I'm a Nurse Who Can't Find a Job, so I Became a Realtor. Here's Why It Makes Sense

Yesterday afternoon, after 18 years out of school, I took a timed and proctored exam that made my palms sweat and my heart pound. Sure, I had passed the NCLEX at 22 years old, fresh out of nursing school and with my newborn baby by my side, but this exam felt different.

I am much older (almost 40!), and the process of preparing for an exam, studying, and being tested on 125 questions for material that was previously completely foreign to me felt excruciatingly hard. I immediately felt bad for my children, who are forced to take tests weekly because exams are so not fun.

So why was I willing to inflict this particular form of torture on myself? 

Well, I decided to try my hand at becoming a realtor. Yes, I have a nursing degree, and yes, it might sound a little strange. But I have my reasons, I promise. 

I'm Struggling to Find a Nursing Job

I decided to pursue real estate for a few different reasons, but primarily because several months ago, I lost the majority of my income. I worked as a health writer for over 10 years, and like many people, my job was affected by AI, and I've had trouble replacing that work. 

I am an RN who worked clinically at the start of my career before transitioning into writing, and I've always kept my license active. So as my work dried up, I naturally have been looking for a nursing job to replace my income. But it's been a lot harder to find a job than I thought it would be.

I was always told that once you have your nursing degree, you're pretty much set. "You'll always have a job!" we hear. And I'm finding out that that might be true, with some caveats. For instance, I live in a very rural area, so my hospital selection is very limited. My local hospital, for instance, has had several months without any RN openings at all, which I did not expect. And the roles that I have been able to find have been challenging ones. The majority are on units I don't necessarily feel comfortable with, like Behavioral Health or Telemetry, with strict every-other-weekend requirements, and primarily night shift. 

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After so many years out of clinical work and at the age of 40 with five children who are in the thick of the busy season of life and sports, starting over on a challenging unit on night shift and missing so much feels incredibly daunting. 

Yes, I'm Being Picky

All that to say, yes, to some extent, I am being "picky" about choosing a nursing role. I could, in theory, find a full-time job in nursing relatively soon if I really wanted to, but the pickings are slimmer than I anticipated and would come with a lot of trade-offs for my health, family life, and potentially my mental health.

Before I returned to the hospital, I wanted to explore another route that would match my priorities of flexibility, high earning potential, and being there for all of my kids' events.

The answer? Real estate.

It might sound like a leap, and it's a leap that so far has been more like me jumping over a puddle, so I can't tell you for certain that it's going to work, but when you think about it, making a transition from nursing to working as a real estate agent does make a lot of sense. 

Nurses are The Ultimate Adaptors

When you think about it, nurses are the ultimate at adapting. Patient walks in off the elevator in full labor? Instant pivot. You're walking by, and a family member runs you down for help for Grandpa crashing in room 7? On it. You stop in a room to drop off some water and realize the entire bed needs to be changed? Another day on the job. 

My point is, nursing is all about adapting, prioritizing, and shifting with the needs of our patients, so it only makes sense that we could also be good at doing those exact same things for ourselves in our careers.

That might not look like real estate, but it does help to consider that if you have the sudden desire or interest to completely pivot your career, it makes perfect sense with a background in nursing. Nurses, by default, adapt!

Nurses are People People

Nursing is a highly specialized clinical role, but at the end of the day, our role is with people. Caring for people, talking to people, listening to people, learning what their needs are, and meeting those needs. Ultimately, isn't that what one could say about real estate as well?

At the end of the day, people-focused roles are very similar at their core, and I would make the argument that nurses have learned to be the ultimate professionals and experts in communication and intuition, two skills I imagine are highly valuable in the real estate world. 

Many nurses are caring, compassionate, and empathetic, and in many ways, real estate involves those skills more than how much jargon about a house you can list. 

Both roles prioritize meeting the needs of the people, even though the end goals might be vastly different. 

Nurses Have the Skills to Work for Themselves

 

The standard statistic about real estate agents says that 87% of new real estate agents will leave the industry within the first few years of starting out. That statistic makes sense: real estate has a relatively low entry threshold (I took a 40-hour prep class, took one test, and paid around $500 total for the course and exam), and it's a job that you could literally work 100 hours per week on with no pay. Inevitably, that will lead to a lot of people walking away. 

One of the reasons so many struggle with real estate is that it's largely a job that you do on your own and requires discipline and skills to make your own schedule. There's no one telling you when to clock in and out, or giving you a list of what you need to accomplish that day. For some people, that's very hard. In many ways, it's the complete opposite of nursing, which is very structured and allows you to literally clock out at the end of the day.

But on the other hand, for some nursing personalities, that type of job makes a lot of sense. Nursing can be a very independent role, when you're deciding what to tackle each shift, what to prioritize, and how to approach each task. 

Other Reasons Real Estate Can Be Great with Nursing

 

Last but not least, before I made the leap myself, I dug into my favorite research platform, Reddit, and read about other people's thoughts on transitioning from nursing to real estate, or even blending the two. I soon learned I was not completely crazy for considering it, and there were other perks of combining the two careers I hadn't thought of, such as:

• Nurses are great networkers. Especially if you've been a nurse for a long time, you probably know a lot of people, from coworkers to patients to colleagues. Hello, Dr. So and So, with the two-million-dollar house?
• Shift work can make both possible. Some nurses on Reddit even said they do both—the shift and part-time work of nursing allows them to keep roles, and enjoy the best of both worlds!
• Nursing can give you stability as you get started. Again, real estate can be a tough gig to break into because you have no guaranteed income to start. Nursing can give you a cushion, either if you save up before you start, or work on the side as you build up your real estate business. 
• Nursing makes you instantly more trustworthy. Nursing is the most trusted profession, so that helps give you instant credibility as a realtor. 
• Wild hours. Realtors work basically 24/7, including nights, weekends, and every time in between, and for some people, that reality would be challenging. But for nurses? Piece of cake. If you have had your hand in someone's bodily orifice at 2 AM, you can handle sending an email on a weekend, you know what I'm saying? 

The Bottom Line

Now, don't take this article as my manifesto that all nurses should become real estate agents. I'm not even 100% sure I will make this my new life path. (Although I did pass my exam on my first try, and I'm very proud of myself!)

But I do want you to consider that if you're a nurse who is feeling stuck or looking for a change, to realize that the skills, experience, and talent you have as a nurse are transferable to a lot of other life paths. Just because you put in the work of nursing school and the NCLEX and have the student debt doesn't mean you're "stuck" or "should" stay working as a nurse.

There are a lot of options, and while the nursing roles may be more limited than we were told, the adage is technically true: you'll always have a job in some capacity, so it is okay to try different things!

Now, who's got a house they're looking to sell? 

🤔 Nurses, what do you think? Would nurses make great real estate agents? Any RNs out there doing both? Tell us your experience in the comments!