What can I do with a nursing degree? (2024)

Nursing is a vocational degree that develops your personal skills and professionalism, which are qualities valued by many employers

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Work experience

Getting some related work experience in a clinical environment is strongly recommended if you want to work in the healthcare sector. Work experience gives you the opportunity to make important contacts, as well as increasing your knowledge of the industry.

Volunteering, internships, part-time jobs and student projects can all help to improve key skills which are looked for by employers.

Prepare by finding work as a care worker or healthcare assistant, volunteering in a hospital or with any other work experience that involves caring for others. Visiting hospitals and talking directly to nurses about the role is also helpful.

Typical employers

Opportunities can be found with the following employers:

the National Health Service (NHS)
private sector clinics and hospitals
private sector healthcare providers contracted to provide services to NHS patients
voluntary organisations
local authorities (for work in nursing and residential homes)
schools and further and higher education institutions
industry
prisons and the armed forces
private sector organisations, such as leisure cruise companies and private nursing homes.

Find out more about employers in healthcare, charity and voluntary work and other job sectors.

Skills for your CV

A degree in nursing gives you a range of professional and technical skills, including the ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team and to support and advise patients and their families. You also develop the ability to assess, analyse, monitor and evaluate the care you deliver.

In more general terms, you gain skills and personal qualities sought by employers in a range of sectors. These include:

flexibility
adaptability
empathy
organisation and time management
leadership
determination and tenacity
the ability to conduct research
problem-solving and decision-making skills.

Further study

A variety of post-registration courses are available. Graduate nurses can take Masters degrees in subjects such as advanced clinical practice and medical decision-making, as well as various other specialist subjects. You can also train to become an advanced nurse practitioner.

Some of these options will be offered by your employer as part of your post-registration education and practice (PREP) requirement. Some training may be offered through study days. Healthcare is constantly developing, and practising nurses need to keep up with technology, current issues and the changing needs of the population through ongoing training.

For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees, search postgraduate courses in nursing and discover how to write a postgraduate nursing personal statement.

What do nursing graduates do?

Two thirds of nursing graduates (66%) employed in the UK are working as nurses 15 months after graduation. Moreover, other health professionals (8%), health associate professionals (8%), caring personal services (4%), teaching and childcare associate professionals (1%), health and social services managers and directors (1%), welfare and housing associate professionals (1%) and teaching professionals (1%) are all among the top ten roles held by these graduates.

Destination	Percentage
Employed	79.3
Further study	1.2
Working and studying	12.2
Unemployed	0.7
Other	6.6

Type of work	Percentage
Health	88.5
Childcare, health and education	4
Education	3
Managers	1.8
Other	2.7

Find out what other graduates are doing after finishing their degrees in What do graduates do?

Graduate destinations data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Find out more

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