A Complete Guide to Make Career in Health Sector

There are opportunities in the health space that will not require a medical degree but you can still work in the sector aligning with your expertise.

The Healthcare sector requires medical and non-medical professionals. Medical professionals consist of doctors, surgeons, nurses, and paramedics among others. To assist these medical professionals, a community of non-medical professionals works with them to serve the patients and address public health. 

Professionals who want to delve into the impact sector in the health domain can make a career in a non-clinical healthcare job role. There are opportunities in the health space that will not require a medical degree but you can still work in the sector aligning with your expertise. Here is the complete guide on how you can make a career in the health sector and step into a healthcare job role. 

Learn – Relearn – Learn

While you might not have a medical degree, it is essential that you are aware of the fundamentals of the healthcare sector. Develop a learning attitude to understand the types of health issues intersecting with their social complexity. For example, Anemia is more prevalent in women than men. In this context, you can find the various social determinants attached to it and make the causal relationship between diseases and gender. 

Explore the challenges faced in global health and narrow down your approach to your country and local communities. There might be the availability of healthcare infrastructure but it should also be accessible to the local communities irrespective of their social class. You can learn about these complexities through research papers or articles, discussion spaces, and by following the trends in the healthcare sector that will help you land a healthcare job.      

Non-Clinical Healthcare Jobs

Once you start learning about the landscape of healthcare, you will stumble across your interest areas. These interest areas might align with your interests and skills. Following are some of the non-clinical healthcare job roles.

1. Policy Analyst – They act as a bridge between government policies and communities. They conduct an impact evaluation of the health policy and suggest policy recommendations to mitigate the policy gaps. 
2. Program Manager – These managers oversee the public policy programs conducted by the government and ensure the smooth delivery and accessibility of health infrastructure to the last mile.
3. Health Educators – Health Educators act as a crucial link between medical sciences and the community to communicate knowledge in simplified form to local communities. They ensure people in the community have the right knowledge to find treatment for the disease. 
4. Humanitarian Aid Worker – These are field workers who directly work with local communities in delivering the medical infrastructure and ensuring communities turn up to health infrastructure when they fall sick. 
5. Communications Professional – These professionals plan and develop communication strategies to advocate and disseminate information on themes like health risk awareness, and preventive care measures. Through effective communication, they aim to achieve improved health outcomes for communities at large. 

Look for Opportunities

There are civil society organizations that work particularly in the health sector. Even in the healthcare sector, there are various categories like child nutrition, public health, and Women’s health, among others. You can either select one or go for a generalist public health job. 

You can work with think tanks if you are interested in the research domain. If you like being on the field, then intern or volunteer with organizations that carry out programs in local communities. It could be beneficial for you if you have prior local knowledge about the community, as it will help you connect with them well.  You can also look for fellowship opportunities in the health space. This will give you a mixture of theoretical knowledge as well as a chance to apply it in the real world.

 Entering the Healthcare space

Build your resume in a manner that clearly shows your interest, knowledge, and skills in the healthcare sector. Attach assignments or projects you did in your graduation years in the health sector to your resume. Also add the internship, volunteering, and fellowships you did in the healthcare sector. You can not only mention but also add 2-3 pointers explaining your domain of work to display that knowledge. 

For finding healthcare Job opportunities, you can refer to job boards, or visit the career section of civil society organizations working in the health domain. You can also connect with professionals working in the healthcare domain to seek guidance and job opportunities. Be active on your LinkedIn profile sharing your knowledge on health or suggesting policy recommendations or ideas for the smooth delivery of healthcare programs. You can write articles on the health sector and social determinants or narrate your experience of working with communities for public health. These activities will add advantage to your resume in getting you a healthcare job role. 

You do not necessarily need a medical degree to work in a non-clinical healthcare job. The right skills and willingness to learn about health and its impact on communities will land you a job in the sector. Keep learning more about the communities you work with to make healthcare accessible to everyone.