From Study to Practice at Caro Health

Since March, Loren Bulsink has been working as a student employee at Caro Health, where she focuses on Customer Success & Communications. In addition to her work at Caro, she is working on her thesis for her Master’s in Corporate Communication at the University of Amsterdam, which is scheduled for completion in June. We spoke with Loren about her experience as a student employee at Caro over the past few months. 

‘Looking for a part-time job that could enhance my studies in Corporate Communication and offer practical experience alongside my studies, I found my way to Caro Health,’ Loren shares. Although she initially had no background in healthcare, she has always nurtured a passion for innovation and a person-centred approach. ‘During my studies, I discovered my interest in health communication,’ she explains. There, she learned to design communication strategies for positive behaviour change and health purposes. Her previous work experiences in marketing and communications allowed her to explore various aspects of the communication field. ‘At Caro Health, I saw the opportunity to further expand this knowledge and gain experience within a rapidly growing health tech start-up, specialising in digitisation and healthcare innovation,’ she adds. 

Diverse Tasks and Creative Challenges

‘In my role as a student employee at Caro Health, I contribute to two key tasks,’ Loren explains. ‘On one hand, I am responsible for the implementation process for new clients. These processes vary, from setting up a digital recovery monitoring system for bladder clinic patients to supporting a dental clinic that wants to digitise the entire treatment process, including information brochures.’ In this way, Loren plays an important role in digitising and optimising treatments and surveys. ‘It’s really great to see how patients keep track of their health and recovery via our app, and it feels good to contribute to that,’ she adds. 

For the second main task, Loren can fully utilise her creativity. ‘I am responsible for our communication via social media and blog posts. Additionally, I work on designing product updates whenever we have new features in our app or our CMS (Content Management System), which are then sent to our clients. For these updates, I get to design many visuals, as we work with AI and cool features; it’s fantastic to see how the product updates are becoming more beautiful through our teamwork.’

Besides her tasks from the job description, Loren appreciates the space to share her own ideas and contribute to projects such as the redesign of the website and career page. ‘When I come up with ideas, there is always an enthusiastic response, and we immediately look to see if we can do something with them.’

Supportive Collaboration

‘Whenever I am engaged in an implementation process for one of our clients, an evaluation is always conducted,’ Loren explains. ‘Given that we deal with patient and health information, it is important that this data is always handled carefully.’ Once an assignment is completed and can go live, there is always a colleague ready to check in with her. ‘I can always reach out to a colleague for feedback,’ she continues. ‘With their valuable feedback, we elevate the work together.’ Additionally, Loren appreciates the open and honest atmosphere at Caro. ‘It gives me the space to make mistakes,’ she says. ‘This encourages me to quickly tackle things independently and continuously improve myself.’

Preparation for New Duties

Working with implementation processes and a CMS was initially entirely new for Loren. In her first few weeks on the job, she was thoroughly prepared to master the CMS and information about various healthcare processes. ‘When I don’t understand something, I can ask my colleagues about it,’ Loren explains. ‘Each of them has extensive knowledge of the field and the various care treatments and clinics.’ Loren is very pleased with the guidance provided in the workplace.

The Best Way to Learn is by Doing

‘From day one, I felt at home in the team. During the interview, there was an immediate connection, and in my first week, I jumped right in during a team outing and dinner,’ Loren shares. ‘I was quickly introduced to the various clients and projects, and soon I was able to work independently once they saw that I was picking it up. I found that quite pleasant, as I believe that you learn best by doing.’ Loren emphasises the open atmosphere in the office, which particularly attracted her to work at a start-up. 'Here you feel like you can approach anyone, and you realise that your contribution is of great value to the team.’

Advice from Loren

‘If you have a passion for innovative solutions, digitisation, healthcare, communication, and a person-centred approach, then this student employee position at Caro offers you an excellent opportunity to learn the ropes of the profession in practice,’ Loren advises. ‘I would definitely recommend it. I really feel that I have the space to develop myself, including the freedom to make mistakes and come up with my own ideas.’ She adds: ‘Moreover, I have rarely worked in a team that is as open and welcoming as this one, where we also engage in a lot of fun activities, such as padel, drinks, and dining out. This strengthens our team spirit and allows us to celebrate our successes.’

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👉 Are you curious about working at Caro Health? Discover our open vacancies here and perhaps you will soon be our new team member!