Career(s) Resources for Health and Care Professionals
Do we have a single career? Or do we have multiple careers perhaps?
This might feel like a slightly silly question, but we’d like to challenge you for a moment to think: is my career singular or the plural careers? Is it just the one? Or do all my experiences accumulate to distinct, separate careers strung together by my experience? Is your next step a continuation or a change of direction or somehow both at the same time?
The words you choose to describe your career can be indicative of how you think and feel about your next steps.
We hope the resources below are helpful.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research has an excellent Introduction to health and care research | NIHR. Their Play your path in research game deserves a special mention as it’s a fun decision tree that signposts to helpful resources. Their website offers support by profession tailored to different health and care professions.
NIHR offers support throughout the clinical researcher pathway, as detailed in the image below. The Health Care Professional Internship and the INSIGHT Programme as explained on this website are in NIHR’s “Initial experience” category.
Check out NHS Health Careers for additional resources about Clinical academic and research careers .
Being research active can be integrated into any health and care professional’s role at any and every phase of their career. The question is how much research do you incorporate? Do you stay on top of current research as a clinician. Participate actively part time in research as a practitioner or perhaps pursue a career as a full-time researcher?
In the NHS Scope for Growth Framework pursuing a career as a researcher could be considered a choice for Depth and deepening one’s chosen specialism. Depth can also be done in practice without pursuing a full research career. Other career options highlighted here could be creating breadth by building your career beyond a single specialism out into other areas. Choosing for stretch/ complexity aims to move to roles of greater complexity and leadership impact.
NHS Scope for Growth Framework
At every stage your career it is often really important to explore what’s out there and find what sparks your interest. So if you have no idea right now what might be next, that’s absolutely fine! For future please keep in mind that there are all loads of ways to expand, deepen, widen, further and take next steps, when you’re ready!
In person career support
Through your university you also have access to Career Professionals and a Career Website. Most universities offer access to recent graduates/ alumni for many years post graduation. If in doubt about your options, it can be really helpful to discuss your options with a trained Career Development Professional and use (digital) tools to reflect on your skills and values.
- Careers drop-ins and appointments – Career development | UWE Bristol
- CareersBU | Bournemouth University
Remember, your lecturers are also researchers. Perhaps something they said or the way they taught about a particular topic resonated with you. Ask them whether you can book an appointment to understand their research better and whether there might be space for you to take some first steps into research.
If you are working with a supportive manager you might like to speak to them about your career options. Perhaps using some of the Scope for Growth resources linked above.
Sometimes your organisation may have qualified internal coaches or coaching through the Occupational Health Service to discuss your options. Search your internal staff intranet for “Occupational Health” or “coaching” and reach out to your HR / People team.
For more information, please use the drop downs above to navigate to SW Central’s Resources.