If you’re a newcomer to healthcare or are considering entering it as a second career (see our stories about second-career nurses), you may think your job history and experiences outside the field are irrelevant. You’re wrong.
Many of your strengths and skills – whether they include customer-service expertise or the ability to multitask under pressure – are probably more relevant and transferable to healthcare than you realize.
A healthcare professional and two recruiters offer a rundown on some valuable transferable skills as well as advice on how to showcase such attributes during your job search.
2. Strong Communication Skills
Compassion and Empathy
Tony Rush, a nurse in the orthopedic trauma unit at a major medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, was in the seminary for several years after high school but ultimately decided not to enter the priesthood. He then worked as a counselor for troubled and refugee youth before entering nursing. Rush says his seminary training and counseling experiences sharpened some of the strengths – empathy and compassion for the poor and troubled, good listening skills, an understanding of different cultures, and a respect for teamwork – that make him a good nurse. “If I [had] gone into nursing right out of high school I wouldn’t be the RN I am now,” he says.
Skill #2: Strong Communication Skills
