Alternative Careers for Healthcare Professionals

Are you working in healthcare and looking for a career change? If so, have you thought about the charity sector as your next move? Not only is it rewarding work—there are many different types of charity, and some great alternative careers for healthcare professionals to consider.

Different types of roles available

The charity sector has a wide variety of roles for doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and other healthcare workers.

If you specialise in a particular area, for example mental health, you’ll find many charities within that field. Often, a health charity has several functions, including:

• to develop a support service for people in need
• to provide information and advice, for example about care pathways and treatment
• to develop, deliver and promote the service.

Some roles may be more generic and move away from direct one-to-one patient interactions. For example, if you’re a dietician, you could find a role at a diabetes charity, using your knowledge in a ‘public health’ sense to improve awareness of the condition.

Job titles in charities might be different to what you might be used to in other sectors. Some examples of the relevant role titles that you might find in the charity sector include:

• Research Manager
• Health Consultant
• Service Manager
• Communications Manager
• Advocacy Manager.

Skills you’ll bring to the charity sector

Whatever your area of competence, your clinical knowledge will be priceless. You can use it to support patients and other service users. In addition to this, your knowledge of NHS or private services, when and how they can be accessed, as well as where a charity could best target its energies, will be of enormous value.

Having worked in healthcare, you’ll also have many transferable skills. Examples of skills that are particularly valued in the charity sector include:

• communication skills
• management and leadership skills
• empathy
• teamwork
• time management
• initiative
• problem solving
• adaptability and flexibility.

Benefits of moving into the charity sector

You can choose to work with a particular group of service users

Depending on your field of expertise and interest, it’s possible to find a charity that specialises in providing support to a specific group. Examples include children, refugees and older people, to name just a few.

You’ll share a sense of purpose

People often go into healthcare because they want to help others. This is an excellent fit with the charity sector, in terms of sharing values and having a common sense of purpose. You’ll be working alongside a wide range of colleagues, from volunteers to stakeholders, towards the greater good.

There are opportunities for flexible and part-time working

Many charity sector roles involve a Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm routine. There’s usually flexibility offered around those hours too. Charities are often open to part-time work, which can be useful if you have other commitments to work around.

Working for a charity can also open the door to a portfolio career. This is where you choose to work in a range of different roles, using different skills. A portfolio career can also include doing pro bono or voluntary work. It could therefore mean that you could work some days for the NHS and some days for a charity.

There might be opportunities to work internationally in global health

If you moved to a role in an international charity, it’s possible that you’d be able to go on overseas trips. You could even be posted abroad for fixed amounts of time. This can be very attractive for healthcare workers who want to move into the area of global health.

If you’re a healthcare professional looking for an alternative career, there are many opportunities in the charity sector. It’s well worth exploring the roles that are out there. If you work for a charity you’ll be focused on driving change and helping to improve the lives of others. This can be highly rewarding. Look for the key charities in your area of expertise that pick up the burden that no other organisations do in our society.

Start searching for roles today and find your adventure!

This post was originally published in 2022. We’ve updated it to ensure relevance and to reflect the current job seeker experience.