Skills
Health Educator Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in health educators, and how to build and show them.
What skills do health educators need?
Health Educators need technical skills such as needs assessment, program planning, and curriculum design, plus people skills like communication and creativity. They also use tools such as Survey tools and Canva and design software.
Technical (hard) skills
- Needs assessment
- Program planning
- Curriculum design
- Evaluation
- Health communication
- Grant writing
People (soft) skills
- Communication
- Creativity
- Cultural humility
- Organization
Tools, equipment and technology
- Survey tools
- Canva and design software
- Presentation tools
- Social media
- Spreadsheets
- Learning platforms
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how health educators put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Needs assessment” and “Program planning.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “communication,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our health educator glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Health Educator training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.