Healthcare careers are a very popular secondary option for college graduates. Millennials and even younger generations pivot into new careers more than any people who have come before. The reason why could be its own article, but it basically boils down to a desire for rewarding work.
What job could be more rewarding than nursing? But, when you’re 35 years old, married with two kids, it’s hard to choose a secondary career that requires an additional degree. Does that exclude nursing as an option for people who can’t imagine starting life as a college freshman again?
Not quite. Accelerated nursing programs allow you to become certified without completing an entire four-year college curriculum. In this article, we take a look at how they work and why they are a great option for many professionals who want to choose nursing as a second career.
How Accelerated Programs Work?
Accelerated programs condense all of the nursing-specific college-level training into a 12-18 month framework. This period covers all of your classroom work and your clinical experience requirements, all while preparing you to take the NCLEX, a final standardized test that determines a nurse’s licensure eligibility.
Accelerated programs manage to accomplish this partially by working students very hard, but also because, if you think in terms of how a college education works, a lot of the requirements that make continuing education take four years are general education. Career-specific training generally boils down to about 40 or so credit hours, about three semesters of work, because you already have a college degree.
Because you’ve already taken your gen eds, you can focus only on the nursing requirement.
Who Should Consider a Fast-Track Nursing Program?
Fast-Track Nursing Programs are right for candidates who meet these qualifications:
- You Have a Four-Year Degree- A college degree is generally required for all Accelerated Nursing Programs for the reasons specified. The concept behind these curricula is that they allow you to focus only on nursing-related education modules with the assumption that you’ve already completed general education requirements in a different program.
- A Readiness to Fully Commit to Education- You don’t necessarily need to quit your day job to commit to an Accelerated Nursing Program, but you should have about 40 hours a week you can put into education. This is difficult to manage even without a day job. It can be nearly impossible for people balancing multiple responsibilities. If you’re willing to accept short-term discomfort for long-term gain, it’s an option, but do prioritize your mental and emotional health throughout the process.
- Self-Motivated, Highly Productive, and Able to Stand Up to Stressful Situations- Learning an entire profession in 12 months is always going to be difficult. Good nursing candidates who are interested in Accelerated Nursing Programs will have a natural knack for dealing with difficult situations and high-pressure moments.
This latter consideration is at least a helpful quality for any nurse, regardless of how they go about getting their qualification.
Other Options for Gaining Nursing Credentials
Accelerated programs are not the only option. If the routine we’ve described here seems inaccessible or overly taxing, know that it is not the only way to find work to gain your nursing credentials as a college graduate. There are several other options to keep in mind, including:
- Direct-to-Hire Nursing Programs- Allow you to essentially bundle credentials into a single program. It’s a good option for people who want to begin their nursing career at a higher level through a graduate degree.
- Certification-Only Programs– If you have a college degree but don’t want to accelerate your nursing education, you can pursue certification-only programs. These essentially allow you to take nursing-related classes slowly on your own timeline. This is a very good option for people who know they want to become a nurse eventually but don’t necessarily need to pivot rapidly into the career. You can usually complete them in about two years depending on how aggressively you sign up for classes.
The key is to find an option that works for you. You want to set yourself up for long-term success by choosing a program you’re going to be able to complete.
How to Find Your First Nursing Job?
Many people hear so much about nursing shortages that they’re a little bit surprised by how hard it actually is to find an ideal job. It’s not exactly that there is a shortage of opportunities, but more that they aren’t always located exactly where you want them.
If you live in a town with one hospital, for example, they may only have a couple of open nursing positions at any given moment. This means it might be challenging for new nurses to find work initially.
There are a few things you can do to increase your chances of quickly finding a nursing job. This includes:
- Crafting a strong application: Spend as much time as you can developing a strong application that highlights any relevant experience you might have. If you don’t have any healthcare experience at all, you can still emphasize your ability to problem solve, work with others, or display high levels of emotional intelligence.
- Use letters of recommendation to your advantage during your nursing education: You’ll interact with established RNs through clinical rotations. This can be a good opportunity to develop strong letters of recommendation from people who know you as a healthcare professional.
- Be willing to broaden your search: Finally, it’s also helpful to expand your search to a 35-45 minute radius. You might eventually want to work closer to home, but for your first job, the most important thing is finding work and gaining experience. You can go back later and find a more ideally located placement. It will be easier once you have the experience.
Getting started in any new career is always going to be challenging. Nursing is no exception. Remember, though, that the world is in dire need of new RNs. Credentialing programs and hiring programs are generally designed to reflect this need.
There are lots of ways to become a nurse. Find the one that makes the most sense to you.
