What kind of employment are you looking for as a CNA?

There are a few ways that you can use your certification as a CNA. Luckily as a CNA you have a bit of flexibility when deciding which type of employment best suits you. Often when you first start working you will want to take whatever jobs you can get in order to gain experience and increase your skill-set as a nurse assistant. As time goes on and you become more marketable, you will have even more options for your career. The most common areas to find CNA Employment are:

Skilled Nursing Facilities
Home Health Aide Agencies
Assisted Living
Local Hospitals

Becoming Employed At A Skilled Nursing Facility

Skilled Nursing Facilities are usually where CNAs begin their careers. The reason for this is that these agencies tend to hire OFTEN. The turn over rate can sometimes be a bit high in SNFs. This job requires a lot of work and also tends to be quite stressful. There are quite a few patients and only so many CNA’s to handle everyones needs. Some people enjoy this field of CNA care, and stick with it. Others use this job as a jumping off point. Once they gain their experience they then transition in to home health aide roles, or try to find jobs in hospitals.

The best way to get hired at these agencies is to perform well and cultivate relationships during your clinical hours. If you work hard and show that you have the ability to be a team player and work efficiently, the employers will often take notice. Make sure to let the facility know that you are eager to work for them, and that you will be applying as soon as you have your certification. We find that a lot of students are able to find jobs right out of school with this approach.

Pros of this Job:

Job Security
Full time employment is often available
Many offer benefits to their full time employees
Great place to develop experience and skills

Cons of this job:

Many CNAs in this field consider themselves over worked
Difficult to manage so many patients at once
High Stress

Becoming Employed At A Home Health Aide Agency

This is one of the best jobs a CNA can find themselves in. These jobs usually pay the same as a Skilled Nursing Facility pays, however in this case you have one client instead of 8-12. A lot of CNAs tend to burn out from SNFs and move on to working in the HHA field. Apply to these positions right out of school. It will take the employers time to find you a client to work with and while you wait you can work at a skilled nursing facility to gain experience.

Pros of this job:

Much less stressful then the SNF Position
One Patient instead of multiple patients
24 hour shifts are often available

Cons of this job:

Patients tend to migrate into the nursing homes after some time. You can have a patient for months to years and then they may pass away or need more intensive care. Depending on the company you work for, when you lose the client it can take time for them to find you a new position.

Working At A Local Hospital

Hospital jobs are highly sought after, and are by far the best jobs in the CNA industry. These jobs are hard to get. Most people try to get hospital jobs by checking the hospital’s website job board constantly or by turning their application into human resources. Often times this doesn’t work, and they stop trying.

TIP
If you want a hospital job you will either need to know someone who can help you get a job, or you you need to VOLUNTEER. I have seen so many people get jobs in hospitals by volunteering. By volunteering, showcasing your personality, skills, and work ethic, to the department, you will have a much better chance of getting hired when they need someone.

Pros Of Working In A Hospital

Hospitals offer per diem and full time work weeks
Hospitals will often time have incredible benefits (ie. Medical,Dental)
You will have a highly trained medical staff backing you up
Great Job Security
Hospitals often times offer higher starting pay, and raises

Cons of working in a hospital

It can be very difficult to get into this job

Working at an Assisted Living Facility

In this area of employment a CNA will be charged in assisting tenants with their daily routines. These patients are not as acute or time consuming as a patient might be in the SNF. While they do need help with many different daily living tasks, they often times will also be capable of performing a large portion of their own tasks. This really can be a great job, and can be very rewarding. Some of these facilities can and will offer benefit packages to their full time employees.