How do I become a good candidate to be a Clinical Instructor?

[Burlshoe114]

Hello!

I need advice.

I live in an area where there are several community colleges with nursing programs and I want to be a Clinical Instructor.

I have a BSN, 5 years of bedside acute care clinical experience, 1.5 years of Home Health experience, and experience teaching as a BLS instructor.

I currently teach CNA students part-time, and will be getting my ACLS Instructor card in September to teach ACLS at our central CTC. (I am not currently doing direct patient care right now, except for volunteering at our local free clinic.)

The colleges do not post openings for Clinical Instructors, but instead have open applications, and then select resumes from the application pool in August before the school year starts, or when there is a need.

What am I missing or what would be helpful to make my application stand out as a potential good candidate? I'm assuming competition is fierce, as we have a lot of nurses in the area.

I enjoy teaching, and am kicking the tires on getting my MSN in Education, but this is still a long ways off....

[JerseyBSN]

Call the school and ask if you can have a short meeting with the professor who heads up that department. It worked for me!

[jennabond]

Some states require a masters degree to teach in an RN program, even a community college. Good luck!

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

when i found myself in your shoes, i bit the big one and got into a mn program. in our state you can teach clinical, but not theory, with an mn. tenure-track faculty: doctoral level or in the process of finishing your doctorate only.

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

Don't limit yourself to community colleges. Remember trade schools and LVN schools need RN clinical instructors as well and they usually are continuously hiring.

[Cali22]

Most of the clinical instructors I have spoken with said that it's about who you know or get to know. So I think it would be a great idea to go to your potential employer and let them get to know you.