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 unterstellung 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 Away From Work Keep Up Your License Possibly the most 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 s tate mainboard 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, landsee 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 is 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 ful l-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 be fore 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.

Three things that will make you happier, healthier and more successful

Three things that will make you happier, healthier and more successfulThree things that will make you happier, healthier and more successfulAs humans, were really good atbeing hard on urselves. It can be easy to look at what we didnt do - whether thatsnot getting enough sleepor making it to the gym - and convince ourselves its too late to start a new habit. But heres the thing Not doing something in the past doesnt mean you cant do something in the future. As clich as it sounds,every day is a fresh startand our gelegenheit tocreate a new habit, whether itsscheduling a walking meetingat work, or arranging our evening so we canget to bed at a reasonable hour. Here are three simple things that we can all start doing today that will make us notably happier, healthier, and more successfulFollow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreStart exercising even if you havent beenAs children, it was rel atively easy to bephysically fit, between our boundless energy, constant opportunities to play with other kids, and the state-mandated physical activity of gym class. But as we age, it becomesharder to make exercise a priority. If youre not in the habit of scheduling regular workouts into your week, you may think its too late.But, according to a largenew study from the National Cancer Institute, its definitely not. The research found that people who started exercising in midlife enjoyed the same protection against mortality as people who had always worked out. (Just note that it also works the other way If you stop exercising in midlife, all the mortality points you may have racked up earlier on in life go away.) So get and/or stay movingStart prioritizing your sleepLike exercise, its entirely possible to develop good sleep hygiene later in life, even if your sleep habits havent been the best up until this point. Its a common misconception that people need less sleep as they age,acc ording to the National Sleep Foundation, though our sleep patterns can change. The key is to pay closer attention to our sleep architecture - recognizing what prevents us from falling and staying asleep - and solving for those issues. If youre having trouble winding down at night, you might want to try one of ourThrive Microsteps(small, science-backed behavioral changes that can make a big impact), like turning off your electronic devices a half hour before bedtime, or taking a hot bath or shower to help you transition into sleep mode and symbolically wash the day away.Sleepis certainly anintegral part of our physical and mental health, but getting enough shut-eye can also make us better and more successful people. According toThrive Globals Sleep Editor-at-Largeand CEO of Sleep Number,Shelly Ibach, sleep is deeply connected to our kindness and relatedly, our ability to form and maintain meaningful connections with others. When were well-rested, were more present in our interactio ns. We take more time to listen. Were more available. And presence leads to kindness. It enables us to connect in a way that brings joy to both parties, shewrote in an article on Thrive.Start a daily gratitude practiceBeing thankful should not be relegated to one Thursday in November - itssomething we should practiceon a daily basis. And, like exercising and getting more sleep, its something thats free, never too late to start, and available immediately. So why should we take the time to practice gratitude? For starters,it can improveour physical and emotional well-being, as well as our relationships with others, according to Robert Emmons, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and author ofThanks How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier.In his research, Emmons had participants - ranging in age from 8 to 80 - use a gratitude journal, where they wrote down things that made them feel grateful, and noted that many of them began feeling th e positive changes within just three weeks. He found that people who practice gratitude experience a wide sortiment of benefits, including stronger immune systems, lower blood pressure, feeling more awake and alert, being more optimistic, beingmore forgiving, and feeling lesslonely and isolated- among many others. Even if you dont write down what youre grateful for, justtaking a minute to pause and reflecton it can have a big impact on your day and for your overall well-being.This article originally appeared on Thrive Global.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

15 Stress Relievers for Resume and Cover Letter Writing

15 Stress Relievers for Resume and Cover Letter Writing15 Stress Relievers for Resume and Cover Letter Writing15 Stress Relievers for Resume and Cover Letter WritingIn a recent poll, we asked readers which was most stressful to think aboutA) Writing yur willB) Writing your resume cover letterC) Doing your taxesOut of 885 votes, 76% of you said that writing your resume and cover letter is the most stressful. And while we cant help you draft your will or do your taxes, we can make your job search experience a little less nerve-racking.How? I compiled a list of our most stress-relieving blog posts on the topics. They provide solutions to puzzling questions and issues that you might face while writing your resumes and cover letters. Give them a read and let me know if they help you feel more confident about your job search.ResumesCheat Your Way to a Better Professional Summary3 Quick Tips to Seem Younger on Your ResumeI Sent My Resume with a Typo Should I Send a New One?10 Old-School Re sume Rules That Dont Apply TodayWriting a Resume When You Havent Worked for YearsCreate an Attractive Resume Employers Will NoticeWriting a Resume When You Have No ExperienceResume Objective or Summary You Need One, but Which?The Resume Mistake Even Savvy Job Seekers MakePlain Text Resumes How to Make Them a Little Less UglyCover LettersWrite a Targeted Cover Letter for Every JobSurvey Says No Salary Requirements in Cover LetterHow to Email Your Cover Letter the Right Way6 Reasons You Wont Get Hired Without a Cover Letter5 Ways to Screw Up Your Cover Letter Greeting