RESOURCE GUIDE TO HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICE WORK OPPORTUNITIES Time Commitment | Employment Procedures | Work Settings | Job Categories
Time Commitment
Full-Time: Employers seem to prefer full-time employees and there are more full-time jobs to choose from than part-time or summer jobs. In Boston, employers ask for, and get, a one to three year minimum commitment for virtually all full-time work. Students who would like to support themselves on a leave of absence by working in health care are advised therefore to consider a year's leave rather than a leave for one semester.
Most entry-level jobs are not intrinsically fascinating, but can be excellent learning opportunities. The view from the top of the hierarchy is very different from and often less accurate than a view from below. An experience of a year may also prove more valuable than a short, intensive experience, because the life and workings of health care institutions unfold gradually.
Many hospitals have tuition reimbursement programs after a specific length of time as a full-time employee. Benefits vary by institution; for example, Harvard University employees contribute 10% of the of the cost for Harvard courses taken while employed, whether or not the studies are related to the job. This benefit is available to employees of three months or longer.
Part-Time: Part-time employment in a health care setting would seem to be the best of several worlds. You can stay in school or have plenty of time to do other things and earn some money. Hospitals have part-time work for positions such as admitting clerks, emergency room aides, and sometimes lab technicians (with prior training or work experience).
Part-time work has its drawbacks, which include: a one-year minimum time commitment including summers and holidays as with full-time work; working hours on weekends or evenings or both; and a minimum of 20 hours per week.
Some students prefer to work evenings and weekends because as a member of a skeletal "off-hours" staff, you may assume more responsibility and do a wider range of tasks than during normal working hours.
Summer. Part-Time or Full-Time: Nice work if you can get it, but it becomes more difficult every year. For the jobs that do exist, some places hire systematically on a firstcome, first-serve basis; others say that there won't be any jobs but get unexpected openings; others expect to get openings, but don't. Your best bet is to apply early (even November) to a number of places and then keep in regular contact with them all the way into June. There is always the chance of last-minute (or mid-summer) hiring. Think twice if summer approaches and you're faced with holding out for such a possibility or taking a solid job offer that pays well in some other field. In other words, summer work is not to be relied upon unless you can afford to be a volunteer -- as the way to get practical experience to test out a health career interest. It is often possible, however, to have your volunteer term-time experience expand into a paid summer position.
Employment Procedures
The employment procedure involves visiting personnel offices to fill out applications and leaving your resume with them. You will be called for interviews for whatever job position you list on your application, so make sure you know and list them in order of preference.
Several hospitals in the Boston area are within easy commute by public transportation. These are clustered around the Medical School area, in Cambridge, and in downtown Boston itself.
The serious job hunter should plan to visit several hospitals and complete the applications required. Hospitals do hire from applications on file. So don't be discouraged by the familiar "we'll call you." A map of a large portion of the Harvard Medical School area is available from the Admission Office, Harvard Medical School, at Building A (second floor), 25 Shattuck Street, Boston.
If paying hospital employment interests you, you can gain necessary experience by first volunteering. Since volunteer experience is as valuable as paid work, spending a little tlme in this manner will allow you more flexibility to look for employment, if necessary, in areas outside health care.
Volunteer work: Consider this seriously. It has great advantages in flexibility and availability. If students need to earn money but have no hospital experience, they would be advised to consider the volunteer options first, while taking jobs requiring less skill for monetary support. After a semester, a year, or a summer of volunteering, you will be both familiar with hospital procedures and job descriptions, and in a good position to move into a paying job at the institution where you volunteered - or in any other hospital. Hospital experience of the type gained by volunteering is required or preferred for most of the paying patient-contact jobs you will find interesting. The volunteer often has opportunities to perform or participate in more varied and richer activities than those undertaken by a paid, unskilled, entry-level hospital worker. Many hospitals and health care centers will have a Director of Volunteers: contact that person directly. Information on volunteer and paid job resources in the Boston area are listed below.
Feel free to approach professionals engaged in work that is of interest to you. There is no absolutely certain path to getting work, paid or volunteer, but no better way than with direct personal contacts. Find out as much as possible about the work you hope to do and think of ways you might be helpful.
Work Settings
Hospital Work Experiences: Larger hospitals tend to have more specialized services, more unusual programs; they are recommended for people with specific interests or ideas they may want to pursue. Small hospitals, on the other hand, may provide more of an overview of the delivery of hospital care; they are recommended for people who want general exposure to the field.
Work experience in a hospital setting is becoming part of many a student's off-campus learning experience. It can be a testing ground for uncertain medical career aspirations or an opportunity to explore a new career option. It can contribute to one's preparation for medical school, nursing school, or other health-related professional training. As more students seek hospital employment, however, the job market tightens. Students seeking entry-level jobs must compete with community residents and Affirmative Action candidates. For those who wish to pursue a hospital job, the advice which follows is the result of several interviews with hospital personnel and volunteer managers.
Volunteer work: A student's first hospital exposure may include volunteer work (a minimum of three hours per week for one semester) or paid entry-level work. Remember that health care is delivered 24 hours a day, including vacations, holidays, and during exams. Whether you are paid or volunteer, your hospital employer will expect and rely on a commitment from you.
Paid Employment for students with volunteer experience or previous elated work experience who want to look for hospital jobs. The teaching hospitals are generally more open to hiring students than non-teaching ones. Some of the outlying area hospitals -- smaller and more flexible than downtown ones -- are also interested in hiring student workers.
Laboratories: There are at least two types:
CLINICAL labs perform routine diagnostic tests for health care institutions, e.g., blood tests, pap smears. Some are in hospitals but others are separate businesses that do work on contract. A lab with a name like "Medical Labs, Inc." may be involved in medical research or may do only clinical tests.
RESEARCH labs potentially provide more interesting work. Few private enterprises are solely research-oriented, though some have research components. More often, research labs are found in universities and large hospitals. You should be aware that there are jobs in the health and medical research fields that may be using methods or engaging in practices that are controversial. It is hard to define what to look for in assessing your willingness to become associated with a project, but you can check the following:
Source of funding: federally funded tend to be okay, the grant award procedure should take ethical questions into account. Annual reports of private foundations describe the goals of these foundations and all the projects they fund. Associated Foundations of Greater Boston, Inc., 294 Washington Street, Boston, 426-2606, has many annual reports, or you can request copies from the foundations directly.
Attitude of the sponsoring institution's ethics committee toward the project. All hospitals and foundations have some in-house instruments for reviewing ethics.
Reputation of the grant, of the project director and staff, and of the sponsoAng institution.
Common sense about the nature of the work Do you think the area of investigation is controversial; is there danger of mental or bodily harm to you or to the experimental subjects?
Government or Public Health Agencies: The employment picture here is pretty bleak these days, particularly on the federal level, where very little hiring is being done. State and local government opportunities vary enormously. Some are developing health services with new revenue-sharing monies. Remember that many governmental departments other than those with "health" in their titles have programs concerned with health issues.
Neighborhood Health Clinics: These are difficult to categorize because each reflects the neighborhood out of which it has grown. Services and the staffs vary greatly. Job turnover is relatively high, with hiring preferences often given to local residents. Of course, the larger the clinic, the greater the chance of job openings and schedule flexibility.
Places vou may not have thought of:
Nursing homes: more flexible and willing to provide on-thejob training than hospitals.
Home health agencies: a growing service which helps get patients back home as soon as possible. Staffs receive or thejob training to provide the nursing and other supportive services delivered in the patient's home. (See the Yellow Pages in the geographic area of interest to you.)
Ambulance services: The trend here is away from short-term employees as efforts are made to increase crucial skills of workers. Progress in this area, however, varies by location. Locally, several students have had rewarding experiences as volunteers on the Project Place ambulance. Check out the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) course, an 80- 100 hour program to train people in the skills needed to provide emergency medical care. Several training programs are given in the Boston area. After completing a course, contact Mr. Lawrence Stone, Director, Professional Ambulance and Oxyen Service, Inc., P.O. Box 326, 88 Sherman Street, Cambridge, MA 02141. Phone: 492-2700.
Hospices: e.g., Hospice at Mission Hill (738-9104), Hospice of Boston (825- 6210), Hospice of Cambridge (547-0025), Trinity Hospice of Greater Boston (536-7102), or call the AIDS Action Committee (437-6200).
Private, non-profit organizations such as the National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation or the Occupational Health Institute.
Any large business or institution has or is affiliated with health services for its employees. A need for personnel for a public health education effort, for examples, is possible.
Job Categories
The lists which follow are intended to give you an idea of the kind of entry-level jobs available at various institutions. The nomenclature for jobs in health fields is constantly changing. The same set of responsibilities will be attached to different job titles at different institutions (e.g., ward clerk/unit Kcretary/clinical secretary/unit clerk). Also, jobs with the same title vary depending on "sting. For example, a nursing assistant on a pediatric ward will have a very different experience fro n one on a cancer ward.
In Hospitals:
Nursing aide/assistant orderly - general classifications for jobs which give direct patient care ranging from taking vital signs, to bathing, dressing and transporting patients, to bedpan duty. In the Boston area, on-site training programs are usually a prerequisite. These are run whenever new aides are needed by the hospital Nursing Department, which is the place one should contact if interested in this work
Ward clerk/unit secretary -- general classification for the person who does the administrative back-up work for a particular ward, keeping track of staff and patient schedules, medical records, lab tests, etc. Often a good introduction to the mechanics of delivering health care in a hospital. Contact the Personnel Office about such positions.
Escort/messenger/transporter -- sometimes a volunteer position. Contact the Personnel Office.
Laboratory workers: see below, "In Laboratories."Examples of jobs related to specific hospital positions. Contact specific departments or Personnel Department:
Emergency room clinic secretary -- similar to a ward clerk but with added receptionist's duties and responsibilities.
Operating room technician
Orthopedic technician -- helps remove casts.
Admitting clerk
Phlebotomist -- draws blood of patients for testing. An entry-level position in hematology.Laboratones:
As suggested in the introduction, specific training is increasingly required to do most kinds of lab work. Beyond this, specific responsibilities of various job titles differ among institutions. "Laboratory Technician," "Laboratory Assistant" and "Research Assistant" may be the same or very different jobs. Be sure to find out what is meant from the specific personnel office.
In Neighborhood Health Clinics:
Job titles vary by clinic, and community boards usually have the final say h hiring and firing. Generally there is a counselor/family health worker/patient advocate position at every facility. Clinic secretary is another interesting job. More openings exist for medical records and other clerical jobs, but because clinics are smaller and more informal than most hospitals, even these mundane jobs allow you to get fully involved in the life of the clinic.
In Public Health:
It is impossible to categorize jobs in this area. Keep in mind that it does take a good deal of lead time to get most government jobs because of civil service procedures. The program you're involved with is much more important than the specific job title, so keep an eye on the newspaper for agencies or programs that sound interesting and contact them directly. Rewarding volunteer participation can result. A Guide to Government and Public Service Employment by Charles Ruemelh is an invaluable guide to the intricacies of the Federal Civil Service system.
Many public hospitals (e.g., Veterans Administration hospitals, chronic disease hospitals, state mental hospitals) hire staff directly, and not through civil service.
In Mental Health:
Mental health aide/attendant: the therapeutic and custodial tasks vary by institution.
Mental health worker: a new, entry-level professional role, which does not require graduate training. Specific responsibilities vary but usually include a supervised introduction to different kinds of therapy settings and therapeutic services.
Each provides a good introduction to mental health professions.
Case aide: usually an adjunct to the social services department of a hospital, and as such emphasizes the social context of mental health problems. A good introduction to the field of social work. This is a very difficult position to find in the Boston area or in any other larger metropolitan area where you will be competing with people who have graduate training in social work.
In Home Health Agencies/Visiting Nurses' Associations:
Homemaker/home health aide: basically the same duties as a nursing assistant, but in a patient's home. Look in the Yellow Pages under "Homemaker Services" in the geographic area of interest to you.
How Can You Get Such Jobs?
1. General Comments:
The health job market is tight, but also unpredictable. Special work opportunities do come along. For example, many Boston hospital personnd of fices say that job openings occur in June and in late August. This may well be true for standard entry-level jobs, which comprise most of the short-term jobs available. But a number of unusual openings appear in Julv (perhaps because this is when new fiscal year funding begins); in January (when the chronological year begins); and at various times in between. I-ne way to maximize your chances of finding such opportunities is to keep in regular contact with as many potential employers as possible. Also consider:
-- Science courses which include a substantial amount of lab work (if you want to work in a lab setting);
-- Spanish (for jobs involving delivery of care to the Spanish-speaking populations of Boston). Chinese, Italian, Russian, Yiddish, and Portuguese language skills would also be helpful.
Be creative. The chances of getting a job which really interests you will be increased if you have had a hand in tailoring it. The Aver Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals lists periodicals in all of the following health-related areas:
The Blind
Dental
Drugs and Pharmaceuticals
Foreign Trade, Pan-American and Intemational Affairs
Hard of Hearing
Health, Hygiene and Sanitadon
Hospitals and Nursing
Medical and Surgical
Psychology and Psychiatry
SPCA
State, County and Municipal Administration
Newspapers are also a good source of employment information -- not only help-wanted ads, but also news articles that describe "newsworthy" health projects and the people you could contact about them. Be sure to look at local weeklies as well as large dailies. For the Boston area, these would include the Boston Globe (Sunday employment section), the Bay State Banner, the Cambridge Chronicle.
The job will be what you make it. Two students often have very different reactions to the same experience; for example, volunteering in the emergency room of a famous Boston hospital. One student was frustrated that volunteers did not have specific functions in this setting and wished to have been asked to do more. The other student was delighted to find that busy professionals were willing to answer questions and fascinated by the diversity of health problems.
Questions? Feedback? Contact Jenny Liu at 617-225-8723