Any job or career within healthcare is rewarding, especially a career within nursing.
Helping people from all walks of life is different and rewarding every day.
Progressing within your nursing career is natural, especially if you are ambitious and want to help as many people as possible. However, where do you start?
How do you decide on a course of action, and how do you realize your ambitions and true potential?
A Plan of Action
To begin with, you have to put together a plan of action.
An action plan will steer you in the correct direction and ensure that you end up at the career destination that you want and deserve.
When you are putting together a plan of action, you need to look at where you currently are and where you want to be within at least the next five years.
Of course, nothing is stopping you from planning out further ahead if you want to, for, say, the next ten years plus. Once you have established where you want to be, you can put together your plan.
Your plan should cover what skills you have and what you need, together with the experience and knowledge you have and need.
A plan of action needs to be in place to guide you; it does not have to be set in stone. Instead, it can be fluid and changeable.
Knowing You Are Ready
Progressing your career is a decision that you should not take lightly.
You will know and feel when the time is right. If you do not listen to your intuition when progressing your career, then you may become stagnant and then struggle to move and make a change.
You will know that you are ready for a change if you feel that you can do and offer more.
Deciding Which Career Route You Want to Take
Realizing your full potential will come when you accept that you are ready for change and progression.
When you know you are ready and you have a plan of action in place, you then need to establish what career route you want to take and why.
For example, do you want to move into a family practitioner role?
Or, would you like to move to another role, such as becoming a prenatal nurse?
What career route do you feel is right for you and why? Have you always wanted to pursue an area of nursing, or are you being drawn to a particular area?
When it comes to establishing a career route to follow, your plan of action will come into play.
Looking at your plan – and looking at your aspirations – will ensure that you follow the correct career path for you.
Ultimately if you are struggling to decide which career route to follow, then you need to take time out and weigh up your strengths and weaknesses.
When you can weigh up your strengths and weaknesses, you can then see how you can move forwards positively.
Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Striving for perfection within nursing can be disastrous because there is no such thing as a perfect nurse.
Good nurses have many traits in common, such as a caring and nurturing nature, together with a willingness to change, learn, and adapt.
Looking at what your strengths and weaknesses are and then striving to take advantage of the strengths while improving the areas of weakness will ensure that career progression is as smooth as possible.
So, start your process of self-evaluation as soon as you can.
When you can see where the room for improvement lies, you can then begin to start taking action.
Do you need to improve how you communicate and when you communicate?
Do you need to improve your patient awareness?
Establishing what your weak areas are is important because when you overcome these and strengthen them, you can push forward.
Setting Career Goals
Of course, it is beneficial to set career goals. Having career goals is important because it gives you something to work towards.
When you have something to reach, it can drive you to keep going, even in the toughest of times.
Without a career goal in place, you may find that you reach your targets but at a much slower pace than you are truly capable of. So, what are your career goals going to be?
Do you want to be an FNP within the next 3 or 4 years?
Career goals that are laid out together with a timescale become more achievable and much easier to reach.
Making your career goals a priority as soon as possible will ensure that you realize your true potential.
To clearly establish career goals, you need to look at what you want to do within both the short and long term.
For example, what position or role do you want to have within the next five years or ten years? Once you establish this, start making plans for how you can reach this goal.
Returning to Education
To realize your career goals and ambitions, most often, you will need to return to education. Education is important in building a solid and long-lasting career.
Without an advanced education behind you, then you will struggle to achieve your career goals.
Even though you have already gained your bachelor’s, there is so much more to achieve.
For example, you could continue your education and go for a PhD in nursing this could be gained online, from your home, and around your existing commitments and work schedule.
Returning to education doesn’t have to be as big an ordeal, especially when you can study online at a time that suits you.
To successfully return to education, you need to be prepared to change and adapt.
Getting the most out of your learning and education (especially when you are working) is essential. Having the right mindset when you are returning to education is a must.
Without the right mindset and approach, you may find that you struggle to truly embrace and enjoy education once more, so focus on your mindset and approach as much as anything else.
Continuing Your Studies
Once you have made the decision to continue with your studies, you then have to decide who to study with and when.
Choosing a place of study is just as important as a course or program to study, so do not rush your decision.
Take your time to establish where you want to study.
Look at reviews from students, and do not be afraid to ask questions.
As you will most likely be studying around existing commitments such as your family and your job, it is important that you seek a provider that is flexible.
Traveling to a physical campus to learn and study may not be realistic.
Looking at online studying is most likely the direction you need to ensure you head in.
With online studying, you get the opportunity to study flexibly.
Usually, you can fit your studies around your working hours and other commitments, and this is what you need.
You will not enjoy studying as much, and you will certainly not benefit from it as much if you are constantly rushing around to attend classes.
Getting the right program and place of study is crucial to career progression.
Taking Your Career to the Next Level
Once you have finished your studies and advanced your education, then it is time to truly take your career to the next level.
Taking that step does not seem so big now that you have your advanced education behind you, but how do you take that step successfully and with relative ease.
Your mindset plays a big part in a career change.
Changing your approach to your nursing career and also embracing a rejuvenated mindset will help you overcome any barriers you may be facing when taking your career to the next level.
Integrity is Crucial
When you are progressing or advancing your nursing career, it is essential that you maintain integrity at all times.
Even though you are pushing forwards and advancing, it does not mean that you should lose sight of who you are and what you are trying to achieve.
Your ambition should drive you, and it should focus your efforts, but it should not overcome your role and responsibilities as a nursing professional.
Honesty and integrity are strengths, and these are characteristics that you must strive to have within any nursing role or position.
Landing a New Role That You Love
Getting the new role that you have been working towards may take time, but with persistence, you will find and then land a role that you love.
To ensure that you get a role that you love, you need to establish where you want to work.
For example, if you have to travel or commute to your job for an hour at the start and end of each shift, would you enjoy it more if you were closer to home?
Of course, accepting that you will have to make compromises to begin with is essential.
However, to ensure that you land a job that you love and enjoy, you have to establish just what compromises are acceptable and which ones are perhaps a step too far.
When you are pushing and advancing your career, you need to accept that getting a role or position that you love may take time and that you may initially have to go outside of your comfort zone.
Gaining Experience
No matter what your career goals are or where you want to take your career, you will need experience. Any experience that you can get under your belt is beneficial.
Whether the experience that you gain is voluntary or paid is irrelevant because it is the experience that is beneficial to you and your aspirations.
When you are undertaking new roles, responsibilities, and even challenges, you need to try and make the best out of the situation you find yourself in.
Experience will help you reach your career goals, and it will help you along your career route, even if it may not feel like it at the time.
Building up your experience, together with building up your knowledge and education, will ensure that you unleash all of your potential.
Seek a Mentor
When you are moving through your career and you are progressing naturally, you may find it beneficial to have a mentor on board.
A mentor can help advise and guide you and steer you in the right direction.
A mentor is usually a nursing professional (currently in practice or recently retired) that has both experience and knowledge, which they can impart on you and your journey.
Mentors can be with you for part of your career journey, or they can be in the background at major points of change. Having a mentor to turn to and ask them questions can prove beneficial.
A mentor can help you relish your roles and responsibilities within your nursing career and can also help you make sound and clear decisions.
For example, perhaps when you are unsure of which course of action to take, you can turn to a mentor who will help steer you to the correct decision.
Mentors have experience that is valuable, and it is this experience that you will truly benefit from, so where possible, look at getting a mentor to aid you and your career.
Join Professional Organizations
Joining at least one professional organization will prove beneficial to you and your career.
A professional organization or body can prove to be a useful source of knowledge and information.
Professional organizations can help you find opportunities, and they can provide guidance when you need it the most.
Being part of a professional organization will help you to embrace and relish your nursing career and natural progression.
As there are lots of nursing organizations and associations that you can join, it is crucial that you take your time to find one that is right for you.
Researching what organizations offer and provide will ensure that you make the right decision for you and your career.
If you want to progress your nursing career, it first pays to understand how you can do this.
Use this guide as a good starting point, and you should be on your way to making positive changes in your career.