Advent Health hosts Match Day for nursing students to help them find jobs after graduation

KANSAS CITY, MO — Carissa Handzel spent a few years in architectural design, but during COVID she decided to look for a new career.

“I wanted to be able to find employment and I love the aspect of being able to learn different things along the way,” said Handzel. “ It was a big year for all of us, life changing in ways and that’s when it really hit me. To think I’m at this cross roads, I want to look back and be proud of my accomplishments.”

She looked at becoming a nurse and is scheduled to graduate from a nursing program in May 2024.

Handzel is working as a nurse tech for Advent Health.

“I’ve had a great experience with nurses,”Handzel said. “And just having that empathy and caring for people, the whole person, that’s what drew me to it.”

She was excited, at age 45, to find her place in a hospital at Advent Health’s match day for nursing students.

“It’s an opportunity for us to start building that relationship with them while they are in school,” said Lora O’Connor Human Resources Business Partner for Advent Health. “We bring them in to have opportunities to start to explore Advent Health and different options that they might have within the organization.”

O’Connor said COVID continues to impact the the health care industry across the country.

A match day is a great way to give future nurses a chance to see how the nursing jobs work after school is over..

“It’s just been a very challenging career for many people to try to get back into, but we are really starting to see that there are so many people that have found that is their calling,” said O’Connor.

It means students like Carissa can get placed into the area that best suits them.

“Looking for something drastic and something that over the years, one thing I learned about myself was I like to work with people and make a bigger impact in my community,” Handzel said.