Choosing a career is not an easy task for many people. You might be lucky and have known what you wanted to do as a child, kept that enthusiasm as you studied, and then gone to work in your dream career.
However, for most people, it’s much more challenging to decide what it is they want to do – there is so much choice that it can feel overwhelming.
You’ll need to look at your own personality and your likes and dislikes and apply them to the jobs you are considering. When you find something that matches, you can delve deeper and research more before deciding whether or not it’s the career for you.
Nursing might be something that comes up during this research, and why not? It’s an excellent career that many people find hugely satisfying and interesting.
However, there are some important things to know before you become a nurse – read on to understand more about this particular career choice.
There Is Plenty Of Career Progression
Some people might dismiss the idea of becoming a nurse because they think there is no possibility of career progression. They think there is just one type of nurse and that you can’t go anywhere from there.
It would be a shame if the people who thought this would otherwise have made excellent nurses since the truth is there is a lot of career progression within nursing, and as long as you have the experience and qualifications, you can choose exactly where you want to go with your nursing career.
You might want to become a nurse practitioner in Kentucky, or perhaps you want to work in an ER in New York. Maybe the idea of being a travel nurse excites you.
No matter what kind of career path you are interested in, nursing will allow you to go along it until you reach a level you’re happy with.
Nurses Have To Think For Themselves
When you are a nurse, you won’t have someone standing over your shoulder telling you what to do and how to do it at all times (although you will have supervision when you first start).
Everyone is busy, and every patient needs the best care, so you’ll need to think for yourself and carry on with your job, even if you’re on your own. Decision-making is a vital part of being a nurse.
This might not be something you’re comfortable with; nurses have a lot of responsibility, and this is not for everyone. This is why it’s important to know in advance that this is the kind of environment you’ll be working in.
Having said that, if you still love the idea of nursing, it’s possible to learn to become a better decision-maker, and over time and with experience, your skills in this area will get better. You’ll have a lot of support around you, even if you often have to work alone.
Hospital Jobs Are Competitive
There is a nursing shortage, and it’s getting worse. Therefore, you might assume that when you graduate from your studies, you’ll have your pick of jobs within the nursing profession.
The truth is that although hospitals do need nurses, they also have budgets and hiring limits to stick to, and that can mean that they would love to hire you, but they can’t.
Plus, hospital jobs are very competitive; there are more nurses graduating now, and, due to these limits, jobs always have a lot of candidates.
Therefore, if you want to use your nursing skills right away rather than wait for a job to arise, you might need to look at places other than hospitals.
This could be private clinics, schools, or prisons, for example. If you expand the scope of your job search, you should be able to find something that works.