The start of a new year is a time to traditionally wipe the slate clean and start afresh. It’s a great opportunity to take stock of your current situation and decide which areas of your life need to be worked on, whether that’s in your career or your wellbeing. In fact, 54% of the UK population will set a New Year’s resolution in 2022.
Below are some suggestions from MSI for New Year’s resolutions that could help benefit agency healthcare workers.
Set yourself goals
To really make the most of 2022, you need to give yourself objectives to work towards and achieve. Ideally, they will be SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and with a set timeframe). These goals could be anything from boosting your income to achieving a better work life balance.
Once you have your goals in mind, you can work on a plan to achieve them.
Update your personal profile
Ideally, you want to start 2022 with an up to date record of all your assignments and positions from the previous year. If you haven’t got this together already, it’s definitely worth spending some time getting it together – you’ll need it for revalidation and it could be useful for future career choices and for tax purposes.
In addition, make sure you have a record of any training you’ve completed in the past year and file away certificates. You could also spend some time making sure your current CV and LinkedIn profile are up to date and match.
Assess your career opportunities
Post-pandemic, many nurses are considering changing directions in their career. In fact, a recent survey from the Nursing Standard suggests around half of all nurses are considering a job change. For many, the pandemic has given them an insight into working in different places and in different ways; opening up new possibilities they may not have previously considered.
The new year is a great time to think about your long term priorities and consider whether a new direction is the way to go. For example, you could choose to move into a more specialised role, such as a theatre nurse, mental health nurse or health visitor. Alternatively, you might want to shift to a different setting, such as primary care or the private sector. You may even decide that now is the time to take the leap from just picking up a few extra shifts into full-time agency nursing.
Book in some training
You need to keep your skills up to date for revalidation, but choosing to do some extra training is also a great way to make yourself more attractive to potential employers, stand out from the crowd and open up new career opportunities.
Here are some resources to look for suitable training courses:
Look after your wellbeing
Nurses are under more pressure than ever at work and it’s never been more important to look after your own mental and physical health.
This year, why not resolve to drink more water, get enough sleep, take regular toilet breaks and look for more opportunities to relax. And if you’re not feeling well, make sure you take yourself to a doctor as soon as you can.
Read our blog on how nurses can take care of their mental health for more tips.
For more advice, check out our articles on 4 easy ways to boost your agency nursing career and why agency nursing could be your next career move.
