Last Updated on October 20, 2023 by Lori Pace
Many parents believe that healthcare is a great industry for them to work within. However, progressing in your healthcare careers as a single mom is notoriously difficult, especially since your priority will always be your child. However, that does not mean that progressing in your medical career is impossible. Instead, there are many steps to take that will allow you to advance your healthcare career as a single mother, and here are just some of them.
Take a Qualification To Prepare for Single Mom Healthcare Careers
If you had to put your healthcare career on pause for maternity leave and the need to be there for your child, you might now feel as if you are out of the loop. You may have missed out on many of the developments that have taken place within the medical industry. You may also not want to return to the same position you held before your child was born, and you may want to fast-track your progression so that you are a few steps closer to your dream job. If that is the case, you should consider taking another medical qualification.
For instance, if you previously worked in nursing, you may decide that you want to study on an RN to NP online course that will allow you to get to where you want to go. Maternity leave is, surprisingly, often the best time to take another degree since the advent of online qualifications. This is because online qualifications allow you to study for the course you need to take from the comfort of your home and while your child is at daycare or sleeping. Then, you should consider whether taking another medical qualification may help to give you the confidence that you need to leap back into the healthcare career that you love or get a career in another part of the healthcare industry.
Your direct experience as a mother can also help you transition into other healthcare sectors or units, such as the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Candidates will need a specific NICU nurse resume to apply successfully.
Return to Work
It is always difficult to decide when you and your child are ready for you to return to work, and returning to work comes with its own problems, such as guilt and the cost of daycare for your child. Not only this but heading back to work in the healthcare industry can be difficult due to the long and irregular shift patterns, which childcare facilities may not accommodate for. However, your career progression can only really start when you return to work, whether you choose to work within the same role as you did previously or in a new one altogether.
By returning to work, you will be ensuring that you can start making money and learning new skills and knowledge, and this will also put you in line for promotions and leadership opportunities. This is especially important in the healthcare industry as treatments and medical technology are developing all the time. If you are out of the workplace for too long, you may find that you are reluctant to return or that the transition between being a full-time mother and being a working mother is overwhelming.
However, before you return to work, you should keep in contact with your boss and visit your workplace a few times. You may also decide to go back to work on a part-time basis at first. This will then allow you to acclimatize back to your workplace and ensure that your return to work and the change in routine do not come as a big surprise to you and your child.
Work from Home As A Single Mom in Healthcare Careers is Possible
Another option to progress in your medical career when you are a single mom is to work from home. Although you might not associate working from home with healthcare, medical transcription, billing, and technician jobs can often be carried out from the comfort of your home. You may even find that these jobs suit you better. There are even some medical jobs that you can perform freelance, such as medical writers and translators. This will give you the flexibility that you crave as someone who needs to work in school runs and childcare to their schedule.
One of the benefits of working from home is that you will be able to keep an eye on your child and know that they are safe while you are working, without having to pay out for a babysitter unless you are desperate for some peace and quiet so that you can concentrate. Working from home can allow you to get the independence that you desire by working every day. Still, it will enable you to juggle this with childcare and your new responsibilities effectively. However, to do a good job when you are working from home, you will need certain equipment, such as a laptop and a desk.
Harness Your Connections to Prepare for Single Mom Healthcare Careers
Your connections will not have vanished just because you are now a single mother, and now is the time to harness the results of years of networking and the professional community that you have built around you. By speaking to other professionals about the job opportunities that are around and what their advice would be for you and your progression, you may be able to find out information about opportunities that you would not have known about otherwise. You may also learn about opportunities for progression in the medical industry by speaking with other professional moms and joining niche networking groups. This will also allow you to chat with and get support from people who are in the same boat as you.
Do Research Online
If you have a few hours to kill while your child naps, you should use this time to conduct online research. All of the information that you might need can be found online, and most of this information is free. Accessing this information can ensure that you do not remain down in the dumps about your healthcare career for long. Conducting ample research about the medical industry will ensure that you remain in the know about the types of opportunities that are available within it and how to get them now you are searching for ways to take your career by the reins again. It would help if you looked at job websites such as Indeed to see what openings are available around you.
You should also consider looking at careers pages where you can see the details about each potential career and what you will need to do to climb further up your career ladder. Once you have done this, you will be able to make an action plan that will ensure that you always aim toward your career goals, even with a child in tow.
