Research Full Report Public Health Graduates and Employment in Governmental Public Health: Factors That Facilitate and Deter Working in This Setting Valerie A. Yeager, DrPH; Leslie M. Beitsch, MD, JD; Sarah M. Johnson, MSEd; Paul K. Halverson, DrPH ABSTRACT Objectives: Previous surveys of public health graduates examine where they work; however, little is known about public health graduates’ employment decisions or the factors that facilitate interest or deter interest in working in governmental public health settings. The purpose of the current pilot study was to build on the information previously collected in grad- uate surveys by expanding questions to undergraduates and asking about decisions and factors that infuence choices of employment. Methods: A pilot survey of graduates of public health programs was conducted. Respondents provided information about their degree programs, year of graduation, and current employment. Questions asked where they applied for jobs, factors they considered, experiences with the application processes, and so forth. Descriptive statistics were calculated using frequencies and proportions. Open-ended responses were qualitatively reviewed and general themes were extracted. Results: Employment preferences were ranked the highest for not-for-proft organizations (ranked frst among 21 of 62, 33.9%), followed by governmental public health agencies (ranked frst among 18 of 62, 29.0%). Among master of public health graduates, 54.7% sought employment within this setting, although only 17.0% of those employed full time at the time of the survey were employed within a governmental public health agency. Job security (84.7%), competitive bene- fts (82.2%), identifying with the mission of the organization (82.2%), and opportunities for training/continuing education (80.6%) were the most infuential, positive factors garnering interest in working in governmental public health. Factors that were the biggest deterrents included the ability to innovate (19.2%), competitive salary (17.8%), and autonomy/employee empowerment (15.3%). Conclusions: Approximately half of the respondents applied for a job within governmental public health in anticipation of or since graduating. However, only a quarter of employed respondents are currently working within governmental public health, suggesting a missed opportunity for recruiting the other quarter who applied and were interested in governmental positions. KEY WORDS: public health graduates, recruitment, workforce T he public health workforce may be the single most important resource in the effort to pro- mote, protect, and ensure the public’s health in the United States. 1-3 Without the 300 000 govern- mental public health employees at the federal, state, Author Affliations: Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indianapolis, Indiana (Drs Yeager and Halverson and Ms Johnson); and Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, Florida (Dr Beitsch). The authors declare no conficts of interest. Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citation appears in the printed text and is provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal’s Web site (http://www.JPHMP.com). Correspondence: Valerie A. Yeager, DrPH, Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, 1050 Wishard Blvd, Room 5136, Indianapolis, IN, 46202 (vyeager@iu.edu). Copyright © 2019 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001052 tribal, and local levels, 4 we would not be able to ensure safe water and waste systems, food protec- tions, the success of disease prevention programs, or valuable support toward the social determinants of health. 2,5 In addition to attempting to retain indis- pensable public health employees throughout years of workforce shortages and the looming planned retire- ment and/or departure of 38% of current employees before 2020, 6 public health agencies have also been tasked with ensuring that existing employees have the training and skills necessary to effciently and effec- tively perform their roles within 21st century health departments. 3,7 An important step in ensuring a prepared work- force was the development of core competencies for the different professional positions within public health agencies. 8,9 These competencies were intended Copyright © 2019 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. 00 2019 • Volume 00, Number 00 www.JPHMP.com 1