Other ways to work in health

Whilst employment sits predominantly within the NHS and its various trusts, you can find work and roles relating to healthcare in other settings.

You could explore roles in the following areas:

  • Private sector
  • Public sector or
  • Charities and not-for-profit organisations

By understanding the breadth of areas that healthcare covers, you could discover alternative ways to get into the sector.

Working in private healthcare settings

There are several private healthcare settings you could explore:

  • Roles could be available in private hospitals or GP practices
  • Private healthcare companies such as Bupa also offer roles linked to healthcare and provide graduate schemes and internships in business, technology and their legal team.
  • You could also look at private care homes and the roles that involve the operational management or organisation of homes, as well as the roles that involve working directly with patients, service users and their families.

Working in public sector settings

If you're interested in working with employers in the public sector, then working for a local council or authority could be an option. Roles in public health for example can often be found through local council job websites or the Civil Service.

You can explore various roles that link to health on the following:

For more information about working in the public sector and health, see our Public Health section, which also includes information on working internationally as a public health professional.

If working overseas in health is of interest to you, this vacancy website may also be of interest:

Health, mental health and social care are other areas to explore. For example, Social Workers may work with individuals and families to improve their overall health and wellbeing.

Explore our Psychology and Mental Health pages for more information on this area, as well as this page on Prospects for some ideas for working in social care:

Working in the wider healthcare industry

Pharmaceutical and large consumer goods companies are invested in health and wellness, and may develop and manufacture drugs, over the counter medicines, medical devices and more. There are roles in research and product development, clinical and consumer trials and more. Nutritionists work for food companies, and scientists and engineers help develop medical devices and digital apps.

Working for charities and not-for-profit organisations

It may also be worth exploring charities and not-for-profit organisations that work in a health and social care capacity. This can be a fantastic way to gain relevant experience, but also find jobs that you may not have considered before.

There are a huge number of charities that fund important healthcare research such as Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation (both of which have their own graduate schemes), as well as more local and regional charities working on a range of causes.

Some charities also work on a global scale, and you may find work outside of the UK with some of these charities if working abroad is of interest to you. The following sites list vacancies in health charities abroad:

For more general information on an international job search, you may find our International webpages useful. You may also find our GoinGlobal resource helpful if researching health care jobs in other countries and their visa requirements.

Remember: Look beyond the job title- it might not have ‘health’ directly expressed within it, but roles such as ‘Family Support Practitioner’ or ‘Development Officer’ for example, could have healthcare content. Always check the job description, you never know what you could find that links to your interests, skills and experience!

Many students and graduates want to work in healthcare but don't want to work in a clinical capacity or directly with patients, and that’s okay! You can still find a huge range of roles that are linked to healthcare without having to enter a hospital ward! For example, you may want to utitlise other skills such as business, operations, marketing, communications, HR, technology... you name it! All healthcare organisations, regardless of whether it is in the public, charitable or private sector: they will always need professionals with a wide variety of skills to make sure everything runs smoothly.