Jobs in Global Health - Preparation

(Cuban women looking jadedly at study abroad students. Photo credit: hoyasmeg)

Most people end up either specializing in one of the tracks I mentioned last week, or alternatively end up focusing on a specific health issues and shifting responsibilities within that narrow field. Some of the hottest topics these days include: health systems financing (including the role of the private sector); AIDS prevention and treatment; distribution of ACTs, bednets and other malaria products; MDR-TB (and related issues around biosecurity and prison health); vaccine and pharmaceutical development and delivery (going beyond the historic debate around trade and intellectual property); population and reproductive health; and nutrition. If you know where your heart lies, then it can pay enormous dividends to develop a specialization early on - in my case, I fell into vaccine and pharmaceutical markets early on, and have been fortunate enough to approach it in a wide range of capacities.

No matter what your chosen role or issue, though, there are several valued skills and areas of knowledge that will help you land a job and advance in the early stages of your career:

• Develop and maintain your language skills, especially French. Although this is particularly essential for program management positions, it can come in handy across the board. Personally, this is one of my biggest weaknesses, and I've found that it's much harder to learn languages outside the university setting.
• Learn how to develop a base of support through fundraising or marketing, even at a basic level. Everyone in global health has to compete for resources and attention, not just the folks writing up the grants. Knowing how to frame a compelling case for support pays dividends going far beyond the financial.
• Be comfortable with web communications platforms, including blogs and rudimentary HTML. Although this is typically within the communications and outreach domain, you'll be at a tremendous advantage if you can handle the basics on your own.
• Be familiar with current events and important journal articles. Change.org's blog is definitely the best place to start, but other great resources include GlobalHealthReporting.org; the Lancet, BMJ, PLoS, and other research journals. When I would interview job candidates, my favorite question was always "what is your favorite recent global health news item or research finding?" Have an answer ready!
• Get prior office experience no matter where it is. Employers don't want to have to teach you the basic ropes of professional etiquette, Microsoft Office, or the copy machine. In the best of all worlds, you could gain this through a global health-related internship, but it's also perfectly fine to have unrelated summer jobs if you can sufficiently signal your topical interests through coursework or academic research.
• Study abroad in a low- or middle-income country. Even if your own university's options are limited, you can almost certainly find a program through the School of International Training.
• Please, please take at least one course in introductory microeconomics. Almost everyone takes basic science courses in the course of their education, but economics often slips through the cracks despite its critical (and increasing) voice in the global health discourse.