This episode will help you understand how the program, Developing Your Public Health Career Strategy was formed, the purpose of the program, and who the program is designed to serve. This is an important episode for everyone to hear, both students and graduates.
However, if you’ve already completed your degree in public health, but have been facing challenges getting into the field, then you definitely want to listen to the full episode. You’ll be able to hear in my voice just how important this is to me and how much I care about this topic.
Transcription of this episode with timestamps:
Introduction to this “Developing Your Public Health Career Strategy” episode
[00:00:26] Greetings everyone and thank you for joining me on this episode today I really appreciate you tuning in. This episode today is titled “Developing Your Public Health Career Strategy.” I have a lot to share with you today so I'm going to dive right into the topic. This is not only the topic I want to cover today, but it is also the title of a coaching program that I've developed. You've heard me mentioned this coaching program at different times and some of you really want to know more about it. I know this because I get a lot of e-mails about it, with many questions. So, this episode is devoted to explaining the importance of developing a career strategy for public health, and how this program was created.
Background story and pattern of solving problems starts with the podcast
[00:01:11] In order to understand who this program is for, let's go back a little bit. When I started this podcast it was also a solution to a problem at that time. The podcast was my response to receiving common questions I would get from people, usually on LinkedIn. I was receiving some of the same questions from different people. They were all asking the same general questions over and over again. I wanted to be able to address people more effectively because trying to respond to individual messages was a little cumbersome, and bit overwhelming. It also pointed to potentially a bigger need for these questions to be addressed in a broader platform. Which is why I decided to start the podcast. I started the podcast with responding to the questions that I had been receiving most often. I literally generated the list of questions and started pulling it together with my responses, and those were the initial topics of the podcast episodes. I got started and as time went on, the show evolved and became more and more popular. People were tuning in from all over the world and I was getting even more messages and questions. So I continued to respond to the problem (the needs of my audience).
The podcast served some of my audience, but a large portion still needed more
[00:02:50] My idea of a solution, is my way of mentoring to many. The Public Health Epidemiology Careers podcast platform has really opened up not just an easier way for others to get their questions answered, but for me to collaborate with my colleagues as well. My idea was to provide this platform, this voice, but not just for me to share everything that I know (which I love sharing that with you guys). It was also for me to bring people on the show that I could introduce to you and let them share their story, their journey, so that you could hear how people were using their degrees in public health.
As much as this podcast has been the answer for so many public health students, I know that there is still a need for others. There are those who just want more. I know that there's a large portion of my audience who are enrolled in public health programs right now, current public health students who are trying to make the most out of their journey as they're learning. They are trying to apply the resources that I share on this podcast. There is also a large portion of my audience who has already completed a degree in public health, and for one reason or another are facing challenges getting into the field of public health. So that population specifically is who I am addressing with this program and with this topic of developing your public health care strategy. It is in this group that I find the people who want to work more closely with me to get more in-depth feedback related to their specific public health career challenges and situations.
Deciding how to help graduates with starting their public health careers
[00:06:45] I realized that my audience needed more. So many members of my audience had already completed a degree in public health (or something similar) but faced challenges starting their careers in public health. I've thought about it for a while and really listened to what people had to say. My analytical mind was trying to figure out the best approach to solving this problem.
Some people want public health career guidance
00:07:00] They often come to me with a lot of frustration. I understand that while you're in school you're busy and there's so much going on with school responsibilities, family, and your job. Most people are just trying to get through and complete the degree program. The schools are doing a great job of preparing us academically with all that we need. However, so many public health students are not able to maximize that whole journey through graduate school in terms of being able to prepare for the career transition or just that preparation for entry into the public health career field. There's often a point where public health students graduate and think they’re ready to start their career in public health but nothing happens. At that point, the frustration kicks in and the anxiety goes up and then it's like “oh wait a minute…why is that happening to me” or “why aren't these doors opening up” and “why am I not getting into these public health career positions” and the vicious cycle starts. After a while, it tapers off and most people continue doing the thing that you were doing all along and after a while the hopes of a career in public health gets pushed into the background. Most people move away from an area of public health that they were once really interested in, and instead will settle and give up.
Sometimes frustration kicks in then there's that fear of changing careers and starting over with a career in public health, and whether these limitations are real or perceived they can stump you. I don't want to spend time trying to focus on what did or didn't happen. My whole focus has been on helping this group graduates get into public health careers. I want to help this group get unstuck and move forward start to utilize their public health degree.
Developing Your Public Health Career Strategy is designed to serve many graduates at the same time.
[00:10:59] Developing Your Public Health Career Strategy is the coaching program that I created to help the masses (the many people who already have a degree in public health but just need help starting their career in public health). Initially, I wanted to do one on one coaching, but then I realized really quickly that I would be very limited by the number of hours that I would be free and available to devote to those appointments.
[00:11:30] I didn’t want to be limited to just a few people, but wanted to be able to help and serve a large number of graduates with starting their careers in public health.
Find your passion for public health.
[00:12:04] I created this program in this way that is a platform that allows me to reach many people at the same time. It's highly effective, and it's highly focused on gaining clarity around your public health interests, what you really want to do. Finding your passion for public health goes far beyond just a job title.
[00:12:31] Go back to episode number 16, where I talked about identifying your passion for public health.
[00:12:40] Absolutely everything starts there. You have to get clear about what you want to do and who you want to serve in public health, otherwise you're just chasing after jobs.
End the frustration, get help with starting your career in public health
[00:21:59]If you've already completed your degree in public health, but you haven’t started your career in public health (and you want to) then the Developing Your Public Health Career Strategy Program can help you end the frustration, get unstuck, and move forward toward your career in public health.
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Since this podcast episode was published originally, several members of the Developing Your Public Health Career Strategy program have shared their success with the program on other podcast episodes. Here are the links to some of those episodes, and I encourage you to listen to each of them. The stories of the members are as diverse and I’m sure you will be able to connect with some part of each of their stories.
If you’re ready to get started and enroll in the program, just visit the strategy page of this website to register for an upcoming webinar and learn about the specific details as well as the options for enrollment.
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