Previous Jobs That Helped Me In Nursing

GP Nurse, Debbie, explains the value of her experiences before starting her Nurses training and how they all held relevance for her Nursing role today.

Consider Volunteering To Gain Valuable Working Experience

Hello, my name is Debbie, and today I'm going to be talking about the various job roles that I have taken in the past that has boosted my CV and helped me get the job that I have today.

So when I finished college, I decided to volunteer in a children's hospital, and this really helped me to have that experience within a hospital setting.

I wasn't doing much.

I was simply at the information desk and just giving people directions, but I think it's important to realise that when you come out of college, if you don't have any work experience, be willing to volunteer, be willing to take on roles that are going to help you get closer to your goals.

Another job role that I took was waitressing.

Now, I think any job that you take, it does not have to be in the healthcare field. As long as you're able to navigate in an interview how that role can help you in your current job, then you're good to go.

So as a waitress, you work under pressure. You work with a large amount of customers.

Value Your Skills

I was a waitress in a hotel, so it was more events, where there were 500 people waiting. Thus, it teaches you customer service.

It teaches you communication skills.

It teaches you how to work in a team.

And these are all things that you put onto your CV because no job, no role is wasted.

I also worked as a nursery worker.

Working with children is probably one of the hardest jobs to take on.

I worked in a nursery for about a year, and this teaches you how to communicate, not only to people that fully understand you but being able to find alternate ways to communicate to a child who may not fully understand, and that is healthcare.

There are people who have conditions that do not fully understand their condition.

You have to find various ways to explain what they're going through or various ways to explain their medication, and this is all important.

Sharing Experience On Your CV And At Interview

It's important to your CV and to say in an interview that although I do not have healthcare experience, I have been able to work with children who are a vulnerable.

They're also vulnerable.

So you need to understand safeguarding skills, and these are things that really helped me when applying for jobs, being able to say that I have worked with children of younger ages, and then that leads on to the fact that I've worked with elderly people.

Making Your Skills Relevant To The Role You Are Applying For

So I've worked in domiciliary care and care homes.

And although this may not be in a hospital, if you're trying to get a job in a hospital, don't feel like I don't have hospital skills.

Being able to say that I've worked in a care home, there are still various skills that you need to learn.

And working in care homes, very much so you'll be working with people with dementia, people who are immobile, and these are skills that you can say that you have, being able to work under pressure again.

Being in a care home, working in a care home is a skill that is an environment rather that can be very, very challenging, especially when working with patients with dementia.

And this is important to be able to say, as when you go into the hospital setting, remember a lot of the elderly care that come into the hospital, some of them are coming from care homes.

And so if you already have that skill, then it's something that can really boost your CV and boost your interview skills.

Another job that I took on was being a Healthcare Assistant, and I worked as a Healthcare Assistant in an outpatient setting because I always knew that I was gonna either go into the GP setting, be as a Doctor or be as a Nurse, but I've always wanted to go into primary care.

And being in an outpatient setting was perfect because, again, you get to see various skills. I was able to see from colorectal to ENT, so many different skills.

I was able to see gynaecology, dermatology, and this for me was perfect to put onto my CV because, as a Healthcare Assistant, yes there is the ward side of healthcare system, but an outpatient side of healthcare system, you're able to take blood.

You're able to do ECGs and all these things. So that's also very important.

And I then left as a Healthcare Assistant to become a Medical Secretary.

How An Administrative Role Helped Me Prepare For Nursing

Now, the reason why this is crucial, especially as a GP Nurse, is because a lot of GP Nursing is paperwork, paperwork, computer skills, being able to use various software such as EMS or Docman, and there's so many out there, and to be able to use these skills, be able to book appointments.

As a GP Nurse, I book my own appointments for my patients the majority of the time. Being able to do things like that, being able to just type and type at a good speed because your appointments are 10, 15 minutes. You've got to know how to do these things.

And so I took on this role as a Medical Secretary to help me be able to relate to patients that sometimes aren't able to come in because I'm speaking to them over the phone.

And so that for me was a very crucial role that I was able to take on, and then after that I became a student.

Nursing Requires More Than Just Healthcare Skills

Now, there are so many jobs out there, from being in retail, to being in marketing, or being an analyst, whatever the job that you may take on before becoming a nurse.

I feel like as Nurses, there are so many skills that are needed that aren't all healthcare skills, be taking blood pressure or taking bloods, or you may never get that experience.