Career options for returning to Public Health

[Phgrad2011]

I graduate with an MPH in Health Policy and Systems Management in 2011, and immediately after graduating I spent a year teaching English as a volunteer in a developing country. When I returned to the US, I spent a year working a temp job as I was pregnant and between countries so having a full-time job wasn't an option. I opted to stay home with my daughter for two years before going back to work. I found a job recently outside of the Public Health field, because I simply couldn't find work. I don't like the current job I have, and desperately want to return, but have found it extremely difficult with my time out of Public Health. Does anyone have any options on roads/options to consider to get back into the field? An unpaid internship wouldn't be financially possible with the high cost of daycare, and I have completed two internships while in graduate school. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

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[MolBio]

This is definitely a conundrum that isn't limited to the field I public health; as such many of the strategies apply to other fields too - see:

http://www.askamanager.org/2013/02/job-searching-after-being-a-stay-at-home-mom.html

I would also add, try your old (or geographically nearest) schools of public health and their online job boards for research assistant or associate positions, even contract or project work to build up the experience while also brushing up on methods and skills.

Ultimately though this also depends on the subfield of public health where you want to work, as supplemental job strategies will differ a lot between them.

Finally, where did you volunteer overseas? If you can leverage language skills or even country or regional knowledge, highlight that and try to target some research or other jobs with funding there. In what city do you (or can you) live?