Harrisonburg News
Campus News & Events
National Graduate Accommodates a New Hiring Strategy
In July, Career Center Director Emily Sterrett at the Harrisonburg Campus got a call from Christina Blyer, the nurse manager at James Madison University's Student Health Center. Christina revealed that the health center was ready to move into a new type of hiring strategy, based on the success of other university health centers across the country: they wanted to hire medical assistants instead of LPNs to assist their providers.
Christina asked Emily for a referral of a medical assistant interested in working part-time. They will be expanding their health services in one to two years and anticipate moving this position to full-time and hiring additional medical assistants. If they are pleased with the results of this new position, she will likely turn to Emily again in the future for more referrals.
Emily referred National graduate Brooke Boyd. Emily knows that Brooke will demonstrate the high level of knowledge and competency National students possess as she recently passed the Registered Medical Assisting exam. Emily said, "Because Brooke was such a good student and performed so well in her externship site, we were confident it would be a good match."
Brooke was hired at the beginning of August and says she loves her job. She is primarily assisting the nurse practitioner in the women's clinics. Although she is the first medical assistant, she has felt very accepted and has fit right into the flow of the health center. She is proud of what she learned that has prepared her well for the challenges of her new job. She is representing herself and National College well, and we are proud of her.
