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Community Health Workers

Under the title Community Health Workers, workers promote health within a community by assisting individuals to adopt healthy behaviors. You may also need to report incidences of child or elder abuse, neglect, or threats of harm to authorities, as required. With a code of SEI, this is mostly a job for people drawn to helping, teaching or caring for people. Enterprising interests also help, rated 3.5 out of 7. Plan on a bachelor’s degree plus a period of work experience; O*NET labels this considerable preparation. Strength in speaking, social perceptiveness, and critical thinking helps most here. If you want helping, teaching or caring for people, keep it on your list. If you need hands-on work with tools, machines or the physical world, it may feel thin.

What they do

Promote health within a community by assisting individuals to adopt healthy behaviors. Serve as an advocate for the health needs of individuals by assisting community residents in effectively communicating with healthcare providers or social service agencies. Act as liaison or advocate and implement programs that promote, maintain, and improve individual and overall community health. May deliver health-related preventive services such as blood pressure, glaucoma, and hearing screenings. May collect data to help identify community health needs.

Main tasks

  • Report incidences of child or elder abuse, neglect, or threats of harm to authorities, as required.
  • Monitor nutrition of children, elderly, or other high-risk groups.
  • Maintain updated client records with plans, notes, appropriate forms, or related information.
  • Contact clients in person, by phone, or in writing to ensure they have completed required or recommended actions.
  • Advise clients or community groups on issues related to self-care, such as diabetes management.
  • Refer community members to needed health services.

Skills

  • Speaking
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Critical Thinking
  • Active Listening
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Active Learning

Who this career fits

May suit you if

  • You get energy from helping other people move forward.
  • You like taking the lead and making the call.
  • You are ready to spend around four years on a degree, then build experience.
  • You are comfortable relying on speaking and social perceptiveness.

May not suit you if

  • You find a full day of dealing with people draining.
  • You want to work with your hands for most of the day. Realistic rates 2.0 out of 7 here.
  • You want to avoid a four-year degree or its equivalent.

Interest profile

O*NET rates each occupation from 1 to 7 on six interest types. The code SEI takes the three highest, and Social comes first here.

Preparation

Considerable preparation. Most jobs here ask for a bachelor’s degree, and employers usually expect a few years of related experience as well.

Also called

  • Communicable Disease Liaison
  • Community Health Coordinator
  • Community Health Outreach Worker
  • Community Health Program Coordinator
  • Community Health Program Representative (Community Health Program Rep)

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.