r/publichealth • u/SadBreath PhD/MPH • Aug 28 '19

ADVICE School and Jobs Advice Megathread Part III

All job and school-related advice should be asked in here. Below is the r/publichealth MPH guide which may answer general questions.

See the below guides for more information:

  1. MPH Guide
  2. Job Guide
  3. Choosing a public health field
  4. Choosing a public health concentration
  5. Choosing a public health industry

Past Threads:

  1. Megathread Part I
  2. Megathread Part II
79 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

309 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Thequeerestkidyoukno Aug 28 '19

I’m currently working on a BS in health promotion (minor in community informatics) and will be eligible to take the CHES exam after. I’m planning on getting my MPH 1-2 years after I graduate.

What can I do at my current job (std tester at a non profit clinic with an lgbtq organization) to really put me ahead in the job search after I get my bachelors? Maybe a particular skill that I should really polish?

3

u/SadBreath PhD/MPH Aug 30 '19

From a comment I made above:

Check out the MPH guide posted in this subreddit. tl;dr if you want a high ROI focus on hard skills, especially statistical programming and quantitative analysis. This comes into play in all fields, not just epi.

For your case specifically, ask if there is a dataset available which you can play with, and see if you can provide them any interesting insight. STD testing is a great starter, since there are specific healh and operational outcomes you can look at.

For non-quant skills, I would look to see how you go the extra step. Is there an operational/logistical hurdle you can help streamline? Update the testing data collection forms? Do something to improve the experience for the patient? Do something to increase usage/retention?