After attending primary school and graduating with a high school diploma, it is assumed that you are going to know what you want to do with your life. For some, that means going straight into the workforce and becoming fully independent. Other young adults may go to college, trying out different majors and taking classes across a number of subjects. By around 30 years of age, you are expected to be well into your career, so when this isn’t the case, you can have serious doubts. If you are going to begin the learning process all over again, the medical field is one of the best career paths you can take. Here are the top 10 reasons going into the medical field is a smart choice for student learners over 30.
- You Can Go to School Anywhere
An adult student learning to become a phlebotomist might look for a local program or one that has online classes available too. The same goes for people looking to get into medical billing and coding. The fact of the matter is that going to school after 30 is way different than it is to go to college directly after graduating high school. You just can’t drop everything and focus only on school, even if you don’t currently have full-time employment. Getting into the medical field means that you can choose schools based on your needs.
- Various Diploma Programs Are Available
Some medical careers require students to first obtain a bachelor’s degree, then go on to get their masters, PhD, or go to medical school. Then there are medical careers that only take students around 18 months to complete. Even if your goal is to one day become a doctor, it is possible for you to get into the medical career without even needing an associate’s degree. This gives you the chance to work in a career that you know you will eventually retire from. At the same time, you may find it best to go to school part-time, make more connections, and work slowly toward your long-term goals.
- Medical Careers Are Widely Available
In the United States, the medical career is expected to literally explode in the next 10 years. In fact, hospitals have already begun to ramp up recruitment efforts both locally and abroad. If you were to go to school and pursue a medical career today, you would be able to pick what city, state, and likely, what medical facility you wanted to work at. By contrast, most other fields require applicants to take what is given to them. If you are looking for as much freedom as you are job stability, consider going to school to learn a medical trade.
- Medical Jobs Are Entry Level Friendly
When competition for open positions is stiff, employers tend to shy away from applicants without a lot of experience. It can be a double-edged sword trying to get a job when you only have a degree and no experience, but this usually isn’t the case when you get into the healthcare field. New graduates from medical billing and coding programs usually can get interviews and job offers pretty quick. This program in particular looks very promising for those who want to learn medical billing and coding right away.
- The Medical Field Offers Stability
By working in the healthcare field, you can avoid the potential of facing massive layoffs or having your place of employment shut down. This is not to say that no hospitals or healthcare facilities manage to stay in business. What healthcare professionals know is that their field has guaranteed stability. In the unlikely event that you did lose your job, you could get another one right away right in the same town and at the same pay rate.
- The Ability to Make Your Own Hours
No matter what kind of job you get in the healthcare field, you can work any kind of schedule that is necessary for maintaining a good quality of life. Only available on the weekends? You can find an employer who will accommodate you. Want to work strictly while your children are at school? There are healthcare facilities who will be more than understanding about your requirements.
- Open to All Types of Employees
It can be intimidating to go back to school as a person after 30 and go into a classroom filled with nothing but teenagers. In the healthcare field, you are not going to find that. This is one of the most diverse fields there is. Men, women, young, old, you can find every type of person going to school to work in healthcare. This is because there are all kinds of medical professionals working in the industry.
- Approach the Learning Process How You Want
Regardless of how find yourself preparing to get into the healthcare field, you don’t need to be concerned about how you are going to get the education you need. Online classes make it easy for you to learn before or after work. Scheduled classes at brick and mortar schools can give you more structure as well as live help. In either case, you are going to be able to get your diploma.
- Learning New Things About Yourself
Only through the process of going back to school will you learn what your particular learning style is. Your mind might soak up new knowledge like a sponge, or you could find that you need a lot of academic support. What you will learn about yourself while you are learning a new skill and preparing for a career in healthcare is highly valuable. Patience, compassion, and problem-solving techniques are some of the other secondary skills that you can expect to pick up or improve upon as well.
- The Freedom of Choice
Most job fields don’t give workers a huge amount of choices. If you decide to go into the legal field, you will nearly certainly need to make yourself available from 9 to 5. It can be hard for pilots or flight attendants to decide what routes they want to fly or what days they schedule off, but medical professionals are different. They get to choose where in the country they want to work, what kind of medical facility to be employed at, and what schedules they want to pick up.
If you have been putting off getting into the medical field because you are 30 or over, you should reconsider what you think you know about the industry. Talk to your doctor, nurse, or even the receptionist at your physician’s office about their experience in healthcare. A few stories are all that it will take for you to get the inside scoop.
