US – Healthcare leads in flex job opportunities

(Guess Post by Audrey Clark)  – The healthcare industry offers more flexible jobs than any other industry, according to Flex jobs, a leading online career site. Available positions range from the obvious, like registered nurses and aides, to the not so obvious, like pharmaceutical sales and medical equipment repair. Employers in the medical industry embrace part time, flex time, work from home, and shared work programs of all kinds. Online job boards list hundreds of jobs in nearly every category.

In addition to working full time shifts at a hospital or other health care facility, an increasing number of nurses work as “floats” or as part of either contracted or “in-house” registries. Most hospitals require nurses and other caregivers to rotate shifts.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 20% of nurses work part time. Other benefits include the opportunity to develop their own schedules and they can “float” to different floors. The downside to working as a float is they typically do not receive benefits and they often get the “toughest assignments” wherever they go.

There are also many flexible positions outside the hospital. Nurses and aides provide home care, serve as traveling nurses, and remote clinicians. And because you can get a job as an nurse without your Bachelor’s degree, many nurses may want to work part time as an LPN while pursuing further education.

Physicians also often work part time flexible positions in urgent care centers, clinics, assisted living centers and more. The Association of American Medical Colleges claims that more physicians than ever are choosing part time work. In physician surveys, doctors state they enjoy working part time and like flexible schedules. Until recently, doctors were discouraged from working part time, but this is changing.

Other medical professionals, such as dentists and pharmacists, are beginning to enjoy flexible schedules. Most dentists work 35 hours a week over an average of five days and many are working only three or four day work weeks. Job sharing is also a popular part time work strategy amongst pharmacists and other licensed professionals.

Psychologists and social workers also set their own schedules, work share and work for multiple agencies at the same time. Many professionals prefer multiple part time positions rather than a single full time position.

A full list of all the flexible job opportunities in health care includes nearly every position in the field. Here are some of the most mentioned types on the various online job sites:

• Nurses of all kinds
• Nurse’s aides both in hospital and home care
• Physical Therapists
• Dental Hygienist
• Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners
• Phlebotomists
• Veterinarians
• Laboratory and Other Technicians
• Dietitians and Nutritionists
• Medical Equipment Sales and Repair
• Pharmaceutical Sales and Service
• Social Workers
• Medical Secretaries
• Medical Transcriptionists
• Opticians and Ophthalmologists
• Chiropractors
• Assistants and Administrators of All Kinds
• Paramedics
• Mental Health and Other Counselors

It is clear that flexible positions in health care are more prevalent than ever before, and the trend moving toward is finding more ways to make it easier to enter these fields, and to accommodate the schedules of those looking to be a part of the industry.

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