Recruiting New Talent for Public Health Jobs With Evidence-Based Job Descriptions and Attractive Job Postings

With $7.4 billion from the American Rescue Plan funding new hires in the public health workforce, health departments could benefit from well-written, accurate job descriptions and job postings/advertisements to attract candidates.

We wrote accurate job descriptions for 24 jobs common in governmental public health settings.

We searched the gray literature for existing templates of job descriptions, job task analyses, lists of competencies, or bodies of knowledge; synthesized several currently posted job descriptions per occupation; utilized the 2014 National Board of Public Health Examiners' job task analysis data; and gathered feedback from current public health professionals in each field. We then engaged a marketing specialist to change the job descriptions into advertisements.

Several occupations examined did not have available job task analyses, while others had multiple. This project appears to be the first time that a list of existing job task analyses have been compiled together. Health departments have a special opportunity to replenish their workforce. Having evidence-based and vetted job descriptions that can be tailored for specific health departments' usage will accelerate their recruitment efforts and attract more qualified candidates.