4 Ways to Get Transferable Global Health Skills

Getting your foot in the door for a career in global health is exciting but challenging – especially if you have never worked in the field before. Highlighting transferable skills, such as writing, research, and team management, however, can help you land a global health job, as it shows you have the necessary skills for the position.

What are ways to get transferable skills then? We’ve compiled a list of 4 simple strategies to help get you started with this!

1. Volunteering

Volunteering is not only a great way to give back to your community, but also a way to push yourself to learn new skills. Looking for ways to get more involved in your community? Check out our post about this here.

2. Joining student clubs, extra-curriculars, or special interest groups

Many universities and colleges have student clubs or chapters of national global health or health equity organizations. Getting involved in these can help you gain more experiences with working in the global health field, in addition to helping you build important transferable skills like communication and leadership skills. If you’re not in college, some organizations have special interest groups that you can join to meet like-minded colleagues and work in realms that will give you transferrable skills and experiences. For instance, the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research currently has a working group focusing on climate change and global health.

3. Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs

Massive Open Online Courses are revolutionizing the world of education. There are numerous opportunities to upgrade your skills or knowledge in a particular area. Courses can range from emergency response to graphic design. Since there’s no cost to taking these courses, the sky’s the limit! Check out websites like mooc.org for this.

4. Think Outside the Box

There are tons of experiences from our daily lives that we can gain transferable skills from. For example, playing a sport can showcase your goal setting and time management skills, or that you’re a team player. Likely, you’ve had experiences in your daily life that have allowed you develop important skills – you just need to practice how to showcase them in a resumé, cover letter, or during a job interview.