Employment

DHSS offers a variety of rewarding career paths dedicated to protecting and promoting the health of Missourians. Whether you are an experienced professional or a student looking for hands-on experience, this page provides the resources you need to explore current job openings and specialized learning programs.

General Information about the program:

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ (DHSS) Experiential Learning Program is designed to provide college students with real-life experience working alongside environmental public health specialists, public health nurses, facility surveyors, program managers and representatives, senior services staff, and other Department professionals. Through this program, DHSS strives to offer students an exceptional experience that will result in amplified knowledge of public health, adult protective services, and regulatory practices.   

The Department offers the following experiential learning opportunities:

Internship – An internship is offered to students who are required to complete one by their college, university, or school for credit. During an internship, the student will work on a project(s) for the Department that will result in a positive learning experience with an expected outcome. Required hours may vary depending on the student’s degree and/or school (i.e. 360 hours, 400 hours, etc.). 

Mentorship – A mentorship may be offered to an individual that is not required to complete an internship for their degree coursework but instead, simply desires to come into the Department to gain experience in public health or senior services. A mentee will work on a project during their time here and will possibly do some shadowing with upper management. The length of a mentorship would typically be one month. 

Shadowing – A shadowing experience may be offered to an individual who would like to come into the Department to observe what a particular program or staff person might do in a typical work day. This experience will only involve observing and the student/individual would not be doing any hands-on work for the Department. The length of a shadowing experience would typically be two days long. 

Things to know about serving an internship at DHSS:

1. We require all interns to fill out a form that will allow us to run background checks. One may not begin the experience with us until background checks are complete. 
2. We require an up-to-date Internship Agreement between our Department and the student’s school to be on file before the experience may begin. If we do not already have one finalized with the school, we will begin the process as soon as we receive word about the internship. Please note, that this process can be lengthy so an adequate amount of time needs to be allowed for completion. 
3. We have an internship packet that we require all interns to review once they begin. This packet consists of various Department statements and policies that are crucial for someone coming into the Department to adhere to. There are a few forms that will need to be signed by the intern within the packet. 
4. Most internships are unpaid. 

Things to know about mentoring or shadowing at DHSS:

1. We require all individuals wishing to mentor or shadow to fill out a form that will allow us to run background checks. One may not begin the experience with us until background checks are complete.
2. We have a mentoring/shadowing packet that consists of a few Department policies and statements that will need to be reviewed by the individual once the mentoring or shadowing experience begins.