This podcast was one of the top 10 podcast episodes of 2024. I am bringing it back as a replay for your enjoyment as I work on new episodes for 2025.
Are you tired of feeling stuck in your nursing career despite having advanced degrees and qualifications?
Join me, Bonnie Meadows, as I reveal essential strategies for overcoming career stagnation and moving into leadership roles. Discover why your resume might hold you back and learn how to align it with job descriptions to get past HR screening systems.
I’ll share practical tips to highlight your experience and bridge perceived gaps in leadership, ensuring your resume stands out.
Learn about the power of proactive career steps, navigating workplace politics, and knowing when to seek sponsorship or new opportunities. Whether dealing with micromanagers or advocating for policy changes, this episode is packed with actionable advice. Plus, I offer personalized career guidance—schedule a one-on-one call to discuss your path and get tailored advice.
Let’s work together to help you achieve the nursing career you desire and make a lasting impact in the profession. Don’t forget to share this episode with fellow nurses and leave a review on Apple Podcasts!
Want to continue the conversation? Send me a text right here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
There are instances where youhave the degree, you have the
(00:03):
qualifications slash experience,but they still won't give you a
chance at that level.
You either need to leave yourorganization.
or find someone to sponsor youand give you the guidance on how
to navigate the politics of thesituation.
Are you feeling stuck in yourcurrent clinical environment?
(00:23):
Do you want to make a change inyour nursing career but not sure
what to do next?
Exhausted, burnt out, and maybeeven ready for different
leadership?
I'm Bonnie Meadows, a BoardCertified Nurse.
Clinical Nurse Specialist,Influential Leader, Career
Coach, and Well Being Coach.
Being in the nursing andhealthcare profession since
(00:44):
2004, I have felt stuck andunsure about what was next for
me.
I wanted to be fulfilled in mypurpose, to have a voice at the
table.
And to be a resource for others,I kept telling myself I wanted
more, but didn't have thedirection I needed until I found
clarity and career growthstrategies for experienced
(01:05):
nurses like me.
In this podcast, you will find.
Simple tactical steps that allowyou to gain the clarity you
need, solutions for how to groweven without supportive
leadership, and guidelines forsetting boundaries at work so
that you can grow purposefullyin your career as a nurse with a
(01:25):
graduate degree who makes a hugeimpact in the profession.
So get ready to trade yourscrubs for yoga pants.
Pop in those earbuds and let'schat.
Welcome back.
My fellow nurses.
So glad to be here with youtoday.
Just to talk about a few reasonswhy your nursing career might
(01:47):
not be growing and a few thingsyou can do to get on track.
So I had a nurse manager ask me.
About an individual who had amaster's in nursing leadership
and was applying for a clinicalsupervisor position.
And we were having thisconversation, because she was
(02:08):
inquiring about, if I knew thatperson, I will tell you.
I probably get asked thatquestion maybe about once a
month.
Hey, do you know so and so?
And usually it's from a nursemanager.
You know, just to get my opinionor it could be, maybe not a
nurse manager, but someone whois interviewing, doing a peer
(02:31):
interview and it could be on amaster's degree level or
something of the sort,especially if they worked in
cardiac.
Then usually people will tend toask me.
And so this individual wasapplying, she had, well, this
nurse manager had had someconversations with the person
who was applying for theclinical supervisor position.
(02:53):
And she said that this nurse hadbeen applying to nurse manager
positions, but was not gettinghired and was frustrated.
It was mainly because she didn'thave any leadership experience.
Now, I will say, and I will givethis disclaimer even, further in
the podcast again, there havebeen times where you have the
(03:17):
degree, you have leadershipexperience, but then The nurse
managers will come up or theleaders, not the nurse managers,
but the leaders will come upwith some, bogus, excuse as to
why you shouldn't be in aposition of operations.
(03:40):
And we all know.
That just because you've had aposition in operations doesn't
necessarily mean that you haveleadership skills.
But many of our nurse leadersmake this excuse that, Oh, I
can't hire a nurse managerbecause they haven't been a
clinical supervisor yet.
They have learned to work withteams.
(04:00):
They've learned how tocollaborate with others.
They've learned how to work withdifferent personalities.
The only thing that they don't,that they've never had to do was
sit down and create a budget.
Well, half of the time, even aclinical supervisor hadn't had a
chance or an, or an assistantnurse manager hasn't had an
opportunity to do that.
And they have to learn that onthe fly.
(04:22):
They have to learn on a, on thejob.
And sometimes it takes themabout a year.
Whereas this nurse who has amaster's in nursing leadership
has taken a full on class on.
Financials in healthcaremanagement.
So I've gotten on my soapboxalready about that.
So just know that's already atthe top of my head.
(04:44):
So what I'm getting ready totell you is you might be
fighting up against that or youmight not, but these are some
points that you really need toconsider.
when you are trying to grow yourcareer.
So let's get started.
I'm going to start with one.
Cause I've seen this a lot.
(05:05):
Your resume doesn't match thejob description or the career
trajectory.
That you want to go.
So what does this mean?
Meaning you're applying forpositions.
Your resume doesn't necessarilyspeak to how it matches up with
the job description.
(05:26):
on that particular website.
Nor is there like any objectiveor summary at the top that says
in your career, this is thetrajectory that you want to go.
You just look like that's whereyou're going in your career.
Why is that important?
One, because you can't get, youcan't even get past the, API
(05:50):
machine that they run yourResume through in order to see
if your resume is a match forthe actual position.
So most large companies, mosthealthcare companies that we're
working for they are usuallylarge companies at this point.
Some of them small, but majorityof them are large enough to have
(06:11):
a pretty moderate size HRdepartment.
And with that H.
R.
Receives your resume throughtheir online portal, and then
the machine that they put itthrough matches up your resume
to the job description.
(06:31):
So if you are applying for aleadership position or you're
applying for a quality position,but nothing in your resume says
that you have any experiencewith quality doing per quality
improvement work, or nothing inyour resume matches up with the
(06:57):
job description and not sayingthat you need to copy and paste
the job description, but you doneed to pretty much match up
your resume with the jobdescription.
So, how do you do that?
Really, I suggest that you one,always create, just have your
(07:18):
baseline resume.
Always have your baseline.
That's what you're alwaysworking off of.
Then when you see a job or twothat you like, if they're kind
of in the same sector.
You look at that job descriptionand then you change it slightly
to showcase the work that you'vedone in that particular area for
that job that you are lookingfor.
(07:40):
And it really is like full on inthe description of either what
your current job is or what yourprevious job has.
But your previous jobs have beento say, oh, they have some of
the job qualities that meet thisjob description.
So showcase it.
I'm gonna change it to slightlyshowcase your work differently
(08:03):
for that particular healthcaresector.
Point two, you have the degree,but you haven't been somewhat
involved in the work in yourcurrent role.
That particular individual inthe story that I told earlier,
she was working at the bedside,had no experience.
(08:23):
No experience leading a unitbased council, no experience
using, leading a hospital widecouncil, no experience leading a
project.
She just decided I'm ready toleave the bedside.
So I'm going to go and get amaster's degree.
I don't want to be a nursepractitioner She probably did
want to be a nurse manager.
(08:44):
But had no experience leadingor.
As an assistant nurse manager orclinical supervisor or whatever
we want to call ourselves thesedays, it's very important again,
to make sure your resume andyour experience lines up with
the role that you are lookingto, the area that you're looking
(09:07):
to break into, even if it is atotally different specialty.
Here's another, for example, I,as a clinical nurse specialist,
if I work my job right, I canapply for a project manager
position because I've ledprojects.
That's what I do.
That's what I've done.
(09:28):
Even as a nurse educator, youlead projects.
You can apply for a projectmanager position because you're
facilitating teams and you areleading the project of building
the education.
or building the qualityimprovement project or
implementing the process.
That's what you do.
(09:48):
But I would have to go in andchange the language of my resume
to meet that of the jobdescription.
Again, I would duplicate mybaseline resume and then revise
to create a resume that matchesthe jobs that I'm looking for in
that area of project management.
(10:10):
So in whatever way you pursuethe degree, you should be doing
the small things at your currentrole or in a previous role, to
apply the knowledge that youhave.
Leaders not only want to see youhave the degree, but they also
want to see the experience youhave with the work.
A few more examples.
(10:31):
This is in the clinical sector.
You just graduated from NPschool.
You want to work as an NP in thecurrent unit that you're on, or
maybe in the same hospital, butyou're lazy with how you take
care of your current patients.
Or you're not working on yourdecision making.
(10:54):
You're not using what you'velearned in your NP program to
upscale and up level and levelup.
The way that you criticallythink about your patients, so
then that chief NP sees youaround, sees how you're working,
you try to apply to work withthem, and they're like, no, we
(11:17):
can't.
I'm sorry.
We can't.
We can't hire you.
Yeah, you've been working in theICU But you've not demonstrated
skills of leadership.
Because even as an NP, you're aleader and you've not
demonstrated skills ofcritically thinking and managing
your patient.
So just two examples of what Imean by got the degree, but
(11:39):
you're not really involved orreally developing in your role.
So if you're thinking aboutgoing back to school, these are
some things that you need tothink about of connecting that
degree with whatever roles thatyou're thinking about going
into.
Point three, you're not visibleto your leaders.
(12:00):
Why is that important?
Because when you're not visibleto your leaders, they think that
you're not doing anything.
They think that you don't wantto grow.
They think that you just want todo your work and go home.
They think that you don't wantto be involved and you might not
want to be involved in thatparticular unit.
(12:23):
You really might be afraid thatif you even step a toe into
doing the work that you mightget pulled in too far, but
that's where boundaries come inand you go in knowing what you
want to get yourself into andwhere your cutoff is of, yep, I
can't do that.
(12:44):
Nope.
I'm not available to do that.
When we set boundaries, it'sreally uncomfortable at first,
but people respect you when youset the boundaries.
So it's just really importantfor you to be visible to your
leaders so that they can onespeak highly of you, which will
make it easier for you to growyour career.
(13:08):
And it helps you to get exposureto other things because they
tend to pull you into thingsagain, that you really might be
interested in.
And it allows you to getexposure to other areas of
healthcare.
You get more visible by notdoing what everyone else does.
You start volunteering toshowcase what you can do inside
(13:30):
your current position and Someskills that you may have that
you don't think relate to yourcurrent position, but they do.
The other thing is, and I seethis a lot in nurses with
master's degrees who are just inthe background doing the work.
You're doing the work, but youdon't mention to your boss.
And what you're currentlyinvolved in with others.
(13:53):
So they don't think you want togrow when in actuality you were
the co lead in that work.
And so you are mad because otherpeople are getting promoted
because they're tooting theirhorn.
But there is a healthy way.
To be able to brag on yourselfwith that small elevator pitch,
or to at least make others awareof the work that you are doing
(14:17):
and your level ofprofessionalism in the
workplace, when they start toconnect what you're doing in
other areas.
I don't know what it is, butwhen people appreciate you and
appreciate your work in otherareas, it just gives your
leaders a light bulb to think,Oh, well, I might need to
(14:38):
consider them for this or mightneed to consider them for that,
which will help you to grow yourcareer.
I'm at point number four.
You're not involved in yourprofessional organization.
Why is that important?
Being involved in yourprofessional organization, not
just a member.
But Involved helps you to growyour career because you are now
(15:02):
exposed to people outside ofyour organization.
And they get to see how youwork.
So even if the people in yourorganization don't appreciate
you and the value that you bringto the work that you do every
day, the people outside of theorganization appreciate the work
that you do.
They see you in a differentlight.
And sometimes When other peoplehighlight the work that you do
(15:26):
and appreciate how you do thatwork, then your leaders tend to
see you differently.
Trust me, I know that's been myexperience.
So how do we do that?
What does involvement look likein a professional organization?
Not only do you need to join,but when they call for
(15:46):
committees, join the committee.
When they have a call forelections, run for a position.
You can start locally in yourcity if you can, and then grow
to the state or the nationallevel.
When I started my journey Ididn't start the journey with
the intention to run forpresident elect of my state
(16:07):
nurses association.
However, I started the journeybecause I wanted to be involved
and I wanted to make an impactand my impact was very local.
It was really literally justwithin my region.
I was on our regional advisorycommittee, and so I was able to
just be involved in events thatwe did at the regional level.
(16:31):
And then from there, the personwho was elected to the board
told me, she said, I'm going toget you ready for a board
position.
Now she couldn't elect me.
All she could do was get meready for it, which meant.
That she talked about me, sheexposed me to other people
(16:52):
within the state who then sawhow I worked.
And from there, once people sawme as a familiar face, they
understood that my desire to beheard.
to serve the organization wasgreater than just a power, a
power rush.
Then they elected me to theboard for two terms.
(17:14):
And then from there I was ableto run for president elect.
Now you don't have to do thatpath, but either way that
allowed me to gain exposureinside of my organization and
outside of the organization.
So last point, you're waitingfor your leader to do it.
(17:34):
You're waiting for your leaderto recognize you and to say, Oh,
I want to promote that person orI want this person to do this,
or I'm going to nominate you forthis.
Here's my why of why you shouldnot do that.
Don't ever give someone else thepower To dictate how you grow,
(17:57):
the power is in your hands.
It is up to you and the goodLord to grow your career.
Not anyone else.
He can use those people, but itis up to you to put one foot in
front of the other, to putyourself out there, but don't
wait on someone else to growyour career because one, it
(18:21):
might not be in the way that youwant to grow your career.
They might be thinking about yougrowing in one way and you're
like, I don't want to do that.
I've had plenty of leaders say,Oh, well I'm trying to set you
up or I'm trying to prepare youfor a, the such and such
position.
I'm thinking to myself, I don'twant to do that.
I don't know why you thought Iwanted to do that.
(18:43):
You didn't ask me.
Let your leader know about yourdesire to grow, but don't always
expect them to jump in, jump upand down and say, yes, yes, I
want to see, they want to seeyou grow, but they don't want to
see you leave.
Not all of them.
Not every leader wants you togrow.
It's selfish on their part.
(19:04):
And we can't blame it on thembecause they want a well oiled
machine.
The good leaders, theyunderstand that people grow.
They're sad when you leave andthey're like, shucks, but they
want to do everything that theycan to make sure that you grow
and that you fly and that you dowhat you do because they see
(19:27):
what you can do and they don'twant to be the ones to hold you
back.
So you can sometimes, see thatyou're dealing with a leader
that doesn't want you to grow.
And you can also let them knowyour desire to grow without
telling them, but byvolunteering for projects you
like, and even some that youdon't like, so they can at least
(19:50):
get a glimpse.
Of how you work from a differentperspective.
Here is my bonus tip slashdisclaimer.
I said this earlier in thepodcast.
There are instances where youhave the degree, you have the
qualifications slash experience,but they still won't give you a
chance at that level.
You either need to leave yourorganization.
(20:13):
or find someone to sponsor youand give you the guidance on how
to navigate the politics of thesituation.
Those are some things that I dohelp people with in one on one
coaching.
I help you to navigate thepolitics of your situation,
(20:33):
especially if you're looking togrow because why I've been
there, I've had to navigate thepolitics of a situation.
Several times.
And so I've learned a lot aboutwhat to expect, what not to
expect.
I was actually talking to one ofmy leaders the other day and I
was, and this is a, a leaderthat I don't directly report to,
(20:57):
but, her and I are just involvedin a lot of work.
Our, our work is kind of like a,a cross of things, and.
You know, I was running thisidea by her, by her and she
said, great.
And then she started to expandon it.
You know, we were just talkingthrough some things and, and I
told her, I said, you know, I'mvery glad that I reached out to
(21:19):
you for this.
I said, I don't mind dealing.
I honestly don't mind dealingwith politics.
I just need to know what I'mdealing with.
Just let me know what I'mdealing with and I can navigate
politics.
Micromanagers.
I can't necessarily navigate.
Ah, I'm still working on thatone, but I will tell you this, I
can manage it from the outsidebetter than I can manage it from
(21:42):
the inside because of what I'velearned.
The problem is, when I am inthose situations, which I try
not to be, because I'm justreally bad with micromanagers,
my emotions get in the way.
And I try not to, and Iunderstand it's a little bit of
an ego.
It's a little bit of a powerstruggle.
I can see right through it andwhat you're trying to do,
(22:04):
especially if it's with bad, ifit's with terrible intent.
But I think I've gone off into alittle tangent here.
So I'm going to circle back whenyou figure out that you need to
navigate the politics of thesituation, there probably needs
to be a change in the policiesof how they hire.
You could be the one to helpthem to make that change if
(22:26):
you're up for it.
All right, so I'm going to wrapup and recap.
Here's some reasons why yournursing career might not be
growing.
Your resume doesn't match thejob description or career
trajectory you want to go.
You have the degree, but youhaven't.
If you have not been involved inthe work in your current role or
(22:48):
a role prior to, you're notvisible to your leaders.
You're not involved in yourprofessional organizations and
you're waiting for your leaderto do it.
I've given you some gooddirection on how you can
maneuver around those things.
Some of these things you canimplement very quickly.
Some of them, I'm just going totake a little time to develop.
(23:12):
But if you need help with any ofthis, feel free to jump on a one
on one call with me, set up aone on one call with me and we
can talk through these thingsuntil next time.
I'll see you later.
I hope you enjoyed today'sepisode.
If so, would you take 30 secondsand share it with another nurse
(23:33):
who may be unsure of where to gonext in their career or maybe
need some career clarity?
Also, please leave a quickreview for the show on Apple
podcast.
It brings me so much joy and somuch encouragement to know this
podcast is helping you.
Now go get the career you wantand not the one you settle for.
(23:55):
And I'll meet you back here nextThursday for another episode.
See you soon!
There are instances where youhave the degree, you have the
(00:03):
qualifications slash experience,but they still won't give you a
chance at that level.
You either need to leave yourorganization.
or find someone to sponsor youand give you the guidance on how
to navigate the politics of thesituation.
Are you feeling stuck in yourcurrent clinical environment?
(00:23):
Do you want to make a change inyour nursing career but not sure
what to do next?
Exhausted, burnt out, and maybeeven ready for different
leadership?
I'm Bonnie Meadows, a BoardCertified Nurse.
Clinical Nurse Specialist,Influential Leader, Career
Coach, and Well Being Coach.
Being in the nursing andhealthcare profession since
(00:44):
2004, I have felt stuck andunsure about what was next for
me.
I wanted to be fulfilled in mypurpose, to have a voice at the
table.
And to be a resource for others,I kept telling myself I wanted
more, but didn't have thedirection I needed until I found
clarity and career growthstrategies for experienced
(01:05):
nurses like me.
In this podcast, you will find.
Simple tactical steps that allowyou to gain the clarity you
need, solutions for how to groweven without supportive
leadership, and guidelines forsetting boundaries at work so
that you can grow purposefullyin your career as a nurse with a
(01:25):
graduate degree who makes a hugeimpact in the profession.
So get ready to trade yourscrubs for yoga pants.
Pop in those earbuds and let'schat.
Welcome back.
My fellow nurses.
So glad to be here with youtoday.
Just to talk about a few reasonswhy your nursing career might
(01:47):
not be growing and a few thingsyou can do to get on track.
So I had a nurse manager ask me.
About an individual who had amaster's in nursing leadership
and was applying for a clinicalsupervisor position.
And we were having thisconversation, because she was
(02:08):
inquiring about, if I knew thatperson, I will tell you.
I probably get asked thatquestion maybe about once a
month.
Hey, do you know so and so?
And usually it's from a nursemanager.
You know, just to get my opinionor it could be, maybe not a
nurse manager, but someone whois interviewing, doing a peer
(02:31):
interview and it could be on amaster's degree level or
something of the sort,especially if they worked in
cardiac.
Then usually people will tend toask me.
And so this individual wasapplying, she had, well, this
nurse manager had had someconversations with the person
who was applying for theclinical supervisor position.
(02:53):
And she said that this nurse hadbeen applying to nurse manager
positions, but was not gettinghired and was frustrated.
It was mainly because she didn'thave any leadership experience.
Now, I will say, and I will givethis disclaimer even, further in
the podcast again, there havebeen times where you have the
(03:17):
degree, you have leadershipexperience, but then The nurse
managers will come up or theleaders, not the nurse managers,
but the leaders will come upwith some, bogus, excuse as to
why you shouldn't be in aposition of operations.
(03:40):
And we all know.
That just because you've had aposition in operations doesn't
necessarily mean that you haveleadership skills.
But many of our nurse leadersmake this excuse that, Oh, I
can't hire a nurse managerbecause they haven't been a
clinical supervisor yet.
They have learned to work withteams.
(04:00):
They've learned how tocollaborate with others.
They've learned how to work withdifferent personalities.
The only thing that they don't,that they've never had to do was
sit down and create a budget.
Well, half of the time, even aclinical supervisor hadn't had a
chance or an, or an assistantnurse manager hasn't had an
opportunity to do that.
And they have to learn that onthe fly.
(04:22):
They have to learn on a, on thejob.
And sometimes it takes themabout a year.
Whereas this nurse who has amaster's in nursing leadership
has taken a full on class on.
Financials in healthcaremanagement.
So I've gotten on my soapboxalready about that.
So just know that's already atthe top of my head.
(04:44):
So what I'm getting ready totell you is you might be
fighting up against that or youmight not, but these are some
points that you really need toconsider.
when you are trying to grow yourcareer.
So let's get started.
I'm going to start with one.
Cause I've seen this a lot.
(05:05):
Your resume doesn't match thejob description or the career
trajectory.
That you want to go.
So what does this mean?
Meaning you're applying forpositions.
Your resume doesn't necessarilyspeak to how it matches up with
the job description.
(05:26):
on that particular website.
Nor is there like any objectiveor summary at the top that says
in your career, this is thetrajectory that you want to go.
You just look like that's whereyou're going in your career.
Why is that important?
One, because you can't get, youcan't even get past the, API
(05:50):
machine that they run yourResume through in order to see
if your resume is a match forthe actual position.
So most large companies, mosthealthcare companies that we're
working for they are usuallylarge companies at this point.
Some of them small, but majorityof them are large enough to have
(06:11):
a pretty moderate size HRdepartment.
And with that H.
R.
Receives your resume throughtheir online portal, and then
the machine that they put itthrough matches up your resume
to the job description.
(06:31):
So if you are applying for aleadership position or you're
applying for a quality position,but nothing in your resume says
that you have any experiencewith quality doing per quality
improvement work, or nothing inyour resume matches up with the
(06:57):
job description and not sayingthat you need to copy and paste
the job description, but you doneed to pretty much match up
your resume with the jobdescription.
So, how do you do that?
Really, I suggest that you one,always create, just have your
(07:18):
baseline resume.
Always have your baseline.
That's what you're alwaysworking off of.
Then when you see a job or twothat you like, if they're kind
of in the same sector.
You look at that job descriptionand then you change it slightly
to showcase the work that you'vedone in that particular area for
that job that you are lookingfor.
(07:40):
And it really is like full on inthe description of either what
your current job is or what yourprevious job has.
But your previous jobs have beento say, oh, they have some of
the job qualities that meet thisjob description.
So showcase it.
I'm gonna change it to slightlyshowcase your work differently
(08:03):
for that particular healthcaresector.
Point two, you have the degree,but you haven't been somewhat
involved in the work in yourcurrent role.
That particular individual inthe story that I told earlier,
she was working at the bedside,had no experience.
(08:23):
No experience leading a unitbased council, no experience
using, leading a hospital widecouncil, no experience leading a
project.
She just decided I'm ready toleave the bedside.
So I'm going to go and get amaster's degree.
I don't want to be a nursepractitioner She probably did
want to be a nurse manager.
(08:44):
But had no experience leadingor.
As an assistant nurse manager orclinical supervisor or whatever
we want to call ourselves thesedays, it's very important again,
to make sure your resume andyour experience lines up with
the role that you are lookingto, the area that you're looking
(09:07):
to break into, even if it is atotally different specialty.
Here's another, for example, I,as a clinical nurse specialist,
if I work my job right, I canapply for a project manager
position because I've ledprojects.
That's what I do.
That's what I've done.
(09:28):
Even as a nurse educator, youlead projects.
You can apply for a projectmanager position because you're
facilitating teams and you areleading the project of building
the education.
or building the qualityimprovement project or
implementing the process.
That's what you do.
(09:48):
But I would have to go in andchange the language of my resume
to meet that of the jobdescription.
Again, I would duplicate mybaseline resume and then revise
to create a resume that matchesthe jobs that I'm looking for in
that area of project management.
(10:10):
So in whatever way you pursuethe degree, you should be doing
the small things at your currentrole or in a previous role, to
apply the knowledge that youhave.
Leaders not only want to see youhave the degree, but they also
want to see the experience youhave with the work.
A few more examples.
(10:31):
This is in the clinical sector.
You just graduated from NPschool.
You want to work as an NP in thecurrent unit that you're on, or
maybe in the same hospital, butyou're lazy with how you take
care of your current patients.
Or you're not working on yourdecision making.
(10:54):
You're not using what you'velearned in your NP program to
upscale and up level and levelup.
The way that you criticallythink about your patients, so
then that chief NP sees youaround, sees how you're working,
you try to apply to work withthem, and they're like, no, we
(11:17):
can't.
I'm sorry.
We can't.
We can't hire you.
Yeah, you've been working in theICU But you've not demonstrated
skills of leadership.
Because even as an NP, you're aleader and you've not
demonstrated skills ofcritically thinking and managing
your patient.
So just two examples of what Imean by got the degree, but
(11:39):
you're not really involved orreally developing in your role.
So if you're thinking aboutgoing back to school, these are
some things that you need tothink about of connecting that
degree with whatever roles thatyou're thinking about going
into.
Point three, you're not visibleto your leaders.
(12:00):
Why is that important?
Because when you're not visibleto your leaders, they think that
you're not doing anything.
They think that you don't wantto grow.
They think that you just want todo your work and go home.
They think that you don't wantto be involved and you might not
want to be involved in thatparticular unit.
(12:23):
You really might be afraid thatif you even step a toe into
doing the work that you mightget pulled in too far, but
that's where boundaries come inand you go in knowing what you
want to get yourself into andwhere your cutoff is of, yep, I
can't do that.
(12:44):
Nope.
I'm not available to do that.
When we set boundaries, it'sreally uncomfortable at first,
but people respect you when youset the boundaries.
So it's just really importantfor you to be visible to your
leaders so that they can onespeak highly of you, which will
make it easier for you to growyour career.
(13:08):
And it helps you to get exposureto other things because they
tend to pull you into thingsagain, that you really might be
interested in.
And it allows you to getexposure to other areas of
healthcare.
You get more visible by notdoing what everyone else does.
You start volunteering toshowcase what you can do inside
(13:30):
your current position and Someskills that you may have that
you don't think relate to yourcurrent position, but they do.
The other thing is, and I seethis a lot in nurses with
master's degrees who are just inthe background doing the work.
You're doing the work, but youdon't mention to your boss.
And what you're currentlyinvolved in with others.
(13:53):
So they don't think you want togrow when in actuality you were
the co lead in that work.
And so you are mad because otherpeople are getting promoted
because they're tooting theirhorn.
But there is a healthy way.
To be able to brag on yourselfwith that small elevator pitch,
or to at least make others awareof the work that you are doing
(14:17):
and your level ofprofessionalism in the
workplace, when they start toconnect what you're doing in
other areas.
I don't know what it is, butwhen people appreciate you and
appreciate your work in otherareas, it just gives your
leaders a light bulb to think,Oh, well, I might need to
(14:38):
consider them for this or mightneed to consider them for that,
which will help you to grow yourcareer.
I'm at point number four.
You're not involved in yourprofessional organization.
Why is that important?
Being involved in yourprofessional organization, not
just a member.
But Involved helps you to growyour career because you are now
(15:02):
exposed to people outside ofyour organization.
And they get to see how youwork.
So even if the people in yourorganization don't appreciate
you and the value that you bringto the work that you do every
day, the people outside of theorganization appreciate the work
that you do.
They see you in a differentlight.
And sometimes When other peoplehighlight the work that you do
(15:26):
and appreciate how you do thatwork, then your leaders tend to
see you differently.
Trust me, I know that's been myexperience.
So how do we do that?
What does involvement look likein a professional organization?
Not only do you need to join,but when they call for
(15:46):
committees, join the committee.
When they have a call forelections, run for a position.
You can start locally in yourcity if you can, and then grow
to the state or the nationallevel.
When I started my journey Ididn't start the journey with
the intention to run forpresident elect of my state
(16:07):
nurses association.
However, I started the journeybecause I wanted to be involved
and I wanted to make an impactand my impact was very local.
It was really literally justwithin my region.
I was on our regional advisorycommittee, and so I was able to
just be involved in events thatwe did at the regional level.
(16:31):
And then from there, the personwho was elected to the board
told me, she said, I'm going toget you ready for a board
position.
Now she couldn't elect me.
All she could do was get meready for it, which meant.
That she talked about me, sheexposed me to other people
(16:52):
within the state who then sawhow I worked.
And from there, once people sawme as a familiar face, they
understood that my desire to beheard.
to serve the organization wasgreater than just a power, a
power rush.
Then they elected me to theboard for two terms.
(17:14):
And then from there I was ableto run for president elect.
Now you don't have to do thatpath, but either way that
allowed me to gain exposureinside of my organization and
outside of the organization.
So last point, you're waitingfor your leader to do it.
(17:34):
You're waiting for your leaderto recognize you and to say, Oh,
I want to promote that person orI want this person to do this,
or I'm going to nominate you forthis.
Here's my why of why you shouldnot do that.
Don't ever give someone else thepower To dictate how you grow,
(17:57):
the power is in your hands.
It is up to you and the goodLord to grow your career.
Not anyone else.
He can use those people, but itis up to you to put one foot in
front of the other, to putyourself out there, but don't
wait on someone else to growyour career because one, it
(18:21):
might not be in the way that youwant to grow your career.
They might be thinking about yougrowing in one way and you're
like, I don't want to do that.
I've had plenty of leaders say,Oh, well I'm trying to set you
up or I'm trying to prepare youfor a, the such and such
position.
I'm thinking to myself, I don'twant to do that.
I don't know why you thought Iwanted to do that.
(18:43):
You didn't ask me.
Let your leader know about yourdesire to grow, but don't always
expect them to jump in, jump upand down and say, yes, yes, I
want to see, they want to seeyou grow, but they don't want to
see you leave.
Not all of them.
Not every leader wants you togrow.
It's selfish on their part.
(19:04):
And we can't blame it on thembecause they want a well oiled
machine.
The good leaders, theyunderstand that people grow.
They're sad when you leave andthey're like, shucks, but they
want to do everything that theycan to make sure that you grow
and that you fly and that you dowhat you do because they see
(19:27):
what you can do and they don'twant to be the ones to hold you
back.
So you can sometimes, see thatyou're dealing with a leader
that doesn't want you to grow.
And you can also let them knowyour desire to grow without
telling them, but byvolunteering for projects you
like, and even some that youdon't like, so they can at least
(19:50):
get a glimpse.
Of how you work from a differentperspective.
Here is my bonus tip slashdisclaimer.
I said this earlier in thepodcast.
There are instances where youhave the degree, you have the
qualifications slash experience,but they still won't give you a
chance at that level.
You either need to leave yourorganization.
(20:13):
or find someone to sponsor youand give you the guidance on how
to navigate the politics of thesituation.
Those are some things that I dohelp people with in one on one
coaching.
I help you to navigate thepolitics of your situation,
(20:33):
especially if you're looking togrow because why I've been
there, I've had to navigate thepolitics of a situation.
Several times.
And so I've learned a lot aboutwhat to expect, what not to
expect.
I was actually talking to one ofmy leaders the other day and I
was, and this is a, a leaderthat I don't directly report to,
(20:57):
but, her and I are just involvedin a lot of work.
Our, our work is kind of like a,a cross of things, and.
You know, I was running thisidea by her, by her and she
said, great.
And then she started to expandon it.
You know, we were just talkingthrough some things and, and I
told her, I said, you know, I'mvery glad that I reached out to
(21:19):
you for this.
I said, I don't mind dealing.
I honestly don't mind dealingwith politics.
I just need to know what I'mdealing with.
Just let me know what I'mdealing with and I can navigate
politics.
Micromanagers.
I can't necessarily navigate.
Ah, I'm still working on thatone, but I will tell you this, I
can manage it from the outsidebetter than I can manage it from
(21:42):
the inside because of what I'velearned.
The problem is, when I am inthose situations, which I try
not to be, because I'm justreally bad with micromanagers,
my emotions get in the way.
And I try not to, and Iunderstand it's a little bit of
an ego.
It's a little bit of a powerstruggle.
I can see right through it andwhat you're trying to do,
(22:04):
especially if it's with bad, ifit's with terrible intent.
But I think I've gone off into alittle tangent here.
So I'm going to circle back whenyou figure out that you need to
navigate the politics of thesituation, there probably needs
to be a change in the policiesof how they hire.
You could be the one to helpthem to make that change if
(22:26):
you're up for it.
All right, so I'm going to wrapup and recap.
Here's some reasons why yournursing career might not be
growing.
Your resume doesn't match thejob description or career
trajectory you want to go.
You have the degree, but youhaven't.
If you have not been involved inthe work in your current role or
(22:48):
a role prior to, you're notvisible to your leaders.
You're not involved in yourprofessional organizations and
you're waiting for your leaderto do it.
I've given you some gooddirection on how you can
maneuver around those things.
Some of these things you canimplement very quickly.
Some of them, I'm just going totake a little time to develop.
(23:12):
But if you need help with any ofthis, feel free to jump on a one
on one call with me, set up aone on one call with me and we
can talk through these thingsuntil next time.
I'll see you later.
I hope you enjoyed today'sepisode.
If so, would you take 30 secondsand share it with another nurse
(23:33):
who may be unsure of where to gonext in their career or maybe
need some career clarity?
Also, please leave a quickreview for the show on Apple
podcast.
It brings me so much joy and somuch encouragement to know this
podcast is helping you.
Now go get the career you wantand not the one you settle for.
(23:55):
And I'll meet you back here nextThursday for another episode.
See you soon!
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