0:00

I'm teasing out the difference between

0:02

a job versus a career

0:04

, and I'm going to talk about

0:06

the differences between being

0:09

in a mindset of being in a job mode versus

0:13

being a career-minded

0:15

nurse . There

0:18

is a difference between the two . There

0:20

are things that we do when we're on a job

0:22

path . We might not even know

0:25

that that's what we're doing versus

0:27

when we're on a career path , and

0:30

you might be even starting to think , ok

0:32

, and like , what would that look like

0:35

? I'm going to jump into that

0:37

in this episode . I'm

0:39

also going to just kind of talk about some things

0:41

that you can do to take action , kind

0:47

of talk about some things that you can do to take action if you are

0:50

currently in a job mode and you need to switch your mindset to

0:52

more of a career mode because you realize that

0:54

being in a job mode might be

0:56

hurting you , and so I want you

0:58

to understand these two paths and

1:00

then be empowered about

1:03

making a decision to be on one path

1:05

versus another . Welcome

1:12

to the Ambitious Nurse podcast

1:14

, where I provide tips , tools

1:16

and resources for the experienced nurse

1:18

to put in your career bag to

1:21

help you be a better person , a better

1:23

leader , a better professional and

1:25

, most of all a better nurse . I'm

1:27

your host , bonnie Meadows , a career

1:30

coach and a clinical nurse specialist

1:32

with over 18 years of experience

1:35

in health care and nursing . It's

1:37

my passion to help experienced

1:39

nurses develop their careers to

1:42

impact health care and their communities

1:44

. Nurses develop their careers to

1:46

impact health care and their communities

1:50

. I

1:59

have a quick story about when I was a nurse aide . We didn't

2:01

call ourselves health care techs at that point in time . We were a nurse aide and I

2:03

was working in the hospital . I was in

2:06

nursing school working night shift

2:09

. I y'all I'm one of those people

2:11

who I love night shift , like it would work

2:13

the best for my life

2:16

while I was in nursing school , and

2:19

so I would work the 11 to 7 shift , maybe

2:21

about 20 hours a week , 15

2:24

to 20 hours a week , and

2:26

there was one particular

2:28

night and I was in the float pool

2:30

. So there was one particular night

2:33

I was working on a surgical unit and

2:35

talking to a nurse who

2:38

was just

2:41

working there and somehow , somehow or another , we had gotten

2:43

on the conversation of me being

2:45

in nursing school and

2:47

she started going off about I

2:50

just don't know why anybody would want

2:52

to sign up to be a nurse , and

2:55

I was shocked and I was like

2:57

why , why are you

2:59

here ? And that was probably

3:01

the first time that I had just really

3:04

developed that mentality of

3:06

when people start like really complaining

3:09

bad about work , my first

3:11

thought is , why are you here , making everyone

3:13

else miserable ? And that's what

3:15

she was doing , and

3:30

so I would put her in a place of . You are on , you are job-minded , you're

3:32

really just here to get the paycheck , because why else would you be here ? Like why

3:34

? Why would you put yourself through that misery of

3:37

showing up every day ? Now

3:40

, some people don't know how to work themselves out of

3:42

the misery . I'm one of those people . I've learned to work myself out of misery . Like people

3:44

don't know how to work themselves out of the misery , I'm one of those people . I've learned to work myself

3:47

out of misery . Like I don't , I

3:49

don't , I don't stay long

3:51

. Once I've realized I'm miserable

3:54

, I develop my exit

3:56

plan at that point . But

3:58

why ? And then ? Why would you

4:00

discourage others ? Nursing

4:03

is such a great profession , it is needed . Why would you discourage

4:05

others ? Nursing is such a great profession , it is needed . Why would you discourage

4:07

another person ? And

4:09

so that really got

4:12

me in the mindset of

4:14

really thinking

4:16

about nursing as

4:18

a career versus nursing as a

4:20

job , and there's

4:23

so much talk today about it

4:25

being a gig profession and

4:29

how . Yes , we

4:31

want flexibility as nurses . Yes , we want

4:34

flexibility in our hours and our time

4:36

. But I will tell you that

4:38

many times when

4:40

you do hop around like that and I'm not

4:43

, what I'm not doing is bashing anyone

4:45

for hopping around in order

4:47

to get their peace , in

4:49

order to gain , you

4:51

know , the flexibility and the autonomy

4:54

that they desire for their life , but

4:57

it kind of it puts you

4:59

in that place of

5:02

making others think

5:04

that you're really just

5:06

about the job . Now there are some who

5:09

really care about nursing . You just

5:11

want the flexibility and I

5:13

applaud you and I'm thankful for

5:15

you for

5:18

pushing us as a profession because

5:20

we need to be pushed . We need to

5:22

be pushed . But

5:25

the question is how long are you staying

5:27

in it and what is your plan in it ? Y'all

5:30

know I'm all about a plan , so

5:33

I'm just going to talk through a

5:35

few things , a few key

5:37

points . What are those things that

5:39

stand out's say that you're job-minded

5:42

versus career-minded . So

5:45

one thing that

5:48

distinguishes a

5:50

job-minded nurse from a career-minded nurse

5:52

is your intention . What

5:55

is your intention in the work and

5:59

the intentions

6:01

set , whether you are

6:03

long-term focused or whether you're

6:05

short-term focused . So

6:08

, for example , you

6:10

can have the intention to

6:13

be in one

6:15

role and have the intention to get

6:17

out of another role and go into another

6:20

job . That might be just

6:22

a little bit more simple than what you were already

6:24

doing , but you

6:27

have a long-term focus . Either

6:29

you are in school or

6:32

you're looking for the next

6:34

job , but you had to get out

6:36

of that last job in order to

6:38

really get clear on

6:42

how to make a plan , and

6:44

so you get into another job . You're

6:47

really there just to do the job . You're not there

6:49

to grow your career in that particular

6:52

space . So

6:54

say , you go from being

6:56

an NP , then you go back to

6:58

working at the bedside because

7:01

you decided you didn't want to be a nurse practitioner

7:03

anymore , and so

7:06

you go back to working at the bedside . But

7:08

you're really only there to

7:11

figure out what your next is . You're

7:13

still career minded . You

7:16

just had to go from one job to another

7:18

. But your intention

7:20

is I'm

7:22

more than likely not going to be here in

7:24

this space for long , but I needed a reprieve

7:27

in order to figure out what my next

7:29

step is . And so

7:31

your purpose for working a job , if

7:33

you are job minded , is really

7:36

just to , your intention is

7:38

to get money . Now , everybody's

7:40

intention for working is to get money

7:42

, but your primary intention is

7:45

to get money versus your

7:47

primary intention being I

7:50

want to make an impact and I'm

7:52

gaining skills in

7:55

order to grow

7:58

in my career and tap

8:00

into what is the next

8:02

level of where

8:04

I want to go in my growth and

8:06

advancement . As a nurse and

8:09

so in your career

8:11

, you still , you know , support

8:13

yourself , but

8:16

you also work towards reaching your

8:18

goals and ambitions . When you are

8:20

career minded and

8:22

when choosing a career , you base

8:24

your decision of

8:26

a job based on your talents and

8:28

your passions , versus

8:31

basing it on

8:33

oh well , they make that

8:35

type of money , so I want to , I want

8:37

to go for that job because it gets paid

8:40

a lot , ok , well , but

8:42

is it part of your plan ? Is

8:44

it your intention to grow in that area

8:46

? Because we know more

8:48

money , more problems , and

8:51

so the politics

8:53

get a little thicker and you just

8:55

got to be able to recognize

8:58

, if this is that thing , that

9:00

you , if this is that area

9:02

, that specialty , that work

9:04

that you want to put your muscle

9:07

into in order to grow

9:09

. So two your

9:11

goals and

9:13

pretty much jobs

9:16

focus on short term goals

9:18

. Careers focus on long term

9:20

goals . So if you're job-minded , you're focused

9:22

on a short-term goal I need to make

9:24

money or I

9:27

need to do whatever . When

9:29

you are career-minded , you're focused on long-term

9:31

goals . So , for

9:33

example , when you

9:35

are job-minded

9:38

, you will more

9:41

than likely , unless you

9:44

are of the intention of I'm

9:46

still trying to find my specialty when

9:48

you are job-minded , your short-term

9:51

goal is to

9:54

either your short-term goal

9:56

is money or it's flexibility

9:58

in time . So you're going to pretty much just

10:00

work wherever you want to work

10:02

, wherever , wherever , and

10:05

there's no intentionality

10:09

to where you're working , where you're gaining skills

10:11

, what skills you're gaining , versus

10:13

when you are career minded , your goals are

10:15

long-term . So

10:17

you look at jobs . Even if you

10:20

are sliding into

10:22

a job that is

10:25

more so , something

10:28

that is an in-between , while you

10:30

figure out what your next step is , you

10:33

tend to be

10:35

more intentional and you're

10:37

long-term . So you're thinking

10:39

, okay , I'm still gaining

10:42

skills , I'm still staying on top of my skills

10:44

and I can still speak to

10:46

the work that I did in this

10:48

particular job and how it will

10:51

apply to what I want to do next

10:53

. Like it's still got to apply

10:55

, like it's still got to apply . Number three it

10:57

kind of goes back to goals

10:59

and intention and

11:01

it's when you're job minded

11:04

and when you're career minded you're thinking

11:06

about where you're learning the skills and

11:08

your continued education . So

11:11

it goes back to the skills are

11:13

connecting . So

11:35

your main intent again of your job is either time or flexibility money or flexibility

11:37

, and more than likely it's money . Sometimes your main intent of the job is and somebody would say , well

11:39

, it's always money , like I want to have the freedom to that's money and that's time . So you want to have

11:42

the freedom and the flexibility to be able to focus on maybe a side business or you want to focus

11:44

that has nothing to do with nursing , but

11:46

this job is fueling

11:48

your funds

11:51

for you to help build

11:53

this business or for you to help volunteer

11:56

in some type of way or for you

11:58

to take care of your kids . You're

12:01

job-minded and that's okay

12:04

. Just show up and do

12:06

your work , be the best

12:08

you can be . So I

12:10

digress when you are career-minded

12:13

, where you learn your skills and what

12:15

skills you're learning in what job

12:17

makes a difference and

12:20

you're very intentional about going

12:22

to jobs that

12:25

will help you to gain the skills

12:27

of where you want to go

12:29

long term . Those

12:32

skills translate

12:35

into more of

12:37

a career and can translate

12:39

into other parts of your career . You

12:42

also understand that you need continued

12:45

education with those skills

12:47

. So , as

12:50

a career minded nurse , you don't mind

12:52

when someone says , oh

12:54

, we need education on this or we need education

12:57

on that . You're not the first one . That's

12:59

like we

13:06

always have education on something . Like I don't have time for that . No , that's not your complaint

13:08

. You're like okay , all right , give me the skills , bring it on . When I was working

13:10

at the bedside , I've

13:12

always been career minded , very intentional

13:14

about what

13:17

I did , and so when

13:19

my nurse manager would ask me , not that I said

13:21

yes to everything , but when they asked me to

13:23

do certain things , or when I saw certain things

13:26

or certain activities that

13:28

they needed a volunteer

13:30

for , I knew

13:32

I was very intentional

13:34

about okay , is that skill

13:37

going to help me in

13:39

the long term ? Now

13:41

, you can't predict the future , but

13:43

you know those general skills that will be

13:46

able to help you in the long

13:48

term , be it project

13:50

management skills , leading

13:52

a team , developing

13:55

education . Like

13:57

I was , as my husband

13:59

would say , I was collecting chips , and

14:02

so I in my mind would

14:04

always think , oh , that's a good resume builder

14:06

, let me do that . Or , oh , that's a good resume

14:09

builder , let me do that . Well , oh

14:11

, that's a good resume builder , let me do that . And so you are

14:13

intentional about where you're learning your skills

14:16

. When you are career minded , when you're

14:18

job minded , you're just like I got these skills

14:20

and I can use them here . Versus

14:24

when you're career minded , you're

14:26

thinking versus

14:31

when you're career minded , you're thinking OK , well , what skills can I also

14:34

gain while I'm in this place ? I was talking to a nurse who

14:36

was getting her DNP

14:39

and she was

14:41

working in a hospital

14:43

, but she needed a

14:45

change . She was working in the hospital and she was working

14:47

in a role for a long period of time , but she needed a change . Like , she was working in the hospital and she was working in a role for

14:49

a long period of time , but she

14:52

needed a change . And so

14:54

I saw her at a conference

14:56

and we were talking and you know

14:58

I was asking her so what are you up to now

15:02

? And she said , oh well

15:04

, I'm doing this . And I was like

15:06

so are you going to kind of do that long term

15:08

? I was like , and she was like , I

15:11

asked her if she was going to do that long term or

15:13

what she was going to do with it , and she was like I

15:15

don't know how long I'm going to stay . I

15:17

said , oh , so you're dibbling and dabbling ? She said

15:19

yes , because right now it works for

15:21

my flexibility

15:24

and I'm able

15:26

to make money in order to finish school

15:29

. But in

15:32

the meantime , she knew what

15:34

skills she brought to the table and

15:37

she knew what skills she could pick up

15:39

from that particular

15:41

job . It was still an intentional

15:43

move and she picked

15:46

up some strong skills from that job

15:48

and she saw the possibilities

15:50

in the company in which she worked or

15:52

, if not , in that company , in the industry

15:55

, and so she was still looking

15:57

to expand her skills

15:59

in the industry , but she needed

16:01

a role that was a little bit more

16:03

flexible . And so I

16:06

want to just encourage

16:08

you , even if you are in a space

16:10

of I don't know what I want

16:12

to do next . So I'm

16:14

just going to find a job where I know it's

16:17

just a little bit easier and

16:19

I know I'll have some time to really think about

16:21

how to map out my career plan

16:23

. Go with it . One

16:25

key difference between the mindset of

16:27

having a job versus a career is that

16:29

the jobs give you the paycheck , whereas

16:31

the careers give you experience

16:34

and exposure . You

16:36

might even consider it a form of life

16:39

education . So , for

16:41

example , when management

16:43

becomes your career

16:45

goal , your goals are completely

16:48

different versus

16:50

I'm deciding . Your

16:54

goals are completely different . Your goals are

16:56

more long-term versus

16:58

very short-term goals . And

17:01

I'm not even saying that staying at the bedside

17:03

and deciding that you are going to be a

17:05

nurse at the bedside and expand your skills

17:07

is a short-term goal . It's

17:09

not and

17:12

it doesn't make you a job-minded nurse

17:15

. It makes you a very intentional

17:17

nurse to dig in where you

17:19

are , grow where you are

17:21

mentor where

17:23

you are , develop the nurses

17:25

who are coming in because you know that

17:27

you're going to stay there long term . Management

17:31

is decent . I can tolerate

17:33

what's going on . I

17:35

like it here . I'm going to stay . You

17:38

can still grow . You can still be a growth

17:40

minded type of person . So

17:43

why is it important

17:45

to really know this ? So

17:47

jobs and careers are interconnected , as

17:50

a lifetime of jobs

17:53

makes up the career you choose . So

17:55

even if you're like

17:57

, yeah , I don't know

17:59

more than likely , if you're listening to this podcast

18:01

, you are career minded . You

18:04

probably just need to make some tweaks it . You probably

18:06

just need to make some tweaks . But even if you're piecing together

18:09

jobs , by

18:16

the time you get about 20 years in

18:18

, you've made a career of something . If you're still in nursing

18:20

, it doesn't tell a story , but

18:23

you've made a career of something . But

18:25

no one will be able to really not that that matters

18:28

that

18:36

anyone can tell a story from your work . You tell the story . But everyone can work towards

18:38

a career trajectory in nursing and it doesn't always have to be management . It doesn't

18:40

always have to be you're the SVP of

18:42

this , that and the other it doesn't

18:44

. It doesn't have to be that , the

18:49

other it doesn't . It doesn't have to be that A career-minded nurse elevates the profession

18:51

and gives you confidence that your voice matters . It

18:54

helps you to make more ownership

18:57

. It helps you to take

18:59

more ownership of your

19:01

work environment because

19:03

you're invested in it . That's why I say

19:05

, even if you're

19:07

deciding to stay as a bedside

19:10

nurse , you're taking ownership of that

19:12

environment and that is

19:14

a part of growth . To

19:16

make the work environment better

19:19

. You can pat yourself on

19:21

the back and say we're

19:23

the best unit because of da-da-da-da-da-da

19:26

. This is why you should work here , like

19:29

there's just some things that you can really be proud

19:31

of because you've taken ownership of

19:33

where you work . Career

19:35

paths and career mindedness

19:38

provides more

19:40

meaning and purpose . So if that's

19:42

what you're looking for , go for it . Then

19:45

you need to check yourself

19:47

as to if you are job-minded

19:50

or are you career-minded

19:52

, because career-mindedness

19:54

helps you to make sure

19:56

that you are staying locked in

19:59

on finding your meaning

20:01

and your purpose and

20:03

working towards that . So

20:06

how do you develop a career mindset If

20:09

you know what career path you want to pursue

20:11

? Figure out the expertise and

20:13

the experience that you need

20:15

to get there . Now , sometimes you don't know

20:17

that and you're going to have to ask or

20:19

you're going to have to test some things out . So

20:21

that goes back to the nurse who was getting their

20:23

DNP and they were now in a pivot

20:26

in their career . She

20:28

now has to test some things out to

20:30

see what works best for her

20:32

. She was testing out

20:35

. She saw some positions

20:37

that would be great for her going

20:39

forward in her career . Sometimes

20:42

you have to dibble and dabble . That's why I tell people

20:44

sometimes your next step especially

20:47

when you're coming out of a position

20:49

that is more

20:52

so a salary position and you're making a change

20:55

to something else , or you're wanting to grow into something

20:57

else and you don't know what that next thing

20:59

is . Sometimes you got to land softly

21:02

somewhere else in order to get clarity

21:04

about what you really want , about

21:06

what you really want , and so when you're

21:08

developing a career mindset , you

21:12

need to work towards determining which skills will benefit your career the most

21:14

. Look at successful professionals

21:17

in your industry . Reach out to them

21:19

if you can and ask

21:22

for their advice . Y'all people

21:24

want to tell their story , because

21:27

most people are amazed at

21:30

how far they've come , and

21:32

not that they , like

21:35

most of them . They've

21:37

come that far because they've been intentional . But

21:40

the majority want to tell

21:42

their story . Those

21:44

who don't want to take you under their wings and

21:47

tell you their story and

21:49

say I did it , you can

21:51

do it too . They're just selfish

21:53

. Boom , I said it . They're just

21:55

selfish . They're selfish and

21:58

their ego is getting in their way . So

22:00

you move on from them if

22:02

they don't want to help , if they don't want to tell you this , if

22:04

they don't want to take time Now

22:07

not , oh , I don't have time today but

22:10

if they're just always avoiding you and they're not wanting to tell you

22:12

their story of how they got where they are

22:14

. They're selfish , their ego

22:16

is in the way and they're thinking

22:18

that you're going to take their position to

22:21

move on from them . Get a mentor

22:23

or hire a career coach

22:25

. So seek

22:28

out a mentor or two

22:30

with an upper level position

22:32

or experience that you desire in

22:35

your field . So that's different from

22:37

asking someone for advice versus

22:41

a mentor and a career coach

22:43

. They are a little bit more long term . They

22:46

can be short term . The career coach they both

22:48

can be the career coach can be short term or long term . The mentor be short term the career coach

22:50

they both can be . The career coach can be short term or long term . The

22:52

mentor is a little bit more long term because

22:54

they have seen how

22:57

you've walked through your career . You're

23:00

getting a little bit more deeper with them . They're

23:03

understanding your story and

23:05

they're also helping you to pace through and

23:08

make decisions on what

23:10

you need to do next . And

23:14

so in order to get career minded shift from job

23:16

mindedness to career mindedness you

23:18

need to find a mentor . If

23:20

you want more episodes on mentors

23:23

and mentors versus , the word sponsor

23:26

comes up a lot , let

23:28

me know . Let me know . I could definitely

23:31

put that together because

23:34

I like talking about mentorship and there's

23:36

not enough of it in nursing . We have

23:38

way more bullying and lateral violence

23:40

than we do . Mentorship in nursing and

23:43

that's one of my passions also and that's one

23:45

of the things that I like to change

23:48

Also and

23:50

ask that mentor if they would consider

23:52

supporting and advising you professionally

23:55

so that you can ask

23:57

specific questions and

24:01

think about topics to discuss

24:03

. So it's an ongoing conversation with

24:05

mentors and with coaches and

24:07

with career coaches . It's an ongoing

24:09

conversation . It could be again

24:11

a short-term conversation with a coach

24:13

, even with a mentor

24:16

. They ebb and flow and then

24:18

expand your network . Y'all

24:21

networking has taken my

24:23

career so far and

24:26

I realized at a point that

24:28

I was networking and didn't realize I was networking

24:30

. I'll tell you more about that later

24:33

, but I can't say enough

24:35

about networking and expanding

24:37

your network . So that means going in person

24:39

to workshops not hiding

24:41

anymore , going in person

24:44

and online to workshops , going

24:46

to conferences , going to seminars

24:48

, going to social events . Those

24:51

are great places to meet other professionals in

24:53

your field , introduce yourself

24:55

and get to know other

24:57

people and what other people do , so

25:00

that you can hear , like , what other

25:02

people do and you're like , huh , I didn't realize that

25:04

was a thing . You'd be surprised

25:06

at how many

25:08

times you will say oh , I didn't realize you could do that

25:11

. So , to wrap up

25:13

job-minded versus

25:15

career-minded . What is

25:17

it ? It's about your intentions , it's

25:20

about your goals . It's

25:22

about where you learn your skills and what education

25:25

you want to get . As

25:27

to whether you're job-minded versus

25:29

your career-minded , remember

25:31

that key difference between the

25:34

mindset of having a job versus pursuing

25:37

a career is that jobs give

25:39

you the paychecks , whereas careers give you the

25:41

experience and the exposure . Why

25:44

is this important ? Because

25:46

jobs and careers are interconnected , as a

25:48

lifetime of jobs

25:50

makes up the career you choose

25:52

. Career paths provide

25:56

more meaning and purpose , and

25:58

a career-minded nurse elevates the profession

26:00

of nursing and healthcare . How

26:03

do you develop it ? Continue

26:05

learning , continue developing

26:08

. Figure out what expertise

26:10

and experience you need to get there

26:12

, so that you know . That comes back to the self-awareness

26:15

. Get a mentor or

26:17

hire a career coach and

26:19

expand your network . If

26:21

you want more information or

26:23

you found a topic or a piece

26:25

that I talked about and you want

26:28

to dive in a little bit further , email

26:30

me . Let me know what

26:32

you would like to hear more of . I'd

26:35

love to hear more from you all and

26:39

if you found this information valuable , make sure you leave a five-star

26:41

review so that this podcast

26:44

can get out to more people , and two

26:46

so that I will be able to read them

26:48

and know what you'd like to hear of more

26:50

also . So there are two places

26:53

that you can do that . You can either send me

26:55

an email or you

26:59

can leave a review and

27:01

then leave that information in a review . Thanks

27:04

y'all . Thanks

27:08

for joining us this week on the Ambitious

27:10

Nurse Podcast . To review

27:12

the show notes and any links mentioned

27:15

in today's episode , please go

27:17

to theambitiousnursepodcastcom . If

27:20

you enjoyed this conversation , follow

27:22

or subscribe so you don't miss a

27:24

future episode . Also

27:26

, please consider leaving a rating , review

27:29

and or comment about what

27:31

you want to hear . This helps

27:33

more nurses , just like you find

27:35

this podcast . Thank you for joining

27:38

me , bonnie Meadows , on the Ambitious

27:40

Nurse Podcast . I look forward

27:42

to chatting with you the next time and

27:44

remember you don't have to grow your career

27:47

alone . As iron sharpens

27:49

iron , one person sharpens

27:51

another . Thank you for letting me sharpen

27:53

you as you take this knowledge to

27:55

sharpen the next .