Twitter is an extremely beneficial professional development tool for public health advocates. It allows them to follow public health leaders, who frequently share valuable news, research and resources, which can translate to better practice and even career advancement. Twitter also serves as a wonderful networking tool, letting public health workers communicate with one another, disseminating information and opportunities. If you are new to Twitter, new to public health or new to both, consider following these 10 prominent public health professionals as a way of exploring the social network and the industry: 1. Joseph Padudais the principal of Health Strategy Associates, a national consulting firm specializing in managed care programs, and the author of Managed Care Matters, a blog about health care costs, policy, research and news. His tweets cover a similar range of subjects, from news about prescription drugs to the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. 2. Maggie Mahar is the creator of Health Beat, a blog covering health care, the economy, politics and public health. She additionally writes for healthinsurance.org, a consumer information site on health care coverage. Mahar’s original tweets tend to cover politics, but she also retweets many health care stories. 3. Jane Sarasohn-Kahn is a health economist, advisor, advocate and blogger at HEALTH Populi, where she writes about health care conferences, news and technology. Her Twitter feed features an ample amount of responses to tweets from other users — bolstering the idea that the social network is a space for public health advocates to gather, talk and even argue! 4. Lynch Ryan is a consulting firm specialized in workers compensation cost control systems. Its blog, Workers’ Comp Insider, covers risk management, business insurance, workplace health and safety, and more. The firm’s Twitter account is an amalgamation of tweets sharing their own blog posts and other stories about policies and politics. 5. David Harlow is a health care lawyer, consultant, speaker and blogger from Boston. On his blog, HealthBlawg, he covers new health care technologies, conferences and research. His Twitter account mostly features his own blog posts, but also includes ongoing conversations with other professionals in the public health field. 6. David Williams is the president of Health Business Group, a strategy consulting boutique on health care services, information technology and pharmaceutical services. He is also the author of Health Business Blog, which covers recent health studies, technologies and policies. On Twitter, he shares his own posts along with news stories and commentary. 7. Rick Ungar is a Forbes contributor and a self-professed “token liberal” on Fox. On Forbes, he covers politics and policy from an admittedly left-wing perspective. His Twitter feed features much back and forth with other users, along with his own articles. 8. Brian Klepper is a health care analyst, advisor and commentator. He is also the founder of Care and Cost, a blog of original commentary on health care and shared stories. On Twitter, Klepper mostly shares many of Care and Cost’s posts. 9. Liz Szabo is a medical reporter who covers cancer, heart disease, pediatrics, public health women’s health and more for USA TODAY. Her tweets share many of her fellow USA TODAY reporter’s stories, along with the latest public health and health care news. 10. Dr. Ali Khan, MD, MPH is the director of the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response — a must-follow for any public health advocate. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Khan shares many of CDC’s tweets alongside information from other government agencies. New public health workers may also be interested in following blogs that cover the industry. For a full list of suggestions, see MPH@GW’s “50 Public Health Blogs worth Connecting with.”
The leaves are changing, the kids are back in school, and that familiar chill is in the air. You think it's the perfect time to look for a job, and it is! But are your job search fears preventing you from making that leap?
It's not uncommon to feel lost when embarking on your job search journey. After all, school teaches us everything except how to get a job. What should you put on your resume? What questions should you ask in an interview? How can you stand out in the hiring process when there's so much competition?
Are you feeling spooked yet?
Believe it or not, there's no need to be afraid of the job search process! You can land your dream job with the right tools and strategy. You can find a job that won't give you nightmares. Here are three spooky secrets every job seeker should know as they look for a job this fall.
1. An Effective Job Search Starts With An Interview Bucket List
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Despite your fears, you've decided to take the plunge and look for a new job. You might be asking yourself, "Where do I start?" The answer is simple: start by creating an interview bucket list.
An interview bucket list is a list of 10-20 companies you'd love to work for. Are you passionate about a company's products or services? Do you feel connected to its mission? Can you relate to its values and beliefs as an organization? If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, that company probably belongs on your interview bucket list.
Once you create an interview bucket list, you'll be able to conduct a targeted job search, one with direction and a foundation upon which everything else will be built. An interview bucket list helps you focus your job search and networking strategies on the right opportunities, making it easier to get your foot in the door at one of your dream companies.
2. Your Job Application Needs To Disrupt Hiring Managers
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In order to stand out in the hiring process, you need to disrupt recruiters and hiring managers. You accomplish this by doing two things: optimizing your resume and writing a disruptive cover letter.
A well-optimized resume includes keywords from the job description. This ensures your resume gets past the ATS and into the hands of the hiring manager. Once it's in front of the hiring manager, it needs to grab and keep their attention. Quantifying your work experience—adding numbers to your bullet points—will make you stand out from other applicants. Hiring managers will want to know more about you and your accomplishments, and that's how you land a phone interview.
Before that, though, a hiring manager will read your cover letter. To disrupt them, you need to write a disruptive cover letter (obviously!). A disruptive cover letter gives you the opportunity to tell a story about why you feel connected to the company you're applying for. It's that storytelling aspect that will stand out to hiring managers and compel them to pick up the phone and give you a call.
3. Employers Hire You Based On 3 Things
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You can't get hired unless you know what employers are assessing you on in the interview process. While your skills and expertise matter, companies actually hire for three things: personality, aptitude, and experience (in that order).
Most job seekers don't realize how important it is to demonstrate their personality, aptitude, and experience in an interview. You could have the right experience for a job, but if the hiring manager doesn't think your personality is a good fit for the company culture, you probably won't get a job offer.
Make sure you demonstrate your soft skills and learn how to answer behavioral interview questions to prove you're the best candidate for the job you're applying for, not just the most qualified.
Want To Learn More Job Search Secrets?
As you look for a job this fall, it might be helpful to know some more spooky secrets so you can get over your job search fears and finally take control of your career.
We know the job search process can be scary. However, it's important to get clear on what you want to do next and focus on conducting a strategic job search, or what we refer to at Work It DAILY as job shopping. This is the only way to effectively market yourself to employers. If they can't see exactly where and how you add value, then that's going to decrease your chances of landing the job.
The competition is fierce, and there are a lot of factors that are out of your control. But the one factor you can control is your job search strategy, the tools and tactics you use to land a job.
If you want to learn the secrets to conducting a strategic job search, sign up for our Job Search Bootcamp, a two-hour, on-demand video workshop that comes with a free workbook.
In this video workshop, you'll learn:
- How to use backchanneling to get directly to hiring managers.
- The secret to using a connection story to stand out against the competition.
- How social media can be your secret weapon to get job interviews.
- The resume format that is getting job seekers more job interviews.
- And, a lot more hacks for job search success!
Let us show you the secrets to getting a new, better-paying job you actually love. Sign up for our Job Search Bootcamp today.
Are you ready to land the job of your dreams (and leave the job of your nightmares)?