You might be thinking about entering healthcare as a second career but are having lots of doubts, primarily because you feel that the time and energy you invested in your profession might just go to waste. On the contrary, many of the skills and strengths you need in healthcare, particularly in the nursing field, are strengths and skills that you most likely have developed already in your professional career, especially if you worked in a high-pressure office setting or any form of customer service. Skills that you have honed for years in these types of environment are easily transferable to the nursing profession. These strengths and attributes can be used to jumpstart your new career in healthcare, and in no time, you'll be wearing your discount landau scrubs. Below are some of the relevant and transferable skills and characteristics you can use.



Communication skills

In healthcare, you will be communicating face-to-face with people on a daily basis-nurses, doctors, patients, family of patients, and so on. In fact, the whole time that you are working, you will probably be getting instructions from someone, relaying a message, soothing the worries of a patient, explaining circumstances, and so on. Good communication skills are vital if you are to be an effective nurse. To have strong communication skills, you need to be able to speak clearly and listen carefully. It is important that the messages you deliver are accurate and concise, not only orally but also literally- documentation is part of the job. In most professions, communication skills are also highly valued and developed. Writing memos, speaking and listening in meetings, and understanding nonverbal and verbal cues-communication done in the office-are all helpful and transferable to a healthcare career.

Empathy and compassion

For professionals with a background in psychology, counseling, teaching, social work, public speaking, customer service, and any job that teaches empathy, they might find that they fit well in a nursing job or a job in healthcare. Having empathy is vital to becoming an effective nurse. Good nurses tend to be empathetic, compassionate, understand different cultures, respect teamwork, and listen well. If your current job was able to teach you, or help you develop these attributes, then it won't be entirely a waste if you get into healthcare where you can transfer these noble traits.

Customer service

For those who worked in customer service such as working as a salesperson, wait staff, or receptionist, they will find that there are a lot of characteristics that they learned on the job which they can transfer to working in healthcare. Servers or customer care representatives have to be organized, multi-task, and provide satisfaction to customers. All these are things that nurses have to be and do as well. Nurses are typically rated through patient-satisfaction.

Using these skills to get the job

You can impress employers with the skills you have honed and developed from your previous job by highlighting keywords pertinent to the healthcare or nursing profession. Make sure that before you apply for a job, you research what traits and requirements the employer is looking for and make sure to highlight the traits that match those in your resume.