How to Explore New Career Paths as a Registered Nurse
NurseExperts.co
How to Explore New Career Paths as a Registered Nurse
Registered nurses possess a wealth of skills that can open doors to diverse career opportunities. This article explores innovative ways for nurses to leverage their expertise in new professional domains, drawing on insights from industry experts. Discover how reflecting on your motivations, pursuing passions beyond medicine, and transferring clinical skills can lead to exciting career transitions.
- Reflect on Your Nursing Motivations
- Follow Your Passion Beyond Medicine
- Transfer Clinical Skills to New Industries
Reflect on Your Nursing Motivations
This question takes me back five years, when I heard from registered nurses on a daily basis, all trying to change careers to escape being put back into COVID units at hospitals.
When I speak with registered nurses in 2025 about a career change, I remind them to take inventory of their original motivations for becoming a nurse in the first place. I ask them to list out both their positive and negative motivations.
For example, a positive motivation would be the desire to help others. A negative motivation would be something like taking the job for the benefits. When you understand what motivates you, it becomes easier to find jobs where your motivations will feel satisfied.
A registered nurse, who takes care of people in high-pressure situations, can also do equally well as a customer operations manager, which involves taking care of people, sometimes in high-pressure situations.
Steps to explore different career options would be speaking with a resume writer or reverse recruiter, who may have more exposure to job openings and what they require. This would also give you a chance to analyze the value you bring to companies, and places where you may be a culture fit.
As always, you can simply speak with other former registered nurses on LinkedIn, and get some insights into their current job and why they like it.
Overall, when looking at the typical needs of a business, former registered nurses would perform well in teacher, customer service, sales, or operations roles. And of course, if you want to use the current education you possess, you can become a case manager, trainer, or wellness consultant.
All information we collect in our careers has value. When switching careers, the RN must have a comprehensive explanation for the recruiter who asks the simple question, "How does your experience make you aligned for this role?"
Follow Your Passion Beyond Medicine
Speaking as a former SICU RN who went on to change careers within medicine twice, the best advice I would suggest is to follow your passion, whether that be within or outside of the medical field.
Perhaps start by researching careers online. Read about education, cost of education, location of training or if online options are available, tuition assistance or loan forgiveness, if additional courses are required to apply, and the cost of applications and requirements to apply.
Once the above checklist has been addressed, then definitely shadow or volunteer within the area of interest. Tap any connections within that career, requesting opportunities to spend time and expose yourself to job responsibilities and expectations.
Make sure to request a meeting with whoever the hiring director or admissions advisor is. Ask what qualities they are seeking in a candidate and if they feel you possess those qualities.
Transfer Clinical Skills to New Industries
Nurses have valuable clinical skills that can easily transfer to other industries -- from healthcare administration and entrepreneurship to wellness coaching. My advice? Use your experience in patient care to find gaps in the system that you are passionate about. If, for example, you find the management of chronic disease and nutrition appealing, perhaps you should seek to become certified in obesity medicine or diabetes education, both in considerable demand. Interestingly, 88% of bariatric patients state being unable to maintain weight loss long term due to a lack of dietary support (American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, 2023), indicating a critical need for nurse-led interventions. Begin by shadowing people in your field of interest, attending industry-specific webinars, or even taking on a side project -- like developing evidence-based meal plans for post-bariatric patients -- to see if you feel right in them before committing.
Blend data-driven research with real-world exploration. One 2022 Journal of Nursing Administration report described case studies in which nurses who moved into telehealth or wellness startups reported a greater level of job satisfaction because of increased autonomy and more meaningful impact. At Ambari Nutrition, we've teamed up with RNs who shifted to nutrition consulting, applying their knowledge of the clinical landscape to customize our diabetic-friendly products for patients.
Start slowly -- take a free course in healthcare entrepreneurship on Coursera, study market needs (such as projected growth of 5.8% per year in the global market for food for diabetics (Grand View Research, 2024)), and reach out to contacts who've made such transitions.
