Here’s you, about to take the stage and graduate with your MSN degree. You’re ready to take on your new role as a nurse educator…or are you? Nursing education has evolved greatly over just the past few years due to COVID-19.

The good news is that educators are in great demand—but you worked hard to get here. You don’t want to settle for a role that isn't right for you. Here are our best tips for nurse educators on the job hunt in 2022.

Tips for new nurse educators

If you are new to education, there’s a few things that can help move you along. First up—finding a nursing mentor. School can only take you so far. You likely already know that from experiencing the difference between Nursing School Utopia and Real Life Bedside Nursing.

Mentors are the beacons who help you navigate when the waters get rough. Just like any profession, there’s a certain amount of nuanced experiences waiting for you as you begin your education career. Having a mentor by your side to guide you can take the sting and isolation out of it. 

One way to find a mentor is by networking while you are still in school. In fact, building a support system while still in school can help lead you to a job once you’ve graduated. Throughout your practicum, show up as your best self. Many times before a position is posted publicly, the same educators that are teaching you may begin to view you as colleague material. 

Consider joining nursing associations with local chapters. Immersing yourself among the people you might like to work with can lead to making connections that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Get involved—and be sure to document your involvement.

Then, when you formally begin your job hunt, you’ll have a tidy list of personal accomplishments and volunteer work to add to your resume, showcasing your dedication and eagerness for your new field.

Lastly—and this goes for all nurses, regardless of their professional station—make time for yourself. Good educators are vibrant, engaged, and curious about the world around them. The best way to cultivate these natural abilities is by keeping your cup filled.

Our brains and hearts are designed to seek connection, experience joy, and belly laugh from time to time. If you must, frame self care as a new job requirement—your future students will respond much more willingly and authentically if the educator in front of them is prepared, relaxed, and happy to be there.

Salary and lifestyle expectations

If you are considering becoming a nursing educator, there are certain hardline expectations to be knowledgeable about. One of the most important things here is salary range. Whether you are considering a career change because the bedside has burnt you out, or you are following a true passion to mold young nursing minds, you need to know whether your bills are going to get paid. 

Currently, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that post-secondary nursing educators make an average of $77,000 annually. Depending on experience and the institutional clout, the highest mean wage reported is upwards of $125,000. This link provides excellent salary information correlated to localized job opportunities in your area. 

An annual salary of $75K is comparable to bedside nursing in acute care settings. However, you may be holding onto extra debt upon graduating from your master’s program that needs to be factored in.

Other graduate-level degrees offer a far higher median wage ($114k for nurse practitioners, for example) for new grads—this is a significant gap in compensation that needs to be addressed.

The current job market is hot, hot, hot for nursing educators. The NLN reports that 3/4 of nursing schools have unfilled faculty positions; the search for qualified applicants has been a struggle.

Another sobering statistic—the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) reports that almost 100,000 prospective nursing students were denied entry to nursing school in 2020, almost entirely due to faculty shortages. Unlike other nursing graduate degree holders, you can count on finding employment straight away.

Challenges in the nurse education field

Like any nursing field, nursing education is not without its flaws. Dominating the challenges to academia — and a hardship faced by all nurses, actually — is the current nursing shortage that is predicted to worsen as baby boomers retire. That means an influx of new nurses is needed now.

Currently, a lack of qualified educators is not the only area in need of new blood—the administrators and auxiliary personnel that support nursing programs are also in high demand. 

Faculty being stretched thin directly impacts how well educators can support their students. Nursing school is hard enough; students suffer when they are denied access to their teachers.

Mentorship and building connections while in school helps prevent students at risk from falling through the cracks. With the nursing shortage, we need everyone to succeed. Nursing educators must bear this frustration.

It does seem that help is on the way though. Early in 2020, while COVID was in its warm up phase, almost 1,000 nursing schools reported an increase in enrollment  of almost 6%.

The demand for travel nurses during the height of the pandemic, and the resulting surge in bonuses and stipend increases hospitals were forced to pay to attract them, has put the nursing shortage into mainstream conversation. This exposure is key to enacting policy change.

The bottleneck in education is a perfect opportunity for nurse-led advocacy and innovation in order to reduce it. Increasing educator salaries to compete with other graduate degree roles, increasing the support staff for educators, and prioritizing realistic student-teacher ratios are three areas nurse educators have identified as needing to be improved. While we have the world’s ear, we need to keep speaking up.