Is this career suicide?

[nurseart]

The question: I am considering spending a year teaching english in Korea. It would be an adventure, I'm young, I wonder if I would rather be a teacher, the pay is awesome. Would this tarnish my resume?

Some background: I graduated in 2008 with my BSN and took a job on an oncology floor in a large hospital. After I accepted the job, most of the nurses and some management left and things were pretty crazy/miserable. I ended up staying 6 months. (yes, only 6 months. I know.) After that, I got a non-clinical job (with my dad's company) doing patient educational material development which is focused exclusively on a small sub-specialty. It has been interesting and I have done some interesting things, including making a website for clinicians to use for teaching that currently has over 500 paid subscribers in 40 countries. I want to leave because working for a parent is really difficult.

[jjjoy, LPN]

As with many things, it depends upon you and your goals. I wasn't happy with clinical nursing and worked for a community health program for awhile, then - like you're considering - went off to teach English overseas. My experience teaching and living abroad was great. And it had its costs as well. I ended up staying more than a year and when I came back, I was starting all over again, while my peers were already building careers and families.

When I returned, it was to a time of heavy nurse recruitment and it wasn't too difficult to land an RN job even without recent experience - so I figured I should give it a go. I didn't last long in the hospital and gratefully stumbled across a job in health information. My nursing degree did help me land that job.

More clinical experience WOULD be a good thing and would make me more marketable, but I'm trying to focus on building on the areas where I am strong. I'm currently focusing on clinical information systems.

Would I go teach overseas again? Who knows?! If I didn't have those wonderful experiences, I'd like to think I'd have some other, different wonderful experiences. I wish I didn't have to choose and could try everything that looks interesting! I wish I had a crystal ball that would tell me how various choices would turn out so I didn't feel like every choice was rather a gamble.

You've got some choices. Best wishes as you navigate them.