Contributing my story to the PH SPOT Blog

WRITING GUIDELINE

Choosing a topic to write about

Good posts come from real experiences. Think about your own career path, experiences you’ve had, or areas you have struggled in. There’s a pretty high chance that others in public health are also experiencing something similar and would appreciate to hear how you handled the situation.

Here are some popular questions individuals have asked PH SPOT, to get you thinking about your own topic:

  • Education/training in public health:
    • How did you choose the institution (university, college, etc.) that you pursued for your education in Public Health?
    • What was your experience at ? (I.e. highly recommended courses; courses you feel did not provide as much benefit as you hoped; courses that looking back would have been a value-add; student life; opportunities)
    • What was your experience building a public health career, without a Masters degree.
    • What additional training has benefitted you (i.e. certifications)?
    • Should one pursue a thesis-based or a course-based Masters? What are the advantages and disadvantages to both?
    • Your experience in obtaining any of the following degrees/certifications: PhD, DrPH, Project Management certification (PMP), MBA.
  • Finding your niche in public health
    • What experience outside of education proved to be valuable in shaping or enhancing your career?
    • How did you choose the stream that you are in?
    • How did you transition into a public health career, from a different field?
  • Job search in the public health field
    • What specific advice do you have when it comes to applying for jobs specific to the public health industry?
    • How did you land your current position?
  • Career advancement in public health:
    • What allows you to stand out at your current organization?
    • Have you benefited from a mentor? If so, how did you find one, and what thoughts can you share on this experience?
    • What has been your experience with career advancement with family life, specifically how taking parental leave and having young children (or now, older children) impacts career opportunities (interested in both the perspective of men and women)? How your career may or may not have been impacted (and what you did to mitigate or accept this)? Consider: length and place of travel, breastfeeding, childcare, 12- vs 18- month maternity leave, etc.
  • Event feature
    • What was like?
    • How was your experience attending ?
  • Day in the life series
    • A day in the Life: Policy Analyst
    • A day in the Life: Public Health Researcher
    • A day in the Life: Public health nurse
    • A day in the Life: Epidemiologist
    • A day in the Life: Public Health Consultant
What are some writing tips for a great blog post?

Here are some blog post writing tips:

  • Personal stories are the most popular, and engage readers.
  • Be creative in your writing, and again, make it personal. People want to hear your voice in the writing.
  • Use a catchy title, that is also descriptive.
  • Ensure you follow these 5 tips to improve readability:
    • Write clear paragraphs
    • Write short sentences
    • Limit difficult words
    • Use transition words
    • Mix it up (i.e. alternate longer paragraphs and sentences with shorter ones; try using synonyms if you tend to use a particular word too often)
What are the timelines to get my story posted on PH SPOT?

Once you’ve been in touch with us about submitting a blog post, we recommend that you get it written in 2-3 weeks in order to ensure that you don’t forget about it (it’s really to keep the momentum going – we’ve noticed that when we wait more than 2-3 weeks, it falls off people’s radars and often does not get submitted).

Once you submit your piece, we schedule your post in our calendar. If you’d like to know the exact date your post will be published, email us and we will let you know. If there is a specific week you’d like your blog post to go up because the timing is important, we can also accommodate that – shoot us an email.

How do I submit my story to be posted?

When you are ready to submit your piece, head over to the blog submission page and fill out the form, upload your blog post. The form will prompt you for the following:

  • Blog post title
  • A headshot (picture of you) – optional
  • A short biography  (less than 100 words) for the “about the author” section
  • An image for your blog post (we provide you with a site to search pictures on)
  • Disclaimers that may be needed to be included with your post
How to get my blog post discovered?

Once your article has been published on the PH SPOT website, we make sure your story gets read! To do this, we market your story using a number of mediums. This primarily includes our social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) as well as our weekly newsletter.

In addition, we encourage you to share it within your network. One way to do this is to post an article on your LinkedIn page. On your newsfeed, you will see that in addition to making a post, you can also “write an article”.  Simply copy and paste your blog post there, and include the following “Originally published on phspot.org” (or include the direct link to your post once it is published). If you need help with this, let us know!

Can I recommend others to tell their story?

If you have friends/colleagues in the field of public health that you believe would also have great insight or experiences to share, please connect us with them. We are always looking for contributors to our blog.

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