Public Health

Have a look at Prospects and core public health roles to find out what roles in this sector involve and how to get into them. These are some of the job profiles available:

• Public health practitioner

• Social prescribing link worker

• Director of public health

• Health trainer

• Health visitor

• Occupational health nurse

• Public health academic

• Public health consultants and specialists

• Public health knowledge and intelligence professional

• Public health manager

• Public health nurse

• Epidemiologist

• Environmental health practitioner

• a strong interest in public health
• the ability to handle and interpret data and statistics
• an investigative mind and the ability to organise and carry out research
• the ability to project-manage, prioritise tasks, meet deadlines and work with minimum supervision
• leadership
• the ability to work collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams
• strong written and oral communication skills
• the ability to understand legislation and policies
• attention to detail
• a logical and methodical approach to problem-solving

Starting salaries for graduate jobs in this sector can vary depending on the position and location.

To get an idea of typical starting salaries use the following resources:

• our Discover your Earning Potential Pathway offers access to The Pay Index. This shows you how salaries vary across different roles, industries and locations
• job profiles, such as those listed on Prospects or targetjobs
• vacancy sites such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn

For information about how to negotiate a salary, visit .

• browse our Work Experience and Graduate Employment directories. See where our students and graduates have had work experience, or been employed
• use LinkedIn’s Alumni tool to find out what Newcastle graduates are doing now. You could ask to connect with them, to gain advice and insights into their career. See Newcastle Alumni on LinkedIn to help you get started or watch our quick tutorial on Getting inspiration from others [3:13]
• attend alumni events, such as Newcastle Develop, to hear directly from our graduates
• sign up for mentoring support with  and The 1 Hour Project. These aim to match students with industry professionals who can provide invaluable insights. Register to be connected for a one-hour meeting
• attend . Hear about graduate jobs, placement schemes, build your network and ask questions

Searching for reviews online can be a useful way to get an idea of what to expect from certain roles or employers. Reviews are written by employees with different opinions about what makes a good employer.

Use the following review sites for inspiration and insight into the recruitment process:

• RateMyPlacement - placement year reviews written by students.
• The Job Crowd – graduate job reviews
• Glassdoor – company reviews from employees

Read career guides for this sector, such as:

• Health Careers: Careers in public health
• Faculty of Public Health - find information on careers and routes into public health

Use online magazines and journals to follow news from your industry. Reading about trends and developments is important for applications and interviews.

Examples include:

• New Scientist
• Public Health Journal
• Public Health Matters - a blog from Public Health England

Attend events to hear directly from professionals in the industry. 

See our .

Become active in student societies. Relevant societies include the Teddy Bear Hospital and Marrow Society.

Use social media to find industry insights

Join sector-specific groups on LinkedIn to keep up to date. Posts often include news, events and opportunities. You can also find useful insights on careers on Instagram and TikTok. Treat these with caution, as not all content may be accurate.

Find out more about  

Consider joining a relevant professional body/industry network  

Professional bodies often: 

• run networking events  
• have specialist groups you could join 
• post vacancies on behalf of their members 
• have member directories, useful for speculative applications 

Key organisations include: 

Professional societies/institutes

• Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH)
• International Epidemiological Association
• Chartered Institute of Environmental Health

Research councils/institutes

• Medical Research Council
• Economic and Social Research Council
• National Institute for Health Research
• Fuse (the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health) in the North East

Government agencies

• UK Health Security Agency
• Office for Health Improvement and Disparities
• Health Protection Scotland
• Public Health Wales
• Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

Non-governmental organisations/charities

• World Health Organization
• United Nations
• King’s Fund- independent charity working to improve health and care in England

Finding professional bodies worldwide 

GoinGlobal’s country guides include details of professional bodies. Find them under ‘Professional and Personal Networking’ on each individual country guide. 

Gaining work experience through volunteering for public health-related charities is an impressive way to catch the attention of potential employers. See below for more information on volunteering. If you're looking for job opportunities in this field, NHS Jobs and local authority websites are great places to start.

Search these external sources for opportunities:

• World Health Organisation
• PHG Foundation - offer paid internships and voluntary opportunities
• The Epidemiology Group – based at the University of Aberdeen
• Search for jobs in the NHS
• Newcastle City Council

Use our resources to further your search:

• MyCareer - search for internships and placements in the North East, UK and overseas. Register/log in to access vacancies and sign up for personalised email alerts  
• Internships, placements & shadowing - links to vacancy sites 
• Global work experience - for internships or placements abroad 

Professional bodies and research councils also advertise opportunities, including research, funding and studentships. See above for a list of organisations.

The Careers Service runs flexible term-time and summer internships with local employers and on campus. NCL internships are aimed at all students, from any stage:

• search for these under Vacancies on MyCareer. 

Access GoinGlobal for internships in over 120 global locations, updated daily. Search for opportunities in the local language, as well as in English. You can also use their country guides to find:  

• additional vacancy websites  
• CV, application and interview advice   
• Advice on living and working in different countries and cities around the world.  

If you’re looking for inspiration, try searching our NU Work Experience Directory. You can see where our students have had internships and placements in the last five years. To see all results in a search category, keep the search field blank. 

The resources in this section advertise both graduate jobs and graduate schemes. See our graduate jobs page to understand the difference between them.

For graduate schemes, apply as early as possible. There are few formal graduate schemes available in public health. Some related schemes include the:

• Wellcome Trust Graduate Development Programme
• NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme in health informatics and analytics.

Apply early - both schemes usually open in early October. They often close mid-November for the following year's entry.

Graduate jobs tend to be immediate start positions which can be available all year round. You are more likely to apply for these towards the end of your studies.

Vacancy sites

Use our resources to get started:

• MyCareer - search for graduate schemes and graduate jobs in the North East, UK and overseas. Register/log in to access vacancies and sign up for personalised email alerts
• Graduate Jobs – lists graduate vacancy sites

Search the external sites below for more opportunities in Public Health:

• NHS Jobs
• lgjobs.com – local government job vacancies
• Public Health Jobs
• Civil Service Jobs
• Jobs.ac.uk - vacancies in universities and academia
• HealthJobsUK - search under Allied health professions or Administrative Services
• Public Health Jobs
• BMJ Careers
• World Health Organization: Vacancies
• BUPA Careers
• CharityJob
• Health and Safety Executive

See  for details of overseas vacancy sites. 

Access GoinGlobal for job adverts in over 120 global locations, updated daily. Search for opportunities in the local language, as well as in English. You can also use their country guides to find:  

• additional vacancy websites  
• CV, application and interview advice   
• advice on living and working in different countries and cities around the world

Start by identifying organisations you are interested in. Our guide to finding organisations below can help. Then use the following steps to approach them speculatively about possible opportunities: 

1. Identify a contact name to address your cover letter to. Call or email to find out who handles recruitment within the organisation. Or, find a key contact in the department you want to work in. 
2. Send them a tailored CV and cover letter. Express your enthusiasm for the sector. Show that you have researched the company. 
3. Follow up your speculative application with a phone call, or email, around a week later. This shows you are serious and motivated. 
4. If your application was unsuccessful, ask for feedback or advice, and keep trying! 

You can use this approach at any point in the year. We recommend that you: 

• start your research as early as possible to gather relevant contacts 
• contact organisations around three months before you want the opportunity to begin 

• find organisations on MyCareer. Select ‘search' then 'organisations’
• use the business directories and databases on our Researching employers page
• search for companies on LinkedIn. The Find Alumni tool shows you where Newcastle graduates are currently working
• browse our Work Experience and Graduate Employment directories. See where our students and graduates have had work experience, or been employed

Use the resources below to find organisations in the North East, UK and worldwide. 

North East organisations

International Newcastle - member directory

• UK Public Health Network - member organisations
• Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)
• European Public Health Alliance for not-for-profit organisations across Europe working in public health
• LinkedIn Find Alumni tool
• targetjobs - search employers by sector, eg software engineering or technology

Professional body websites sometimes include member directories, which are helpful for finding employers.

Search GoinGlobal’s employer directory for company information in 196 countries. Their country guides list professional bodies around the world. 

GoinGlobal’s country guides include details of recruitment agencies in specific countries. They are listed under the following headings:  

• staffing agencies and temporary help firms  
• executive recruiters and search firms  

Recruitment agencies may not operate in the same way in different countries. In the UK agencies are free for job seekers, but this may not be the case elsewhere. Explore the terms and conditions of an agency before signing up to use them.  

Applications for these courses are usually made directly to the institution.

For UK students, there is the Government postgraduate loan scheme. This is available for both Masters and doctoral courses.

See Further Study for information on other sources of funding. This includes scholarships and PhD studentships.