A Multifaceted Approach to Public Health Career and Professional Development Training

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe how a multifaceted approach to career and professional development training, focused on core competencies, student-driven programming, inter and multidisciplinary collaboration, and cultivating a community of insight and support, is being implemented by a university Public Health Career Services office with limited staff and resources and to share these practices for other public health programs to scale this approach to their own students’ needs. The design of the career and professional development training program comprised five main approaches: (1) one-on-one career counseling, (2) peer-to-peer learning workshops, (3) community partnerships and experiential opportunities, (4) student-driven programming, and (5) accessible training and digital resources. All programs were tracked to gauge participation and to assess effectiveness. Noteworthy findings from program evaluations include (1) a large increase in student confidence levels in professionalism topics, from all of the school’s departments; (2) benefits of student-driven programming and peer-to-peer learning, and (3) importance of employer and alumni engagement. Rather than use an optional participation model, it is recommended that a cohort model or mandatory participation be implemented as the opportunity to build on curriculum is vital.