Advice on what to write for "Describe your career plans for the next 5 years".

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · Apr 11, 2009

I don't know you, so how can I tell you what to write for " Where you will be for the next five years" ?

I'm sorry, but this is one of those things that you just have to figure out on your own. Maybe you can show us what you have so far and we can proof read it for you...

Good luck and take care.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2009

employers look for people who have:

initiative - autonomy
dynamism - energy
positive outlook
responsibility
orientation to the client and co-workers (ability to provide customer service)
learning capacity
productivity
high adaptability - flexibility
leadership
team work
tolerance to pressure
analytic ability
professional development

i interviewed and hired a lot of new grads and nurses. i also did a lot of yearly evaluations on which goals had to be written for the next year's evaluation (you are never going to get away from having to write personal goals on these things-ha! ha!). the following goals would be appropriate for a student nurse:

(1) complete your program of nursing
(2) become employed after graduation. mention the kind of nursing you want to specialize in.
(3) in your first year or two after graduation you plan on honing the skills you learned in school. after that you plan to focus on specializing more seriously in that field you mentioned above. you would like to become a certified nurse in that field and will be joining the national association of nurses for this specialty. see http://www.discovernursing.com/nursing-careers for the list of nursing specialties and the links to the national association connected with that specialty. you see yourself eventually being a role model and leader for other new nurses who want to go into the same kind of nursing, how to do take care of these patients and how they can also become specialized in this area of nursing.

notthereyet0 · Apr 11, 2009

Daytonite, I love your responses because they always seem to put things into perspective. Thank you very much!! :yeah:

86toronado, BSN, RN · Apr 12, 2009

If I were finishing NS next summer, my 5 year career plan would look like this:

Year one: finish nursing school, work as a nursing assistant at XYZ hospital to gain experience, and get an idea of what I would like to specialize in.

Year two: pass NCLEX, start working as an RN on a med-surg floor, gain some competence, perhaps get my ACLS if I plan on doing adult nursing, or PALS if Pediatric is where I want to end up.

Year three: Continue to improve competency in Med-surg skills, perhaps start to fill in as needed on specialty floor of my choice to see if it will be a good fit. Apply for BSN program.

Year four: Apply for job opening on specialty floor. Begin BSN program.

Year five: Complete BSN program. Start thinking about board certification in specialty (CCRN, CNRN, etc.)

That's pretty close to what I put when I had to do the same question for a mock job interview. Hope it helps!

luvschoolnursing, LPN · Apr 12, 2009

I HATE those kinds of questions. When I first started nursing, my goal was to keep my foot in the door while working as little as possible to pay the bills so I could focus on raising my kids. Try putting THAT on an evaluation as a goal! Now that my kids are older I have my BSN and certification in my specialty, I do have more career oriented goals, but that does not mean I was a BAD nurse while my kids were younger, just that I wasn't entirely career focused. For that matter, my career will never have top priority in my life. Sorry for the unhelpful rant, it's just that I had to endure so many evalutions where I had to make up goals to keep management happy. You might as well get used to it.