Helping New Graduates Expand Their Range of Career Options

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

A CNO expressed frustration about a recently held meeting with nurse residents in her facility. She told the following story:

I talked with our new graduates about career planning and the wide range of opportunities available to them in nursing. Almost the whole group of 30 seemed to have already decided what they wanted to do. Their choices were very narrow – becoming a nurse practitioner or CRNA. I heard little else. Interestingly, the students who wanted to become CRNAs had not spent five minutes in an operating room, so other than salary, the decision was made with very little information. What can we do to change this trajectory?

There is something we can do as part of our residency programs. I call it a career exploration exercise. In their book Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, well-known leadership authors Chip and Dan Heath suggest that our thinking is often flawed, and we fail to consider various options. The Heaths argue that humans are hampered by four “enemies” of decision-making rooted in our unconscious behavior: narrow focus, confirmation bias, short-term emotion, and overconfidence in the outcome.  Too many of us just look at the information before us and trust our guts too much when making decisions.  We also fail to consider all of our options. The solution to better decision-making is to expand your thinking. The authors suggest using a model that they label as WRAP to improve our decisions.

The 4-Step WRAP Model

W = Widen Your Options

In our decision-making, we often turn our choices into either/or without expanding our options.  The Heaths suggest that you ask yourself, ” If I could not choose this option, what else would I do? – to avoid narrowing your options.  So, let’s use the example of a new graduate who wants to be a CRNA. What if we asked these reflective questions posed by the Heaths? If a CRNA role was not an option, what other roles in nursing might you be interested in pursuing? 

R = Reality-Test Your Assumptions

Many of us regularly consult rating sites such as Amazon, Trip Advisor, or yelp before we buy a product, use a hotel, or visit a restaurant.  Unfortunately, we don’t always test our assumptions about roles we might be interested in.  We need to seek and listen closely to dis-confirming opinions.  Allow the new graduate to do a shadowing experience with a CRNA and also recommend that they interview at least two actively working CRNAs to learn more about the role. Develop three pros for the position and three cons about the part from your interviews with those currently working in the role.

A = Attain Distance Before Deciding

Recommend that new graduates put some time between themselves and their career decision to take the short-term emotion out of it.  We can be too easily influenced by what feels familiar to us because it is what we have planned for our lives and our potential loss aversion.  If it is a critical decision, suggest asking themselves how they will feel about a possible choice in 10 minutes, in 10 months and in 10 years.

P = Prepare to be Wrong

Even when taking the three above steps, only some decisions you make will be right.  I have talked with numerous students who began an NP or a CRNA track and discovered that the role does not play to their strengths. We all need to prepare to be wrong about some of today’s decisions.

Teaching new graduates to use a process to help them make decisions is extremely helpful. We all need to pay close attention to dis-confirming information. Look for alternate ways to frame the problem.  Be prepared to act if things go unexpectedly well or poorly. The process described by the Heaths in their book doesn’t guarantee a good outcome. But it sets guardrails to keep you from falling into the common decision-making traps.

© emergingrnleader.com 2023

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