic Unit, I spent my four-month experience rotating across parasitology, clinical chemistry, and haematology labs. However, I spent the most time in the microbiology lab.
Aside from gaining extensive skills in microbiology techniques across veterinary and public health microbiology, I also had the opportunity to join some veterinarians-in-training during small animal surgical operations and participate in an anti-rabies campaign. The highlight of working at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital was the opportunity to work alongside two veterinarians doing their PhD benchwork in the microbiology lab. There, I further gained extensive techniques in serological testing of viral diseases. I also understood antimicrobial resistance in animal health and gained profound knowledge by reading about One Health: Integrated Environmental, Human and Animal Health. I had 80% on the completion of my SIWES.
Undergraduate Project: The Emergence of a One-Health Professional
Leveraging my SIWES experience, I agreed with my undergraduate supervisor on a relevant topic that would still fit his laboratory research expertise as an environmental microbiologist. This led me to work on the Epidemiological Implications of Wastewater from Abattoirs, which involved isolating and characterising pathogenic bacteria from wastewater sampled from public slaughterhouses within the Ilorin metropolis.
This project identified the possible transmission of drug-resistant pathogens through the environment to humans, as the untreated wastewater from public abattoirs is discharged to receiving water bodies. I tweeted about this, but you can also read the published article in a PubMed-indexed journal.
The entire project took exactly eight months to complete. My passion for this topic and my extensive laboratory skills motivated me to work in the laboratory after school hours and on weekends. Serving as the project group leader, I was also accountable, handling the contributed funds of 24 students, which summed up to about 1.2 million naira.
My experiences over the past years paid off during this period as I improved on my project management skills, managing both financial resources and laboratory materials and equipment. I worked hard and gained relevant knowledge and skills which positioned me for my first post-NYSC experience as an environmental microbiologist in a leading environmental firm in Lagos state.
Still an Early-Career Professional…
While graduating from the University, I could boast of about two years of relevant work experience (an eight-month undergraduate research + a four-month SIWES + another eight-month combined work-study programme with TEC, + weekly A’Level and O’level tutoring). As a First Class Honours graduate, I had the opportunity to gain one year of experience as a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Microbiology, in the tertiary institution where I got posted for my national service.
Overall, I had a credible CV, a wealth of experience, leadership skills, and laboratory skills in environmental microbiology, veterinary microbiology, and public health. And perhaps, more importantly, I had found a personal cause in championing the One Health approach leveraging my years of experience as a laboratory scientist and public health professional (working in environmental management and food safety). Through my participation in voluntary research activities, I have co-authored over 30 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, which have garnered over 150 citations as at the time of this writing.
Today, the journey I embarked on as a young undergraduate student has led me to five fully-funded scholarship offers (3 fully-funded PhD offers and the Erasmus Masters Scholarships in Infectious Diseases and One Health (IDOH) and the Leading International Vaccinology Education (LIVE)) for Fall 2022. Now enrolled in the Leading International Vaccinology Education MSc programme, I am gaining skills in vaccinology to tackle antimicrobial resistance and proffer solutions toward sustainable vaccine manufacturing in Africa.
Some Final Words
Looking back at my journey, I wouldn’t say I took intentional or guided steps to achieve the impressive career outcomes I have now. I was just a desperate kid that needed to survive but took some strategic steps.
I believe this will inspire you to take actionable steps and work hard to build the career you want. All thanks to God, colleagues, friends, lecturers, and institutions that supported me all along. I wouldn’t have achieved this without them.
