Nursing Grads Should Consider Speaking with a Nurse Recruiter
People who have a strong desire to help others often find that becoming a nurse is a great way to use their talents while making a real difference in the world. If you are considering pursuing a career as a nurse, it’s a good idea for you to speak with a nurse recruiter.
Even if you already know that you want to be a nurse and have had an opportunity to speak with nurses about the work they do, a nurse recruiter will have a wide range of experience to help guide you in your career. What’s more, as you complete your training and gather sufficient experience to gain employment, a nurse recruiter can help match you up with facilities that meet your needs and for which you would be a good fit.
For example, do you know what type of nurse you would like to be yet? Are you aware of what kind of experience and training you need to be a nurse? A nurse recruiter can help you see what lies ahead for you as a medical professional and what you need to do to get the proper training, so you can get hired for the position you desire.
Types of Nurses
When you make an appointment to speak with a nurse recruiter, you can find out more about the different types of nurses there are to help you plan your education.
You could aim at becoming a certified nurse assistant (CNA), also referred to as a nurse’s aide, home health assistant or home health aide. A CNA works under the supervision of a registered nurse and may find employment in settings such as a hospital, adult living facility, a nursing home or a person’s private residence.
With additional training, you could qualify to become a licensed practical nurse (LPN), also referred to as a licensed vocational nurse (LVN) and work under the supervision of a medical doctor or a registered nurse.
More advanced training can enable you to become licensed as a registered nurse (RN). As an RN, you would have duties that include supervising CNAs and LPNs, administering drugs and injections and keeping medical documentation on your patients.
Advancing further, you could become a nurse practitioner, which requires much more training and knowledge and carries with it more responsibilities in patient care. Nurse practitioners have a master’s degree and can prescribe medications to patients and interpret lab test results.
Priorities
You will want to determine your priorities for a career in nursing, taking into account whether location, income or specialty is more important to you. Tell the nurse recruiter whether you must find work close to your current location, or if you are willing to relocate or even serve as a traveling nurse.
If income is one of the main factors, you can discuss with the nurse recruiter your willingness to consider different specialties to see what opportunities are available nearby or whether you will need to work in a different state.
When you read reports about nursing shortages in the United States, it doesn’t mean that all locations have equal staffing needs. Consult with a nurse recruiter to see which locations have an abundance of nurses, so you can avoid looking for work there, and focus your efforts on places where your skills and interests will be better served.
Specialties
Ask your nurse recruiter for details about the different types of nursing specialties to help you plan your educational path.
For example, if you have an interest in children, you might want to train and serve as a midwife nurse or a pediatric nurse. If you are interested in caring for older people, you could focus your education on becoming a geriatric nurse.
Other options include focusing on a particular condition, such as training to become a cardiac nurse or an oncology nurse. For a broader range of duties, you may want to consider training to become a critical care nurse or an emergency nurse.
Income
The more training and experience you have, the greater your potential income. For example, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses earn a median salary of $42,040 while registered nurses earn a median pay of $64, 690 per year, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Consult with your nurse recruiter to get a better idea of what your income possibilities are for different types of nurses in the area where you want to work.
You will see that speaking with a nurse recruiter can be beneficial as you chart out your nursing career. Once you have been involved with nursing for a while, you may determine that you would like to help other future nurses out by becoming a nurse recruiter yourself.
