New Graduate Fields the Weak Job Market

Just a few weeks into Jennifer Singers’ job as project analyst in the finance project management department of Partners HealthCare in Boston, Massachusetts, her manager died unexpectedly, and the department was left without clear leadership.

Singer describes the experience, which happened over Christmas break in 2008, as interesting, especially considering that in a company of thousands, her department was staffed with only three employees, leaving hardly any hierarchy in decision making. For Singer, the autonomy she gained during those months of confusion and self-teaching before a new manager was hired helped enhance her interpersonal skills. But she didn’t gain these skills overnight. She credits her BYU experience with developing them in her.

“The MPA program gave me more confidence as a person in my social and professional interactions,&rdquo says Singer, who grew up naturally shy. “In the program you are put to the test on how confident you really can be.”

Singer says that the program’s focus on taking responsibility for decisions and projects helped her realize that she can make a difference and contribute positively.

There was a time, however, that making a difference in the public administration world did not seem like an option. Singer graduated in April 2008—in the dawn of one of the worst financial crises this century. She and her husband had planned on moving to Minnesota to further his education. When their plans changed and brought them to the east coast, she was well behind her classmates in the job search—pressing forward in a job market where one small setback may translate into prolonged unemployment.

Singer did not let these conditions deter her. With no job prospects, she relocated with her husband to her hometown in Boston. Perhaps it was her self-starter attitude; perhaps it was the business genes that run deep in her family (her father, Kim Clark, is former dean of Harvard Business School and current president of BYU-Idaho); perhaps it was the confidence instilled in her through the MPA program. Whatever it was, she was able to land her newest job working with Boston’s two largest hospitals, Mass General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s. She manages finance projects, conducts meetings, analyzes data, and makes finance-related decisions for the hospitals and other health-related companies.

For her, this job is a way to meaningfully contribute—something that has been her goal ever since serving local startup NGOs in Ghana as part of a study abroad program in 2007. Singer, as part of a group of MPA students, helped local NGOs with writing proposals to obtain funding for their organizations.

“It was touching to see people who really have the heart to do these projects,” she says. “This experience in Ghana made me want to do this even more.”

Boston will be Singer’s home for the next couple of years, allowing those in the area to benefit from the talents, energy, and enterprise of one of BYU’s finest.