Building a “Healthier” Healthcare Career

If you are pursuing a healthcare career, especially one that can take years of education to reach your ultimate goal, then it can be a real boost along the way if you acquire and develop a combination of skills by seeking various hourly rate jobs. If you are already an active healthcare worker, but know you desire to continue on in your education to reach higher positions, having the additional skills and experience along with the education will benefit you greatly.

Take a look at your career goals, and determine what kinds of experience would bolster your resume and skills set, and pursue side jobs that can fulfill those requirements while still in school. There are many entry-level type positions that can help you get a foot in the door and begin building the skills and experience for down the road. Things like a nurse’s aide, medical/clinical receptionist, health services assistant, group home resident counselor, personal care attendant, etc. Some of these positions will require you to have some training behind you already, but can then lead to a host of experiences and useful skills.

Any position that can put you in the zone of the medical profession, can help you by getting you exposed to the medical field, the terminology – just basically puts you right in the middle of the sights, sounds and smells of the medical profession. Do you have a little education behind you but want to begin getting a little hands on experience?  See about working at a summer camp for special needs children. This can expose you to a whole list of conditions and new knowledge set.

Also remember, that having a medical career is not only just about medical based knowledge and experience. If you wish to be in a career that may require you to run a department, or train others, then developing good organizational, management, and public speaking skills are likewise needed. Adding these skills to your medical education can give you a strong advantage over those who do not have such experiences, and can set you up as being one of “the” candidates most likely to advance more quickly. Having a wider range of skills and knowledge is almost always a great benefit to your long term career.

To find some of these beneficial type of positions, if you are still in school, then visit your school’s career center for assistance, or ask your professors and advisors. They will already have experience in knowing what types of skills would benefit you and can point you in the direction of organizations that they are associated and can recommend you to.

These types of positions can be a great stepping stone to lead you into a fuller and richer path of personal development for your ultimate career desires.