Anyone here works in health economics?

[LaCerbiatta]

I need help. Dh did a masters in health economics and has been trying for over a year to get a job without luck. It's the best masters in the country (York) and he had really good grades but the problem is his age - he's 50 .

He's so down and getting so demoralised. I don't know how to help him.

If any one works im the area and has any suggestions I'd be really grateful.

Have you tried the civil service website? They sometimes look for economists and have quite strict equality rules around recruitments. Or health think tank type places - kings fund, healthcare foundation, etc. Where are you based?

Is he restricted in area or flexible on location? I’m surprised he’s struggling as we find it really difficult to recruit good health economists and I would not be put off by someone’s age. What sort of jobs has he been applying for?

Thank you so much for responding. No, not restricted in location, we don't mind if he's away for a year or so just to get experience. He's even starting to look abroad

He has applied to absolutely everything and so far only got interviews with NICE (indeed they don't appear to be ageist).

I'll ask him about the civil service website. Any other suggestions?

And I'll tell him about healthcare foundations, not sure if he's looked at those.

Bump

I assume he has applied to consultancies? Pharma tend to prefer one or two years experience but consultancies are more flexible. What field has he moved from?

Yes, he has been trying consultancies. He was an academic scientist in cell biology.

Medical devices instead of pharma? Especially wound care

Well that surprises me if he has a strong science background too. I can pm you a few ideas if you like, have been working in this field for 20yrs.

Thanks. Yes, could try that as well although tha lack of experience is always a problem. Do you mean consultancies that do medical devices?

No, med device companies. They do a lot of health economics because the investment is so great for hospitals/trusts so they need to see the long term cost benefits

Why are you so sure that his age is the problem?
Has the Uni careers service looked at his CV?

Is he only applying for academic & research jobs? Does he have saved searches on jobs.nhs? What is the minimum salary point or band (NHS) he'd consider? CCGs & CSUs hire health economists, too.

Has he applied to any RDS services, would he apply for this job?

Is the situation that he’s making lots of applications but not getting interviews? If he’s been in academia for a long time it might be that his CV/application style is very ‘academia-specific’, which doesn’t always go down well in industry. When I made a similar transition I got a lot of good insights through LinkedIn and Cheeky Scientist (articles, webinars etc) about how to break into the healthcare consultancy world.

I also think you can’t underestimate the value of networking if trying to get into consultancy work. Any network that he can leverage from his master’s, events through the university careers service or business school if it has one, or even just networking through LinkedIn, can throw up something of value.

Good point about the CV style. I now use a skills-based format cv even for academic jobs (just put the long list of pubs on at end, too).

I'm one but in academia - I second what others are suggesting, plus also looking at the WHO (I'm toying with the idea of going back there, tbh-they're not ageist AFAIK or have heard) or a specific UN mission: has he looked at UN Volunteers? Although they aren't salaried, in practice, you can come home with money in your pocket each month, if you don't drink your per diem etc - and even more so in a hardship posting.

How about also checking out IPPR and similar too? Not pure health economics, but there's a shortage of people who can wrangle stats and figures in general in various think tanks.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BUR988/researcher-in-health-economics

The deadline for this job has been extended...suggesting not enough applicants? Worth a look.

Small pharma can take newer people as they have less applicants. I echo the CV style but also you can put a lot more information on your LinkedIn profile to bulk it out if you worry about missing some things.
To be fair when we recruit in pharma it is a lot about network or recommendations but for entry roles we usually go through recruitment agencies. If he hasn't already signed up with some that is a good start.

Thank you all so much, I've shared this thread with him. Lots of useful suggestions he hadn't considered.