How do I get noticed?

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

Dear Nurse Beth,

I own my own business, I'm a NICU nurse, and have my MSN in nursing administration and MBA. How do I get noticed and lock down a job?

Dear How do I get noticed?

Without knowing what kind of job you want to land, I'm assuming you are working as staff and with your credentials, want to advance to a leadership position.

Getting your MSN is a very good step, but it's just one step in being promoted. Advancing your career is a function of both being prepared and opportunity.

Does your manager know you are looking for a leadership position? Have you applied for a Charge Nurse role or other leadership role?

Right now it sounds like your light is under a bushel. Getting noticed is active, not passive. You need a plan. We make our own destinies.

Get involved in your Shared Governance or Unit-based Council. Involve yourself on whatever Performance Improvement activity your unit is working on.

You can also get involved on a community level by joining the local chapter of your professional organization. Focus on increasing and nurturing your network, because job opportunities often come from people you know.

Read Why you need an elevator speech  so you can be prepared when opportunity presents.

Best wishes,

Nurse Beth

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I will add that part of "getting noticed" for leadership comes in behaving like a leader before you are one yet. There are quite a few nurses in my department that are hankering for leadership positions, have advanced their degrees and apply for every single one that comes open for which they might be qualified. They are repeatedly interviewed and they repeatedly fail to get the job, by a large margin. Why? They have one or more of the following behaviors on an every day basis:

• Gossiping/drama stirring/mean girl nonsense.
• Avoiding hard assignments/laziness.
• Being "me first" rather than "team first"
• Being negative, not genuine, generally unfriendly or unpleasant to work with (ie: complaining, being loud, being aggressive, lacking in tact, unable to back up management)
• Unwilling to be accountable.
• Never volunteer for soft leadership opportunities

There is a lot more to getting promoted than just having the credentials and the right opportunity. You have to be a person that others in the organization can envision in the new role. I am astounded how many people don't seem to recognize this, so I thought I would bring it up here.