If you have been nursing for a while and you want to change careers, you may be thinking about transferrable skills. Maybe you get stuck thinking that you can’t because, what other job is going to need someone to start an IV, hang a bag of antibiotics, or clean up poop?
We’ll come back to that last one because no matter what career you move into, there’s always crap to clean up!
Normally nursing is associated with mostly “physical” tasks AND nursing also encompasses other more quiet skills!
When I moved into case management, other less noticeable nursing attributes came on line. Like leadership, communication, and diplomacy skills. I still had to prioritize and critically think but in a different way. These “soft” skills gave me the confidence to uplevel myself into a new career.
You may not be putting a high value on these “soft skills” because you’re probably taking them for granted, the way I did, as something that just operates in the background.
Building these less physical skills will help you gain confidence to leverage your expertise into a new career.
Most of my life I never put value on skills like listening, negotiating, communication, or being observant but these are the exact skills that people outside of nursing don’t have a lot of practice with. These are very coveted and transferrable skills.
Allow me to illustrate:
Nurse Negotiation: “If you take this medication now, I won’t have to give you an enema later”
Regular Person: “If you focus on the short-term gain now, in the future it will lead to lasting benefit”
Nurse Observation: “Over the last few hours you have been very oriented but now you seem lethargic, the empty bottle on your table seems to suggest you may have taken your own pills”
Regular Person: “It seems that over the last few hours that your energy level has changed, can you share what’s going on?”
See how easy it is to use your nursing skills into a regular person’s skills!
I’m mostly kidding (not really) but as a nurse you are in a unique position to have such well-rounded skills. And any new venture you start will definitely use these little gems.
I think these skills are important now more than ever. At this time in our history, so much happens by text and email that real communication and connection is nowhere to be seen. So celebrate these gifts in your toolkit, not everyone has access to them.
What skills in your arsenal do you consider most important?
Don’t down play them because maybe you don’t think they’re that important.
Like Friendliness, seriously, friendly people get more done, they get more cooperation from others and that’s huge. People who don’t possess that skill may initially get things accomplished but the return on investment is short lived and fleeting.
Maybe you’re a Good Listener, trust me with everyone these days having diarrhea of the mouth, listening is a lost art. Being a good listener builds trust and being someone who is trust worthy creates deep respect.
How about Observation, this is one of my favorites and one of my most powerful skills. Maybe you can quickly “read” a room. You get information from facial expressions or body language. When I use my observation skills, I get so much information by just watching how people connect with each other. I’m always surprised at how important information goes unnoticed by others in the same interaction.
My goal here is to remind you not to let preconceived ideas about your nursing skills hold you back from stretching yourself into a new and exciting chapter in your search for a more satisfying career.
Your very unique skills can be your secret sauce to success, don’t take them for granted!
Coach Jackie’s pro tip for the week, you have two ears and one mouth, use them in that ratio.
I hope this episode brought you some joy and laughs!
Hang in there!
Coach Jackie