Health Educators

Any experience one can obtain in the field of health education—such as an internship, co-op, volunteer opportunity, or a part-time job—will be useful.

Health educators need a variety traits to be successful on the job. For example they need excellent communication skills in order to convey sometimes complicated health-related information to the public. Some health educators meet frequently with the public, while others give presentations to large audiences or online. As a result, they must be able to speak clearly and concisely in order to effectively convey information to their audiences. Health educators also write copy for flyers and press releases and even scripts for webcasts or other presentations, so they must know how to write well and convey information and advice in a concise, but interesting, way. Some health educators serve as liaisons with the news media and must be prepared to answer questions at news conferences. Good organizational, critical-thinking, and mathematical skills are also important because health educators must be able to collect and analyze data to determine what problems exist in a community and devise ways to address them and educate the public about the steps they can take to improve their health. Other important traits include time-management skills, patience, creativity, and a strong interest in improving the knowledge and health outcomes of the public.