How to Explore a Career in Health Care

The occupational outlook for healthcare workers remains excellent for the foreseeable future. The heatlh care industry offers exciting, challenging and rewarding careers. Some positions provide flexible hours, rotating shifts or variable hours that you can schedule to suit your needs. Nearly all health care jobs require a Bachelor's degree or specialized training, such as radiology technician training. Some may require a several years post-graduate study and apprenticeship. If you're trying to determine whether or not a career in health care is for you, here's how you can explore careers in health care before committing to a degree program.

Things You'll Need

• Paper and pencil
• Newspaper or internet job board
• Resume

Instructions

1. Make a list of healthcare jobs you know about and think you might like. You may prefer hands-on work with patients in a clinical setting, or perhaps teaching or research. Are you a people person? Do you prefer courses like chemistry or biology? Is your ideal day one spent on the go, or quietly researching and writing? These questions will help reveal what most appeals to you among the many health care jobs available.

2. Check the professional associations for health care workers, such as the American Medical Association, specialty associations, nurses associations, pharmacy associations and more. Use their websites to research more careers in health career. Searching online, you may also find blogs or personal profiles written by people in the field to give you a glimpse into their daily life.

3. Try working part time in the health care field in which you're interested. Even if you cannot yet practice medicine, a position working the front desk of a busy doctor's office or clinic will help you determine if you like to be in that setting and if the work might interest you.

4. Volunteer at nursing homes, hospitals or charitable health organizations to get a real taste for the work in your chosen health care profession. Talk to others where you volunteer and ask questions about their career choice to help you further explore health care jobs.

5. Visit or call the academic department for the health care field of your choice at a college or university. Most of the teaching staff are likely to be former workers in the field of interest and will be glad to share with you why they chose their vocation. They may also give you the opportunity to meet with students who are completing their residency or clinical rounds so that you can ask questions about their jobs.