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Discussion

Finding your niche

Have you found your niche in nursing? If so, how? Did you stumble blindly into it or actively seek it out knowing you'd be great at it? How many job changes did it take you to find "the one".

Still searching for mine. Tell me your story!

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    I found my clinical specialty as a student -- by paying attention to how I felt about the different types of nursing I was exposed to and seeking out a variety of types of experiences.

    After that, I determined that a career is not about finding one "perfect job" that wil last a lifetime, but rather, it is a process of building on my foundation and working in a variety of jobs that fit my life at each stage of life. As conditions changed in each workplace -- and my needs/preferences changed over time -- I took a variety of jobs, each building on my previous experience and on-going education. I stopped seeking "magical perfection" in a job and started focusing on living a good, happy life in a real world in which both working conditions and my need change.

    You'll be a happier person when you realize that there is a "one" for the rest of your life -- and start making the most of the life that you have. You will find "good ones" when you let go of the fantasy that there is only one perfect one -- and that have to find that one perfect one to be happy. (We're not talking mates here, we're talking jobs.)

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    I don't believe in a specific "niche" because what you want to get out of life changes with you.

    I was simply looking for an escape route out of my med-surg job. I started applying for OR positions because there is no call bell in OR. Since HR was only hiring internally for OR, they offered me ICU. I had never thought about ICU, but why not? Sixteen years later, I am satisfied. When the kids are grown and maybe I feel like full time work again, perhaps I might give OR another try.

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    I've had more than one niche over the last thirty years. For a time it was psych; then it was meds; then it was hospice; then it was the ED; then it was outpatient oncology. Had health issues not intervened, I would most likely have stayed in outpatient oncology until retirement.

    I couldn't imagine staying in one specialty forever. Nursing is a good career choice for those of us whose interests change over the years.

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