The future is full of possibilities for Annelise Kolf, a new graduate optometrist who has successfully transitioned to the workforce after enjoying university life.
I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in optometry in my last couple of years at high school. I knew that I wanted a job in healthcare as I was passionate about helping people and enjoyed sciences at school.
I grew up short-sighted and had to wear glasses and contact lenses to see clearly. As a result, I had already interacted frequently with optometry clinics and the profession had captured my interest.
Therefore, when representatives from Auckland University visited my high school and mentioned the optometry program in their talk, I decided that this job sounded like the perfect fit for me. It was a healthcare role with a high level of patient interaction, which is something that I was looking for.
I grew up in Christchurch but decided to take the gamble and travel to Auckland to attend Auckland University, where I was lucky enough to be accepted into optometry after my first year of general biomedical sciences.
UNI HIGHLIGHTS
One of my favourite things about studying optometry was how small the cohort was. With only 60 people per year, I got to know everyone really quickly. The optometry student board was always organising pub quizzes, game nights, and soirées, so there was no way you couldn’t make friends.
By the end of the degree I had 59 new friends, which made the transition into my first job so much easier – there’s usually always someone who is practising in the same city.
Furthermore, as a really interactive course with lots of labs and group projects, I gained a lot of hands-on experience. This meant I felt prepared as I left the course. It also made university a lot more interesting and stimulating.
ENTERING THE REAL WORLD
I started my first job at OPSM Merivale Christchurch in January 2024 and found the first couple of weeks really rewarding. I found that I thoroughly enjoyed helping people’s vision improve, and consequently people’s lives.
My favourite thing was watching the patient’s reaction when I showed them the comparison between their vision without glasses versus with glasses at the end of the examination and seeing their face light up when they could see so much more than they used to.
I work closely with the retail team and my area eye care manager was – and continues to be – a huge pillar of support, as he makes himself available for any email or text queries, helping me work through any tricky cases.
LEANING ON A MENTOR
OPSM provided me with a mentor for the first three months of my new graduate journey. My mentor worked alongside me at OPSM Merivale and was extremely helpful with her wealth of knowledge and experience.
My mentor’s job was to ease my transition into becoming a full-time optometrist. She did this by setting aside 30 minutes each day for us to go over any interesting cases or chat about anything I was struggling with.
She was also available for any questions throughout the day while we were testing our own patients, which was helpful if I had an urgent situation needing an answer.
She also looked at any unusual ocular health cases I had, and offered a second opinion, which I found invaluable.
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
In the next couple of years, I hope to continue learning through experience and gain a wider range of exposure to unusual eye conditions. Ideally, I would love to become skilled in advanced contact lens fittings.
I’m also very interested to pursue a volunteering role in EssilorLuxottica’s OneSight program, to gain exposure to different ocular health conditions, and provide much needed eyecare to communities in need.
Annelise Kolf BOptom (Hons) is a therapeutically endorsed optometrist working at OPSM Merivale in Christchurch, New Zealand.
