How to Get Back to a Nursing Career After a Break

How to Get Back to a Nursing Career After a BreakHow to Get Back to a Nursing Career After a BreakIf youve taken a few years off from your nursing career to take care of young children, for example you might be looking at returning with a mix of trepidation and excitement. Trepidation, because things change so quickly in nursing. Excitement, because the majority of nurses report high career satisfaction (if not always high job satisfaction but thats a story for a different article). To make the transition back to work easier and less stressful, it pays to prepare for the challenges that returning nurses face. Tips for Getting Back to a Nursing Career After a Break Returning to your nursing career will be easier if you take a few steps while youre away from work. Its not impossible to find a new nursing job if you let some of these things slide, but itll take longer and be more stressful than if you kept all your certifications, etc. current while you were out. While Youre A way From Work Keep Up Your License Possibly the fruchtwein important thing you can do to facilitate an easy transition is to keep your license current. Depending on your states requirements, reinstating a lapsed license may involve paying extra fees, catching up on continuing education units (CEUs), or even taking the NCLEX-RN exam all over again. (And who wants to go through that?)Maintain Certifications Most nurses are required to have their Basic Life Support (BLS) certification before they begin working as a nurse. Its a good idea to keep up your BLS certification while youre not working so that you dont have to renew it in a hurry before you return to work. The same goes for any other certifications you might have obtained that would make you a more valuable candidate for an employer, including Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). Take a Refresher Course If you let your license lapse or become inactive for a number of years, your sta te board of nursing may require you to take a refresher course before reinstating your license. These programs typically cost between $1,500 to $3,000 and take a few weeks or months to complete. To avoid fraudulent courses, contact your state board of nursing for approved programs.Stay Current With Continuing Education Requirements Again, state requirements vary when it comes to continuing education requirements. In Texas, for example, Registered Nurses must complete 20 contact hours (i.e., hours of instruction) every two years, while Washington state requires RNs to complete 45 contact hours every three years. And some states Arizona, Connecticut, Missouri, etc. have no continuing education requirement at all. To find out the requirements in your state, see your state board of nursings website. When Youre Ready to Return Once youre ready to return to work, there are a few things you might want to do to maximize your chances of getting hired. Update Your Resume The bad news i s that returning to nursing after a break almost certainly means investing some time and money updating your skills. The good news is that now that youve updated those skills, youve got plenty to put on your resume.Just like any job seeker returning to work after a break in employment, you might choose a different resume type than the standard, chronological resume. For example, a functional resume highlights your skills and certifications, not your work history, which may help hiring managers see past the gap. A resume profile can also call out your recent work brushing up your skills. Know What Kind of Benefits and Hours Youre Looking For When youre looking for a new nursing job, its important to know what you need in terms of benefits, scheduling, etc., before you interview.If youre returning to work after taking time off to care for a child or a sick family member, you may still need some flexibility. In nursing, as you know, this tends to mean shift preferences or full-time or part-time status. Its unlikely that youll find a clinical nursing job that will let you leave early to pick up a child from daycare, for example, or one that commits to never scheduling you on the holidays.Knowing your requirements will help you determine whether a job is a good fit for you. For instance, if you want hours but not benefits, going per diem might work for you. Or, if youre one of those rare and lucky souls who dont need much sleep, working nights could be a good fit. Network, Network, Network If you left on good terms with your old employer, a good way to break back into the nursing profession is to call up your old manager to see if theyre hiring. You can also look for job listings on the corporate site and inquire about specific opportunities.You might also ask your old coworkers, bosses, and friends in the nursing profession for coffee dates to catch up. Referrals are a solid way to get hired in any industry, and your contacts may know of opportunities before they become public. Remember Your Value A nurse friend of mine once said, shortly after graduation from his nursing program, There may be a nursing shortage. But theres definitely not a new nurse shortage. If you think back to your first days as a nurse, you probably know what he was talking about. Experience is worth a lot in the nursing field because you learn the real business of being a nurse while youre at work, not while youre at school. And you have experience, which makes you a valuable commodity for a nurse manager whos looking to hire staff. So, dont let your time away make you undervalue yourself.