NH's Class of 2014 Lindsey St. Louis

In recent years, there’s been increased concern by state leaders about whether NH can keep its best and brightest. With the help of the NH College and University Council in Concord, Business NH Magazine checked in with colleges and universities around the state to find out what their top students are planning. Here’s what one graduate reported back to us.

Lindsey St. Louis, Colby-Sawyer College

Hometown: New London, NH

Degree Earned: BS in Health Care Management

GPA: 3.95

Career Aspirations: I would like to start off at a large teaching hospital in a role where I can use the full range of my skills and gain the experience needed for senior managerial work. Process improvement is an area I’m interested in. It incorporates project management and analytics, and often requires collaborative work and education, skills that I already have and want to continue to develop. I’d love to one day implement systemic process improvement within a large healthcare organization, a change that will bring greater efficiency and quality of care in the wake of healthcare reform and demographic shift.

Graduate School: I plan to attend graduate school in the future and obtain a Master’s Degree in either Business Administration or Healthcare Administration.

Have you landed a job? I am currently in the process of applying for positions in the northeast. 

What are the biggest challenges to finding employment? I find that holding a Bachelor’s Degree actually makes me overqualified for the positions to which I am technically suited. Positions that seek college graduates want Master’s Degrees or several years of experience.

Why stay in NH? I have not yet left NH, but I’ll go wherever the best position can take me. The largest teaching hospital in the state is Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where I had my college internship. It is a wonderful organization and I can imagine myself returning to them in the future.

Why move out of NH? I plan to move out of state. I have lived in NH for 14 years and feel that it has given me all it has to offer during this phase in my life. I’m looking forward to a time of growth and independence, a period during which I can expand my worldview and understanding of various healthcare markets. I want to identify best practices, test them, and think of real applications for improving other healthcare organizations. Perhaps I’ll return to NH one day to share what I’ve learned. Who knows? You may be looking at a future NH hospital CEO.