When you think of a hospital, what comes to mind? Doctors and nurses? Likely. But what about respiratory therapists, EMTs or lab techs? Maybe.
How about accountants, data analysts, social workers, cooks and graphic designers? Probably not. But a doctor can’t see a patient if someone hasn’t checked them in. A nurse can’t hand a scalpel to a surgeon if nobody ordered one.
Patient care is a team sport, and it provides endless professional opportunities.
Tennessee hospitals are filled with job possibilities. Whether it’s reading EKGs or making BLTs, writing code or running to a code blue, repairing a heart or repairing the AC, the job for you is just beyond those sliding doors.”
Hospital jobs for everybody.
Hospitals have jobs you can do as a student like food services, patient transport and registration, and cleaning services to long-term clinical careers like nursing, diagnostics, respiratory therapy to non-clinical administrative careers like finance, data analytics, and marketing.
More good news? You can start your hospital career now even if you are still in high school, recently graduated high school, or in college or technical school.
The Most In-Demand Hospital Careers in Tennessee!
Why work at a Tennessee hospital?
Hospital and healthcare careers are in demand and pay well. The median annual salary for healthcare providers and other health-related technical jobs was roughly $70,000, which was nearly double the median annual wage for all occupations – $41,950.
Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
Pay is of course important, but there are many other factors that come into play when choosing a future career. Here are some more reasons hospital jobs are for everybody.
Purposeful Work
Most of us want to feel like the work we do makes a difference. What better way to may a difference in your community than to work at a place that’s literally there to bring babies into the world, save lives, and help all patients improve their overall health?
Tennessee hospitals also support communities in other ways. They employ more than 100,000 people in 75 counties across the state. In fact, in many communities their local hospital is their number one employer. They also support their local communities by providing more than $1 billion in charity care to underserved populations.
Career Growth
You won’t feel “stuck” in a hospital career as these careers offer great room for advancement. Many hospitals help pay tuition for their employees to advance to a higher healthcare degree. For example, as a teen you can get your certified nurse assistant (CNA) certification which can take as little as six weeks and start working at a CNA while you finish high school and throughout your college or technical school. Some high schools even offer CNA programs.
Once you work at a hospital, some facilities may offer tuition assistance to continue your education to work towards becoming a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) and then on to a Registered Nurse (RN). RNs can go on to become nurse practitioners, certified nurse anesthetists, or midwives. Salaries for those professions can reach over $150,000 a year.
Work When You Want Where You Want
Healthcare and hospital careers are some of the most in demand professions in the US and are predicted to continue to be so for years to come. That means YOU will be in demand if you choose to begin a hospital career and with hospitals in 75 of Tennessee’s 95 counties, you can choose to work pretty much anywhere. With an in-demand field, you also have the flexibility to leave the workforce to take care of loved ones, travel, or even launch your side hustle and know there will be a job available when you decide to return to work.
Want more flexibility in your schedule? Most hospitals offer several scheduling options including shifts where you can work for three days and have four days off so you spend more days doing the things you love.
Find out more about how you can be part of what happens in a hospital.
- Join HOSA Tennessee – Future Healthcare Professionals
- Apprenticeship opportunities are available
- College For TN is a free one-stop resource for college and career information in the state of Tennessee.
- Healthcare job outlook and degree programs are for nursing, nursing assistants and home health.
- INROADS is a non-profit organization that creates pathways to careers for ethnically diverse high school and college students across the country. We position our graduates to advance in their careers and we help employers foster diverse and inclusive workplaces.
- INROADS College Links is a college and career readiness program for high school students interested in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math), Business, and Social & Behavioral careers.
- INROADS Internship Program works at the college level to prepare talented diverse students across the country for corporate readiness with business soft skills, real world leadership development activities, academic and career support, and an opportunity for a paid internship.
- Medical Society of Chattanooga and Hamilton County Youth Leadership Forum in Medicine is a one-week program designed to encourage rising high school seniors and 2022 high school graduates to consider careers in medicine.
- SkillsUSA Tennessee is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce.
- Tennessee College Access & Success Network is an independent organization created to improve college success for Tennessee students through research, facilitation, best practices and expertise.
- The Tennessee Department of Education has a programs of study in Health Science.
- The Tennessee Higher Education Commission Academic Program Inventory (API) is a comprehensive listing of all active and inactive certificate and degree programs offered by Tennessee public universities, community colleges, and Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology.
- Tennessee HOSA is an international student organization with the mission to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people.
- Tennessee Promise is both a scholarship and mentoring program focused on increasing the number of students that attend college in our state.
- Tennessee State University (TSU) and Meharry Medical College has a partnership focused on establishing a pipeline of African-American doctors and dentists who will provide essential care to underserved communities.
- TN Achieves With the mission is to increase higher education opportunities for Tennessee high school students by providing last-dollar scholarships with mentor guidance, TN Achieves is the partnering organization to the TN Promise Scholarship in 90 of the 95 counties in Tennessee.
- Local Resource Guides
- Summer Programs for graduating high school seniors are FREE to all students and offer a great opportunity for you to get ahead.
- UT Health Science Center offers a Future Doctors Program.
