Ep 7: What Nurses Need Beyond Experience

In this solo episode of My Nurse Specialty, I speak directly to nurses who have been told to “just get experience” but still feel unsure, overwhelmed, or stuck. Because experience matters, but experience alone is not enough when you do not have direction, support, or a strategy for what comes next.

I talk about how to look at your experience more intentionally, recognize the skills you have already built, and stop seeing every pivot as starting over. This episode is a reminder that changing direction in nursing is not failure. It can be a smart, strategic move.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• Why experience alone is not a full career plan.
• How to reframe your transferable nursing skills.
• Why pivoting can be a wise next step.

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Transcript

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Welcome back to Minor Specialty. I'm Rebecca. And if you are a nurse who has ever been told to just get experience, but deep down you still feel unsure, overwhelmed, or stuck, this episode is for you. Welcome to Minor Specialty, a podcast for nurses who want a clearer view of what's possible in this profession. I'm Rebecca, a registered nurse, nurse career strategist, and someone who has spent decades working across different nursing roles. Nursing School teaches us how to pass boards, but when it comes to careers, most of us are introduced to only a handful of specialties. It just depends on who you talk to after you get out of school or while you're in school. And then we're expected to figure out the rest on our own. That lack of awareness is where confusion and misalignment begin. This podcast exists to expand that awareness. Throughout this podcast, you'll explore nursing specialties, some you've likely heard of, and some you may not even know exist. Along with the insight and help you understand what's best for your career at any stage. This is my nurse specialty: real nursing, real stories, and real possibilities. I want to talk directly to you today. Because maybe you are in your first job and you are wondering why this feels so much harder than you expected. Or maybe you are trying to push through because everyone keeps telling you, this is just what nursing is. And maybe you're already thinking about another specialty, but you're scared that wanting something different means that you're failing. Or maybe life has changed, and now the role that once fit you no longer fits the season you are in. If any of that sounds like you, I want you to know that you are not alone. One of the most common things nurses hear is this. Just get experience. And while experience does matter, experience by itself, it's not a career plan. And that advice is actually incomplete. Because you can work hard, stay busy, get that experience, and still feel unclear. You can be gaining experience and still not know if you are in the right environment. You could be doing everything right and still know that this isn't where you want to be, and that something is off. And that does not automatically mean that something is wrong with you. And a lot of times what is missing is definitely not the effort. So what is missing? What is missing is direction, what is missing is support, and what is missing is the strategy. Nursing school teaches you how to become a nurse. It does not always teach you how to build a nursing career. And those are two different things. Of course, you learn how to assess, you learn how to prioritize, you learn how to think clinically, you learn how to protect patient safety, and you're getting all that experience in doing all those things. But if it comes to choosing a path, understanding specialties, knowing what kind of environment brings out your best, or figuring out what to do when your first role does not feel right, many nurses are left to figure that out all on their own. So if you have ever asked yourself, did I choose the wrong job? Should I stay longer? Should I leave? What if I leave too soon? What if I stay too long? What if I move and no one sees the value in what I have already done? Like, you're starting over. Those are real questions, and they deserve more than random advice. I know this matters because I lived it. And as a career coach, I experience this with nurses all the time. I personally have pivoted a few times in my own nursing career before I found the right fit. And then I pivoted a few more times when things changed in my life. And what I learned is this a nursing career is not always one straight line. Sometimes you grow. Sometimes your priorities change. Sometimes your life outside of work changes. Sometimes your energy changes. Sometimes what you wanted at one stage of your life is not what you want now. And sometimes the specialty's right, but maybe that environment isn't right. Whether it might have been right at the beginning, but sometimes management changes and it's not right anymore. Or not even management, the staff. But whatever's happening, it's not fitting and you want to move. And that is not failure. That's actually the beauty of this career. I always say that being a nurse is part of being in a unique club because no one outside of being a nurse can get into the specialties and the career areas that you can get into. But you can get into a lot of the careers that they're in. Nursing can give you options across different settings, schedules, patient populations, and ways of working. At one stage of life, you may want a role that gives you movement, variety, travel, or a certain pace. At another stage, you might want something more stable, something predictable, or something that keeps you closer to home, or even at home. Maybe early in your life you had freedom to travel, take on demanding schedules, or chase a certain kind of experience. And later responsibilities shifted. Families needs may change. Your body may need something different. Your priorities may look different. Or maybe a life circumstance forces you to stop and ask, what works for me now? That is a very real question in nursing. And the answer is not to panic. The answer is to look strategically at what you have already built. Because you have built something and ask, what skills have I developed here? What strengths have I proven here? What parts of this role do I want to carry forward? Or even can I carry forward? And what do I want more of now? What do I want less of now? And where could these skills transfer next? Because your experience still matters, but it needs to be looked at strategically. Not all experience speaks for itself. Sometimes you need help pulling out those transferable skills inside the experience you already have. And maybe you've learned how to prioritize quickly, communicate under pressure, educate patients and families, coordinate care, spot supple changes, advocate, manage competing demands, document clearly, and build trust fast. I rattled off some experiences that you might have related to. And those matter. And they're transferable. And they're not small things. They're very valuable nursing skills. But if you want to move into another specialty, another setting, or another season of your career, those skills probably need to be reframed in a way that clearly shows where they transfer. Reframing skills. That's something, right? And that's where strategy matters. Because the question is not only do I have experience, the question is, how do I use the experience? I have in a way that helps me move from where I want to go next. That's a different conversation. And that is why I push back on the idea that nurses should just keep collecting experience without reflection. Because experience without reflection is going to keep you stuck. Experience without strategy can make you feel like you're starting over every time. And that's what I hear from nurses. I don't want to start over. Experience without direction can leave you exhausted and confused, especially if you're trying to pivot and do not know how to connect the dots. But when you learn how to look at your skills strategically, your experience becomes useful in a much more powerful way. You stop saying, Oh, I only worked here. You start saying, here is what I know how to do, here is what I have built, and here is how it applies somewhere else. Yeah, you're gonna be in a new specialty, and yeah, there's gonna be a little bit of a learning curve. But you are starting with skills, and that shift matters. And I also want to say this clearly pivoting is not something to be ashamed of. You may pivot a few times in your nursing career. That does not mean you are flaky, that does not mean you cannot commit. That does not mean you chose wrong forever. It may mean you are just paying attention and you are growing, and you are responding to the season of life you are in. Honestly, because you can, it can mean that you are learning more about yourself and making smarter moves because of it. This is not weakness, that is wisdom. So if you are a nurse listening today and wondering, how do I change? How do I move? How do I shift now? How do I carry my experience into another specialty without feeling like I'm throwing everything away? I want you to hear this. You do not need to erase your past experience. You need to assess it, you need to translate it, and you need to look at it strategically, and you need to connect it to where you want to go next. That is exactly the kind of work I care about. So, this podcast is here to expand your awareness of what is possible in nursing. It is here to help you hear real stories, see different paths, and realize there is more than one way to build a meaningful nursing career. And if you want support beyond awareness, if you want help looking at your own path, your own skills, your own next move, that is the work I do in my strategy sessions. In a strategy session, we can look at what is happening in your current role, what is no longer fitting, what skills you already have, how the schools may transfer, and what your next step could look like based on your real life, not someone else's advice. Because sometimes you do not need more pressure, you need a plan. If that sounds like you need something you need, you can book a strategy session with me through the link in my show notes, on my website, or the link in my profile, because you don't have to figure this out alone. You do not have to stay stuck in confusion, and you do not have to assume that one job, one season, or one hard experience defines your whole nursing career. A nursing license give you option. Strategy helps you use them. Thank you for being here with me today. And if this episode spoke to you, share it with another nurse who may need to hear it. I'll see you in the next episode. We'll be looking at a new specialty. Till then, keep exploring all your options. Thank you for listening to my nurse specialty. I hope what you heard today gave you real insight into this specialty and helped you see what's possible for your nursing path. If you're watching this on YouTube, please subscribe. And if you're listening on audio, follow the show so you don't miss what's next. If you know a nurse or even a student nurse who's learning about their next steps, tell them about the show or send them this episode. And tell me, what specialty should we feature next? If you're a nurse in a unique specialty that you'd love to share, apply to be a guest on my website. I'm Coach Rebecca. Until next time, keep exploring.