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About nursing jobs and vacancies
Nursing is a discipline that focuses on the provision of medical and clinical help, health information and patient advocacy. Together, these help individuals achieve the best level of health available to them or work in a palliative capacity to help those who are dying or have chronically-impaired health.
The nature of nursing
Working a nurse job is a truly worthy pursuit. You hold a very important position in society and your work is never trivial. You take care of people at their most vulnerable and will hold some of their most private confidences. You're present for emotionally wrought circumstances and for some of the happiest of peoples' lives; for the passing of lives and bringing in of the new.
However, despite the seriousness underpinning nursing jobs, it is a marvellous career. Beyond the main priority of healthcare provision, there are all kinds of opportunities to contribute through your nurse job. Nurses are needed for research, management, education and leadership as well as in every strand of health care so, no matter your unique flavour of interest in the nursing world, there is both room and need for you!
Where will I find nurse jobs?
As mentioned above, nursing jobs can be found in all kinds of places. Broadly speaking, nursing jobs can be found in health care centres (like hospitals), community health care centres (like GPs' surgeries), out in the community (as a health visitor or providing domiciliary care) or in care homes and nursing homes.
Just about all of these nursing jobs will allow you to work for the NHS but some areas are privately-run. As your experience grows, you can work in a consultant nursing job too; for instance, legal nurse consultants are needed in the law profession due to their specialised experience.
What sort of person enjoys a nursing job?
You will enjoy nursing jobs if you have a caring and nurturing temperament, an interest in science, accuracy and concentration and the emotional and physical resilience that is needed for a busy job with long hours.
I want to get a nursing job – how do I do that?
So, how do you get nurse jobs? It all depends on where you are in your academic or professional career. You might be at school, at college, applying for university, a graduate seeking registration, ready to start work or looking to continue your career and progress to a more challenging or diverse role.
I'm still at school or college – what subjects should I take for nurse jobs?
At school, you would do well to make your GCSE and A Level choices based on what nursing degrees want. The best courses want 5 GCSEs at A*-C including English, Maths and Science and around 3 B's or 3 C's (240 - 300 UCAS points) at A Level (usually including one science or social science subject but not General Studies or Critical Thinking).
From outside the UK, the equivalent is 31 points on your Baccalaureate, 5 B's on your Scottish Highers, 3 B's on your Scottish Advanced Highers or 6 B's on your Irish Leaving Certificate. If English is not your first language, you also need proof of an IELTS score of at least 7.0.
If you're studying at a vocational college, nurse jobs are not closed to you. Subjects and grades such as BTEC or OCR Diplomas with Merits or Distinctions, a Pass for a Foundation Degree in Health, Care or Science subject or a Pass for a minimum of 60 credits at Level 1 in Open University study are also all accepted for certain courses (not necessarily all of them!)
I need to apply for a nursing course at university – how do I do that?
To find the right course for you, you need to look around. (You can find lots of information on Nurses.co.uk in fact - click on Training above.) Consider what type of nurses jobs you want to do, if you need to live in a particular city, your financial constraints and the reputation of the universities you are looking at. You may find the NHS Careers Course Finder search engine useful for this. Once you've chosen your course, make sure you qualify for it and, if in any doubt, drop the course leader an email and have a chat!
I have my degree - how do I get registered and stay registered?
Nurse registration is provided by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and is mandatory for you to practice nurse jobs in the UK. Once you graduate, you can register online at the NMC website. To stay registered, you must accrue 450 hours of nursing practice and 35 hours of training per 3-year period.
I have another degree and want to convert it so I can work in a nurse job.
If you have a degree in a related area, you may be able to take a two-year course that converts your degree to a nursing degree. There aren't a lot of them around but they are out there, so have a dig around the internet and talk to the course leaders to check if you are eligible.
I'm qualified and registered and have experience – what kind of nurses job do I want?
The type of nurses job you get will be largely driven by the specialisation you took. Your subsequent experience will also have some impact on the jobs you are offered as these will make you more suited and your practice more tailored to certain areas. We offer job postings by specialisation and sector to make it easier for you to find exactly what you're looking for.
I want to move up the career ladder – what are my options?
There isn’t an industry with more opportunities. From carer or support role, (via qualifications and registration) you can pursue highly specialist nursing vacancies. The NHS is the UK’s largest employer, and that nursing the largest single career group within it.
What’s great, too, is that you can obtain your degree or gain specialist nursing qualifications while working and getting paid (if you’re in the NHS). Training while on the job to gain further specialist skills is a fantastic option - for instance, you can train to move into, for instance, oncology, research, practice nursing or paediatric nursing jobs. Secondments also offer nurses a great opportunity to try different branches, to broaden horizons! Challenge yourself in different nurse jobs.
You can also climb up the career ladder in terms of management: ward manager jobs, modern matron jobs, senior practitioner nurse jobs, consultant.
Once started, if you wish you can just continue specialising, learning and developing your nurse job. And as your circumstances change you can adapt your career - you can take agency jobs, investigate part time working, leave the NHS and move to the private sector.
Nursing provides so many opportunities to progress. Because it is such an essential and meaningful role, your experience and understanding will help you move into many, many roles. As mentioned above, you can go from front-line nursing into management, work as a nurse educator, change from hospital work to another area like a nursing home or go into consultant work.
Alternatively, you might want to get behind the scenes and move into research to tackle the roots of the problems you see all day. The majority of these nursing job opportunities will require post-graduate study and specialisation but experience alone may be sufficient in some cases.
Why nursing jobs are so wonderful!
Nurse jobs are valuable for several reasons.
Firstly, you get a career that is varied, meaningful and has such a variety of opportunity that you can really get your teeth into it; whether your passion is theory or practice.
Another plus to nursing is that nurses are needed everywhere! Perhaps you'd like to work in another country for your own amusement or to help people in conflict or poverty with charities, NGOs or the VSO. Your skills will make a huge difference and your experience will be notable, for sure!
Finally, you genuinely benefit humanity. The work you do will be a good thing and will really help people, your local community, the wider community and even nationally and internationally.
We hope this article has been useful to you and has got your thoughts flowing. Search our database now to get some inspiration and see what's out there. Happy job-hunting!
