Gaining Healthcare Experience
After all the studying, time spent in class, exams, and stress you have finally finished your healthcare training program! You should happy and excited about your future career in healthcare and for making it this far! There is just one more obstacle you have to overcome. That is getting Experience. Many jobs require or request for previous healthcare experience, if you don't have any here you can acquire some!
Option 1: Volunteer Work
Many hospitals, nursing homes, and outpatient facilities have various volunteer opportunities. It could be something along the lines of cleaning an office, helping with paperwork, shadowing a professional, or spending time with patients. Once you land a volunteer opportunity making a good impression on supervisors, doctors, nurses and other staff could lead you to get a job, or a useful recommendation that could help you land the job you want!
Option 2: Work your way up
A little known fact about hospitals is that they typically hire from within. What this means is that when there is a position open for a Phlebotomy Technician, Patient Care Technician, or Nurse, they will post the openings in all departments of the hospital first, before it goes out to the public. So if you have your eyes set on a particular facility you would like to work at one of the things you could do is start in another department. Housekeeping, Dietary, Transport, and Environmental Services are all departments you could apply for with just your high school diploma. Once you have your foot in the at a facility of your choice, you will be one of the first to know when there is an opening for the job you trained for.
Option 3: Never Give Up
Walking away from something at the first minor inconvenience will eventually leave you with nothing. Sometimes you have to stick through something that you said you were going to do and finish it even when you face impossible odds. Goals are rarely reached easily, the steep uphill climb gives you a sense of accomplishment only once you reach the top.
