How Shadowing Can Help in Your Search for a Nursing Job


You have completed your education and worked your first couple of nursing jobs. Now you are ready to think about establishing a career. The problem is that you stare at a long list of registered nurse jobs and have no idea what you really want to do with your life. Where do you go from here? You might try shadowing.

The medical profession is somewhat unique in that it tends to offer shadowing opportunities to budding professionals. A lot of other industries do not. If you are not familiar with the principal, shadowing is nothing more than observing industry professionals in their jobs over the course of a few days. It is an opportunity to see what people already established in their careers do on a day-to-day basis.

Shadowing Nurses in Syracuse

Syracuse, NY is a fantastic city for anyone looking to get a solid healthcare or medical education. Syracuse University’s pre-med program is one of the best in the country. That aside, an organization known as Hematology-Oncology Associates of Central New York (HOA) is now offering a shadowing program for up-and-coming nurses.

The program gives nurses the opportunity to shadow other professionals for up to twenty-one working hours spread out over three days. Young nurses get a real-world look into what it is like to work with cancer patients. It is an opportunity that cannot be simulated in a classroom.

Valid Reasons to Try Shadowing

Shadowing offers both established nurses and nursing school students invaluable opportunities to really understand their many career choices. It is not something to look down on. Wanting to shadow other nurses doesn’t make you indecisive or unable to determine your own path. Quite to the contrary, a willingness to shadow demonstrates the wisdom of knowing that you don’t have all the answers.

There are very valid reasons for taking advantage of shadowing opportunities, even while you’re looking for registered nurse jobs:

1. You Gain Experience

Experience is a valuable commodity in healthcare. Even three days of shadowing experience can do a lot for your resume. It tells employers that you have taken a good look at the career choice in question and have determined you want to pursue it. That gives you an advantage over other nursing candidates who are looking for anything they can find.

2. You Experience Different Environments

Shadowing not only exposes you to different types of jobs, but it also allows you to experience different environments. The environment in a primary care office is vastly different from what you’ll find in the oncology department. Those different environments will remain a mystery to you if you don’t take opportunities to be exposed to them.

3. You Get to Know Yourself Better

The most important benefit of shadowing is arguably the opportunity to get to know yourself better. You may think you are ideally suited for one type of job but, through shadowing, discover otherwise. You may learn that you really aren’t a good fit for the emergency room. Instead, palliative care is your true calling.

There Is No Substitute

There really is no substitute for shadowing in the healthcare field. Healthcare involves more than a hundred different specialties. Within those specialties are thousands of different job types and environments. Shadowing represents an opportunity to observe a particular career choice before going down that road.

In your search for registered nurse jobs, keep an eye out for shadowing opportunities. If you ever get a chance to shadow an established nurse, take advantage of it. You will gain some invaluable experience, see firsthand what the job entails, and even learn a bit about yourself.


Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.