Explore Thriving Public Health Careers in Government & Regulatory Roles

Career opportunities in public health have primarily been found within government departments and agencies, particularly the Department of Health and Human Services at the various levels of government (federal, state, and county/city).

These opportunities continue to grow as the government expands its role in regulating products and services that affect the well-being of the general public, including prevention and control of diseases, food safety, environmental safety, etc.

In this edition of the newsletter, we will explore the various government entities that offer public health job opportunities, discuss industry trends, and show you how to find these positions if you're interested in working within these departments or agencies. This edition can be a good resource for you if you’re interested in public service.

Need for Change: Government agencies usually have challenges (most of time) filling their positions especially high skill positions because of the difficulty in competing for talent with private sector organizations. This has created a huge talent gap for most government departments and agencies including healthcare departments and agencies.

However, this issue can be an opportunity for many people who really want to work with the government. There are several public health related job openings and career opportunities at these government departments at almost all levels of government (Federal, State, County).

Trends: There are several emerging trends and industry innovations in public health and healthcare generally and government is often a late adopter of emerging trends.

Well, they say its better late than never, and government departments and agencies often end up filling these openings later when compared to private sector organizations.

Career Opportunities: Here are government department and agencies you can consider if you are interested in public health careers within the government or government agencies.

Most government job opportunities can be found at USAJobs.gov and you can search using the keyword “Public Health” or the name of the agency of your interest to filter the results.

Here’s a brief description of these government agencies and departments to help you decide which one you are interested in.

United States Department of Health and Human Services Department (HHS):

The HHS is the federal department that oversees the government’s healthcare policies and services. It is led by by a Federal cabinet secretary who oversees all the departments and divisions under the HHS. You can read more about the HHS department here.

At the state level, each state has its HHS department, while the name may vary the functions are still the same but only focused for that state. The same thing applies for Counties too. All counties have a health department.

There is a wide array of public health career opportunities either at the Federal, State or County level. Decide what you prefer and go check out what you can find in your State or County.

Student Opportunities: HHS also has various opportunities for students. Check it out if you would like to participate in any of these career programs for students.

Some of the government healthcare agencies and departments under the HHS where you can find public health career opportunities include the following:

• Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) - https://www.cms.gov/

• Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - (https://www.cdc.gov/)

• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)(https://www.usaid.gov/)

• Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - (http://www.fda.gov/)

• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) - (http://www.hrsa.gov/)

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) - (http://www.ahrq.gov/)

• National Institutes for Health (NIH) - (http://www.nih.gov/)

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) - (http://www.samhsa.gov/)

Federal Public Health Jobs: You can find all the other departments and agencies under HHS here. You can also check the career page on the website of each of the departments above to see available jobs or you can search using the the USAjobs.gov portal.

State Public Health Jobs: Check the careers page on the website of the Health and Human Services department in the state you are interested in for job openings.

County Public Health Jobs: Check the careers page on the website of the County Health Department you are interested in for job openings. County Health departments will most likely have fewer opportunities than state health departments.

City Health Departments: Some cities especially large city governments also have their own health departments where you can find some public health opportunities. There are good chances that a city government will have a health department if it is located in a large metro area.

Legislative Public Health Opportunities

Legislators often need people who understand the healthcare issues and staff who can support the policy making processes, and many of them are always looking for people like you to work with them. Students even have a better opportunity since they can take advantage of these opportunities as interns and later work their way to full-time positions. This can be a great opportunity especially for public health graduates/students in these concentrations: Health Policy and Management, Epidemiology/Biostatistics, Health Services Research, etc.

Legislative Aides/Assistants: Another great public health opportunity in government for public health graduate is to work as Legislative Assistants for lawmakers at the Federal level (for Federal legislators - Congress) and at the state level (state legislators).

You can always check out these links for advertised opportunities for Legislative Staff of the United States Senate here and for House of Representatives staff here.

Tips for Applying to Government Public Health Jobs

1. Internships: Doing an internship or taking advantage of student opportunities can be a relatively easy way of getting into a public health career with a government department or agency.

2. Networking: Networking with people who are already working in a government department or agency can be helpful with getting information about upcoming opportunities and how things work at these institutions/organizations. (see the ebook download you got when you joined the email list for how you can do networking effectively).

3. Recommendations: It is also important to request for recommendations from your legislative representatives or city leaders when you apply for these jobs. Its not a requirement but it can go a long way to set you apart among other candidates. Most members of congress (Federal or State) are happy and willing to do this for their constituents.

4. Drawn Out Process: It is important to know that the recruitment process can be drawn out and it may not be as fast as the time it usually take for private organizations to complete the same process.

5. Citizenship/Permanent Resident Requirements: Unfortunately, these positions are usually available only to U.S citizens or U.S nationals (permanent residents).

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