Is Nursing A Good Career For Travellers?

[travelbug00]

Hello! I am a grade twelve student set to graduate in June of 2018. I am in need of advice though as I am unsure as to whether or not nursing is the career I should choose. Currently I am debating between RN and becoming a teacher. Obviously this site will be biased towards nursing but since that's the job I am leaning more towards, I figured this would be a good place to ask for help anyway.

You see, for many reasons I am leaning towards nursing- I love the idea of helping people and although the work is rewarding, it definitely is challenging. I have been told that I have a gentle demeanor and I have a genuine interest in healthcare. Obviously the pay is a nice perk to being a nurse and I'm quite honestly a fan of the idea of shift work. With nursing, at least working in a typical hospital, there is the opportunity to work overtime, that of which I appreciate too. With teaching, on the other hand, working 9-5 is kind of blah to me but summer and holidays off is wonderful. I picture myself being a teacher just as much as I do being a nurse which makes this even more challenging to decide!

Now this bring me back to my original reason for posting this. My dream is to travel so in your opinion, is nursing a better career for people who want to do so? By travelling, I mean all of these options: having time off to travel, being able to work as a travelling nurse getting a new position ever 13 weeks or so, working abroad short term (as in a year or less) and lastly, being able to migrate to another country.

With being a teacher, I know that you are free to travel during holiday breaks and during the summer vacation which is great and of course there is a need for English teachers which I want to be. But with being a nurse, I think it's easier to take time off whenever I want as long as I schedule it in early enough during the year rather than is just being on Christmas break for example.

Future travelling idea for teaching: Work in a new country like China teaching English for a year and repeat this in different places for most of my twenties. Then maybe be a substitute teacher with some school division for a few years.

Future travelling idea for nursing: working abroad in Australia is my goal as nurse then after two years, maybe go on to nursing in a country really in need. Then going back to Canada and signing up with a travel agency so I can move around working and seeing Canada at the same time.

Anyway, I hope this made a bit of sense at least. I have so many ideas that it's hard to explain them all. Essentially what I'm looking for is some advice that'll help sway me into either being a nurse or teacher. The final push I need is to know whether or not nursing is a good career if I plan on not being 'rooted' for long periods of time. I would love to experience living in a new city/ country every few months/years so what career out of nursing and teaching is better for that, do you think? Thanks so much!

[Julius Seizure]

I would love to experience living in a new city/ country every few months/years so what career out of nursing and teaching is better for that, do you think? Thanks so much!

I think nursing would be better than teaching if you plan to move every few months/years. As a teacher, you would need to stay put for at least a full school year, minimum, or your resume is going to start looking pretty undesirable. Nursing, particularly travel nursing, is a lot more flexible in terms of moving from job to job. That isn't to say that some employers still won't see your job-hopping as a negative, but I think it will be more easily forgiven in a nurse than a teacher.

As far as pay, you will probably fare better as a nurse simply because you won't have to count on getting raises and tenure based on staying at one employer. I've increased my salary with every new nursing job that I have taken, and one of them I only stayed at for nine months. I think your income will be harmed a lot more by traveling if you choose teaching.

On the other hand, I'm not sure how easy it is to work abroad in Australia as a nurse. I know that its not easy to work abroad in England, but its much easier to get 1-2 year long contracts to work in the middle east. Teaching ESL abroad might be easier than trying to work abroad as a nurse in certain parts of the world.