Using LinkedIn to Your Advantage: Careers Advice in Public Health in 2022, Part 1 – JPHMP Direct

The public well being workforce isn’t okay. In this sequence of articles, I’ll share what it has been prefer to work on the general public well being frontline through the COVID-19 pandemic and the way these experiences have modified me eternally. I’ll share the teachings I’ve realized and what I need the individuals round me to know, each inside and out of doors of the general public well being sector.

I’ve been looking for a public well being job on and off for greater than 20 years: does that make me an professional, or by definition, not superb at it? In a earlier column, I shared some examples of worn-out job search recommendation that not applies to public well being in 2022. Based upon my private experiences, and the enter of my associates, colleagues, college students, and contacts, I’ve been growing some options for profession recommendation in public well being that’s truly related at the moment. Please discover right here the primary installment, specializing in use of LinkedIn, the social media website for skilled pursuits. As ever, please take my recommendation with a pinch of salt and a healthy dose of cynicism. 

Networking 

It is my robust suspicion that the majority job alternatives come from private networking connections reasonably than brazenly marketed recruitment processes. So community community community. Transfer all beforehand obtained knowledge about networking in individual at conferences and conferences to their on-line equivalents, which might usually be so much much less hierarchical. LinkedIn is your buddy, and it’s just about unavoidable within the seek for #publichealthjobs. 

Especially for a confirmed introvert corresponding to myself, LinkedIn is an entire lot simpler to navigate than in-person conferences, with the added bonus that you could merely sign off as quickly because it all will get an excessive amount of. Come out of your shell just a little on-line and attain out to develop and form knowledgeable community that will likely be an asset to you all through your profession. I’ve listed under some useful individuals to comply with on LinkedIn, whose posts I’ve discovered to be at the moment related for job looking in public well being.

Profile and connections

Many expert consultants have posted common tips for growing your LinkedIn profile, so I’ll chorus from repeating what’s available on-line, apart from to reiterate what’s particularly related in our public well being area of interest. Use the job title you need and the language of the job commercials to which you aspire. Speaking of aspirations, keep away from utilizing the phrase “aspiring” in your profile: inform me what you might be able to tackle proper now, even when it’s a stretch. 

Set your sights on the organizations that you simply wish to work for and domesticate private connections. Develop linkages with individuals who have the job title you need and work within the space or group that you simply search. Follow their posts and pursuits, see what expertise and subjects they’re posting about and prioritize for dialogue. They may not be recruiting for explicit vacancies proper now however possibly in time they are going to be. Engage with them in on-line dialog within the feedback in case you’ve received one thing useful to say. Perhaps much more importantly: don’t interact with them in case you haven’t received something useful to say. 

When you attend knowledgeable assembly or webinar in your chosen discipline, pursue contact requests with the audio system whose messages have resonated with you. When you learn a key doc or article in your skilled space of specialization that makes you nod in recognition, join with the writer. Consider messaging them with some suggestions or a follow-up query. Tell them what resonated with you and what else you had been questioning about. You will not be immediately pursuing a job alternative, you might be increasing your skilled community. 

Seeking informational interviews could be a useful technique on the proper time. But don’t make a brand new connection after which instantly pester them asking for a time to fulfill for an informational interview. First, watch and study. Respond to their posts each from time to time. Take your time attending to know the impression that they wish to make on LinkedIn earlier than approaching them. When you open a dialog, refer again to what you already know to be their skilled pursuits.

Remember that the job interview course of can also be part of networking. Even when an utility is unsuccessful, comply with as much as make connections on LinkedIn and domesticate networking alternatives with the individuals that you simply received to know via the recruitment course of. (Yes it’s awkward in the event that they ghosted you. Get over it — you’ve executed nothing to be ashamed of.) These persons are going to be the primary to know when one other place turns into accessible on their crew and also you need them to proceed to suppose extremely of you. Don’t burn any bridges. The individuals who I’ve watched ascend profession ladders are the individuals who have navigated skilled relationships and performed the lengthy sport. 

Finally, don’t purchase into the dangerous fantasy that any of this mess ends in a real meritocracy. Like the sorry state of the tutorial employment market proper now, a lot of it’s sheer luck; luck that has traditionally been distributed alongside traces of privilege together with race, gender, and migration standing. Be in the appropriate place on the proper time — how do you intend for that? I really see LinkedIn as part of the reply to that query.  

Next week I’ll supply extra recommendation for constructing a profession in public well being in 2022 past LinkedIn, and I’ll reply to a number of the particular questions that I’ve obtained.

Please let me know what you consider these options and share your personal tips for growing a public well being profession within the feedback or on LinkedIn.

Read earlier columns on this sequence:

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