Top 12 Public Health Educator Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today’s job hunt, Public Health Educators need more than good intentions. Hiring managers scan for concrete skills, real impact, and proof you can move a community toward better health. The twelve skills below spotlight the core capabilities that signal competence, credibility, and momentum.
Public Health Educator Skills
- Epidemiology
- Biostatistics
- Health Promotion
- Community Engagement
- Program Evaluation
- Health Communication
- SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)
- SAS (Statistical Analysis System)
- Policy Analysis
- Health Equity
- Behavior Change
- GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
1. Epidemiology
Epidemiology examines how health events appear, spread, and can be controlled across populations. It anchors prevention, shapes response, and keeps interventions grounded in evidence.
Why It's Important
Public Health Educators rely on epidemiology to spot patterns, quantify risk, and point action where it matters. Without it, programs guess. With it, programs hit the mark.
How to Improve Epidemiology Skills
Modernize data capture and analysis: use electronic health records, mobile data collection, and GIS to tighten accuracy and speed.
Strengthen surveillance: real-time dashboards, clear case definitions, and rapid reporting links between clinics, labs, and public health.
Work across disciplines: partner with clinicians, statisticians, environmental health, and community groups to triangulate insight.
Level up methods: refresh on study design, bias control, outbreak analytics, and causal inference; practice frequently.
Communicate risk plainly: turn findings into clear guidance, visuals, and timely advisories people actually act on.
How to Display Epidemiology Skills on Your Resume
2. Biostatistics
Biostatistics blends statistical methods with health data to test hypotheses, estimate effects, and translate numbers into decisions that save lives.
Why It's Important
It reveals trends, quantifies uncertainty, and evaluates whether programs work. No solid analysis, no solid policy.
How to Improve Biostatistics Skills
Rebuild the foundation: probability, inference, regression, and experimental design. Tight basics pay off.
Use the right tools: practice in R, SAS, SPSS, or Python; learn to script analyses and document workflows.
Practice on real data: national surveys, registries, surveillance feeds; replicate published analyses to sharpen judgment.
Go beyond averages: mixed models, survival analysis, causal methods, and power/sample size calculations.
Join professional circles: present work, get critique, and stay current with methods and standards.
How to Display Biostatistics Skills on Your Resume
3. Health Promotion
Health promotion equips people and communities to protect their health through education, supportive environments, and policy change.
Why It's Important
It prevents disease upstream, stretches resources further, and lifts quality of life without waiting for a crisis.
How to Improve Health Promotion Skills
Tailor the message: plain language, cultural relevance, co-created materials, and translation that respects nuance.
Meet people where they are: social platforms, text campaigns, community radio, and in-person touchpoints.
Build alliances: schools, faith groups, local businesses, and grassroots leaders amplify reach and trust.
Co-design and test: pilot messages, gather quick feedback, and adjust fast.
Evaluate relentlessly: logic models, measurable indicators, and routine review of what’s working—and what’s not.
Push for policy: align education with environmental and policy shifts so healthy choices become the easy default.
How to Display Health Promotion Skills on Your Resume
4. Community Engagement
Community engagement means working with people—not at them—to surface priorities, craft solutions, and sustain change they actually want.
Why It's Important
Programs built with communities stick. They fit local realities, honor culture, and earn trust.
How to Improve Community Engagement Skills
Listen first: conduct assessments, focus groups, and key informant interviews; understand assets and barriers.
Show up consistently: online and on the ground—neighborhood meetings, health fairs, and trusted community spaces.
Partner widely: libraries, clinics, youth groups, mutual aid networks; collaboration widens reach and legitimacy.
Activate champions: train local ambassadors to carry messages and model behaviors.
Close the loop: seek feedback, share findings back, and adapt plans visibly so people see their fingerprints.
Lower friction: child care at events, transportation stipends, flexible schedules, and accessible materials.
How to Display Community Engagement Skills on Your Resume
5. Program Evaluation
Program evaluation tests whether a program delivers what it promised, for whom, at what cost, and why.
Why It's Important
It guides funding, refines strategy, and proves impact. Evidence earns staying power.
How to Improve Program Evaluation Skills
Define the aim: clear, measurable outcomes tied to a crisp problem statement.
Use mixed methods: pair numbers with stories to capture impact and context.
Map a logic model: inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes—make the pathway explicit.
Engage stakeholders early: co-create questions, timelines, and interpretations.
Protect quality: sound sampling, valid instruments, reliable data management, and ethical safeguards.
Iterate in real time: build rapid feedback cycles and adjust the program midstream.
Share accessibly: dashboards, briefs, and community debriefs that invite action.
How to Display Program Evaluation Skills on Your Resume
6. Health Communication
Health communication shapes messages and channels so people understand risks, see options, and feel ready to act.
Why It's Important
Clarity cuts through noise. Good messaging turns intent into behavior.
How to Improve Health Communication Skills
Know the audience: segment by needs, language, literacy, culture, and media habits.
Use plain language: short sentences, common words, strong visuals; test comprehension.
Mix media: video, infographics, audio, and interactive tools—accessible formats matter.
Be social, responsibly: consistent voice, credible sources, moderation plan, and rapid myth-busting.
Pretest and iterate: A/B test headlines, calls to action, and visuals; refine fast.
Measure impact: reach, engagement, understanding, and behavior change—not just impressions.
How to Display Health Communication Skills on Your Resume
7. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)
SPSS is a statistical software platform for managing data, running analyses, and reporting results—widely used across public health settings.
Why It's Important
It enables quick, reproducible analyses that inform programs, policies, and publications.
How to Improve SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) Skills
Learn the workflow: data import, labeling, cleaning, and basic procedures done cleanly and consistently.
Prefer syntax over clicks: scripts document steps, reduce errors, and make work reproducible.
Master core procedures: crosstabs, regression, logistic models, GLM, survival, and nonparametrics.
Use real datasets: practice on surveys, surveillance, and program data; build a portfolio.
Extend SPSS: explore Python integration and extensions to automate repetitive tasks.
Seek peer review: share syntax and outputs; tighten code style and interpretation.
Stay current: new versions add features—skim release notes and adopt what helps.
How to Display SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) Skills on Your Resume
8. SAS (Statistical Analysis System)
SAS is a suite for data management, analytics, modeling, and reporting that powers large-scale public health analysis.
Why It's Important
It handles complex, messy health data and produces reliable results at scale.
How to Improve SAS (Statistical Analysis System) Skills
Nail the essentials: DATA step, PROC steps, formats/informats, and macro basics.
Think tidy: structure data for analysis—long vs. wide, keys, and metadata discipline.
Use the right PROC: LOGISTIC, GENMOD, MIXED, GLIMMIX, PHREG, SQL—match method to question.
Document everything: annotated code, version control, and reproducible pipelines.
Speed matters: efficient joins, indexes, and memory-aware code; profile and optimize.
Learn the ecosystem: SAS Studio, Enterprise Guide, and connectors for databases and cloud.
How to Display SAS (Statistical Analysis System) Skills on Your Resume
9. Policy Analysis
Policy analysis evaluates options, weighs trade-offs, and recommends actions that improve population health fairly and efficiently.
Why It's Important
It connects evidence to decision-making, shaping policies that are feasible, effective, and equitable.
How to Improve Policy Analysis Skills
Scan the landscape: current statutes, regulations, funding flows, and political context.
Frame the problem sharply: define outcomes, affected populations, and the scale of harm.
Assess equity impacts: identify who benefits, who bears costs, and how to reduce disparities.
Quantify value: cost, cost-effectiveness, and budget impact alongside health outcomes.
Map stakeholders: incentives, influence, and likely allies; anticipate barriers early.
Write to persuade: concise briefs, clear recommendations, and actionable next steps.
Pilot and monitor: start small, evaluate, refine, and scale what works.
How to Display Policy Analysis Skills on Your Resume
10. Health Equity
Health equity means everyone has a fair shot at their best health—no avoidable gaps by race, income, gender, disability, or place.
Why It's Important
Fair systems are healthier systems. Reducing disparities improves outcomes for all and honors basic justice.
How to Improve Health Equity Skills
Teach the social determinants: income, housing, education, environment, discrimination—make the drivers visible.
Use disaggregated data responsibly: collect, protect, and analyze by key demographics to reveal gaps and guide repair.
Co-create solutions: design with communities, pay for lived expertise, and reflect local priorities.
Remove barriers: language access, transportation, clinic hours, cost, and digital access—fix the frictions.
Make materials inclusive: culturally responsive, translated, and accessible for different literacy levels.
Grow equitable teams: recruit diverse staff and train on bias, humility, and trauma-informed practice.
Advocate upstream: housing, wages, food security, and environmental protections change health at scale.
How to Display Health Equity Skills on Your Resume
11. Behavior Change
Behavior change shifts what people do—day by day, choice by choice—so health improves and stays improved.
Why It's Important
Most prevention lives in daily habits. Nudge those habits and outcomes follow.
How to Improve Behavioral Change Skills
Apply theory with teeth: Transtheoretical Model, Social Cognitive Theory, COM-B—choose and tailor.
Set SMART goals and plans: specific steps, prompts, and coping strategies for barriers.
Shape the environment: defaults, cues, reminders, and easier access to the healthier option.
Lean on social proof: peer leaders, group challenges, and public commitments.
Go digital wisely: texts, apps, and trackers that support—not overwhelm—participants.
Monitor and adapt: frequent check-ins, quick tweaks, and feedback that motivates.
Celebrate small wins: reinforce progress to lock in momentum.
How to Display Behavioral Change Skills on Your Resume
12. GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
GIS connects place to health data, revealing where risks cluster, services are scarce, and interventions should go next.
Why It's Important
Maps turn complexity into insight. They help target resources, plan responses, and explain patterns clearly.
How to Improve GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Skills
Learn a platform deeply: ArcGIS or QGIS for mapping, analysis, and sharing.
Clean spatial data: geocoding, projections, spatial joins, and careful handling of boundaries.
Analyze patterns: choropleths done right, hotspot analysis, kernel density, and spatial autocorrelation.
Layer context: pair health indicators with social determinants to see root causes.
Build timely dashboards: near real-time feeds for outbreaks, emergencies, and rapid decision-making.
Collect in the field: mobile GIS for accurate, time-stamped, geo-tagged data.
Protect privacy: aggregation, masking, and ethical map design to prevent harm.
How to Display GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Skills on Your Resume
