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What's a good major to pursue if you have an AA degree in Health Sciences General Studies and you enjoy subjects involving English/Writing?

By 18, if I work hard enough, I should have an AA degree in Health Sciences General Studies, though now I'm wondering if I still want to pursue a career focused entirely on health. I've always struggled with math, which as I've found is quite involved in this field, making me reconsider my decision to pursue a health-focused career. Now, I'm focusing on my interests in writing, English, debating, and things of that nature. I'm now wondering if there is a major that could lead to a career involving both my health skills and my current interests. #general #health #professionals #english #writing #creativewriting #linguistics #journalism #debating #communications #opentoideas #career #healthcareer #liberalarts #professors

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Ken’s Answer

Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Lillian’s Answer

There are a lot of avenues within the healthcare field that don't require lots of science/math but mostly involve working with people instead. For example, there's medical social work, mental health and therapy, medical scribe/transcriptionist, human resources/healthcare recruiter, physician liaison, healthcare administration, and public health communications just to think of a few. Some combination of healthcare, communications, and/or business seem like what you would like to do. I'd recommend talking to your career counselor or guidance counselor as well for more options since there's probably a lot more out there that I didn't think of.
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Brad’s Answer

Hi! You could look for communications roles in the health care or pharmaceutical industries!

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Yolande’s Answer

Hi Sarina,


I faced a similar dilemma when I was leaving school and was interested in pursuing a career in writing and communications but ended up working in Sales at a pharmaceutical company. I thought I had settled only to find out that there were enormous opportunities in combining my writing skills with my growing expertise in the healthcare industry. Now a few years later, I work in corporate communications at my company and I spend most days writing patient and health information stories. I absolutely enjoy it but kind of stumbled into it.


It doesn't have to be this way for you. There are so many websites and companies looking for writers to tell health and wellness stories. Start there. Read WebMD and similar websites to get a sense of the writing style and what the kind of stories that they tell. Then write about a topic that is important to you, it can be anything from a friend's cancer diagnosis, your workout regimen or an interesting science fact that you learned in school.


After completing this exercise, you can gage your passion and enthusiasm for writing about health topics and if you are still interested in pursuing a career in communications and health sciences, look for copywriting or writing positions at health care agencies, hospitals, pharma companies and others. Don't get discouraged if you don't land anything at first, keep building your writing portfolio and writing style through freelance opportunities or internships.


Please let me know if this helps.


P.S. Check out www.pfizer365.com to see examples of patient stories and health information.

Best,

Yolande

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