After volunteering on two missions with Operation Smile in Ghana, West Africa, I decided I’d like nothing more than to become a Program Coordinator for the organization. Operation Smile is a medical non-profit that provides cleft lip and palate repair surgeries to children worldwide, and also raises awareness of these services within the target community. As a Program Coordinator, I would have had the opportunity to organize medical missions, bringing a diversity of volunteer professionals together to provide necessary acute care in underdeveloped countries with high incidence of untreated cleft lips and palates. Given my natural people and problem-solving skills and seeing, first hand, the job of Program Coordinator, I felt I was an excellent match for the job. …show more content…
The continual progression was grueling to say the least; out of a total of three hundred and fifty applicants, I was one of fifteen invited to the Operation Smile headquarters in Virginia for a final, full-day interview. I really thought I had the job. The interview process was exciting and challenging and now they had me on my toes, waiting for an answer. I was hopeful about becoming part of the Operation Smile Team and spreading smiles across the globe. By May 2015’s end, Operation Smile informed me that, though my skill set was desired, I had not been selected as a Program Coordinator. The difficult realization that I would not be able to achieve the career goal for which I had worked so hard left me devastated, wondering what to do next. I have always had a strong desire to help and care for people, and knew I had something to offer, but wasn’t sure where to channel my skills and