Could Becoming An LPN Resuscitate Your Ailing Career?
Let’s face it – the days of graduating from high school and stepping into in a career you can count on for decades are over for most people. These days few of us will work for the same company for twenty or thirty years like our parents and grand parents did. In fact many of us will have not only multiple jobs, but multiple careers, as we travel down the road of life. At times it seems like the only constant in the job market is change, and it is important for workers to be prepared for that change.
One of the most effective tactics workers can use is to keep an eye on the broad trends in the job market. That does not mean reading through stacks of boring statistics or even taking out a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. Rather it means keeping an ear to the news and paying attention to the job statistics as they are released. While the figures for a single month do not make a trend, taken together these statistics can provide some valuable information – both for those just entering the workforce and for those who may be contemplating a career change.
One of the lessons those job statistics have provided is that the need for healthcare workers has expanded greatly in recent years. Even as other sectors of the economy have shrunk, healthcare employers continue to hire new workers, bucking the trend that has left so many workers on the sidelines. According to the Wall Street Journal, the health care industry has managed to add more than 500,000 jobs since December 2007, and is growing by an average of more than 17,000 jobs a month - despite the ongoing recession.
This means that those who hold the skills and training necessary to work in the healthcare field may be able to enjoy greater job stability, superior job security and above average wages. In many parts of the healthcare sector there is a serious imbalance between the number of jobs to be filled and the number of qualified candidates available to fill them, and that imbalance has driven up wages and created excellent opportunities for workers of all ages.
Many laid off or recently unemployed workers, as well as those seeking to make themselves more competitive in today's job market, are discovering that going back to school to reinvent themselves as nurses provides them with a secure job that offers unsurpassed opportunities for career advancement. The need for nurses has never been greater, and because of the relatively short period of time involved to graduate from a Practical Nursing program, (typically 12 months or less), many people wanting to start a career in nursing begin their career as a Practical Nurse in order to get to work and start earning a paycheck quickly.
Licensed practical nurses (LPNs), or licensed vocational nurses (LVNs), provide skilled nursing care under the supervision of physicians and registered nurses in hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, home health agencies, long term care facilities, and a variety of other settings.
Later on, after working for a while as a Licensed Practical Nurse, many LPN's take advantage of employer tuition assistance benefits in order to become a Registered Nurse through accredited online LPN to RN degree programs or online LPN to BSN degree programs and advance their nursing career at their employer's expense while earning their nursing degree at their own pace without sacrificing their current job or paycheck. It's definitely a win-win situation for everyone! So, could becoming an LPN resuscitate your ailing career?
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