April Blog Post – Applying for Jobs as a qualified Midwife!

Applying for Jobs as a qualified Midwife!

I started blogging for City at the beginning of my 2nd year as a student midwife and I can’t believe that my blog post this month is about applying for jobs as a qualified midwife- where has the time gone?!

As I have mentioned in my earlier posts I am from Leeds originally and have made the incredibly difficult but exciting decision to move back to the north in September and start my career as a midwife up there! And as if that wasn’t challenging enough, I have also convinced my South London born-and-bred girlfriend to make the move with me- am I a proper adult now or what?!

Leading up to this decision I had conversations with lots of midwives and fellow student midwives as well as friends and family about whether this is the right decision. After all, I picked City originally because of its location and my need to gain exposure in busy central London maternity units which demonstrate the forward thinking and up to date research, whilst looking after extremely complex women in complex health and social situations. After 3 years living and working here, part of me felt that I should stay in London as I begin my preceptorship (this is something all nearly qualified midwives have to complete to prove that they are competent in skills that they may not have had a chance to practice as a student e.g. Suturing the perineum. This is fairly flexible and varies between hospitals; some make all preceptorship programmes 1 year and some finish once all the competencies have been completed.)

There are many positives to getting your first job as a midwife in the hospital you trained in. You know all the staff that work there; including the ones to go to for help. You know where everything is, from rooms to equipment and you know the codes for all the doors and which delivery rooms to avoid, for whatever reason. With all the things you have to learn almost all at the same time as a newly qualified midwife, many people feel that to save themselves slightly they feel more comfortable to stay where they are familiar. Plus it’s worth mentioning that the hospitals that City sends student midwives to are all extremely beneficial units to work at and all offer great preceptorship programmes, so if you can stay then why wouldn’t you?

On the other hand, some student midwives do choose to move hospitals post-qualification. For many this can be as simple as geographically one hospital may be closer to where they live or where their kids go to school etc. People may have a preference for a specific hospital so they move to get the chance to work here. Similarly, some students may not want to work at the hospital they trained at because they’ve had maybe a bad experience there or it doesn’t offer career progressions that they envisage wanting to do in the future, or it may be miles away from their home. When you enrol at City you are given the trust you will be working at and you stay at this hospital for 3 years so it is understandable that for some people this can be a major factor in deciding. Some students also think that the transition from student midwife to qualified midwife can be stunted by staying where you trained. The argument is that staff you’ve worked with may find it difficult to then suddenly see you as a member of staff and some ex-students I have seen around report that they’ve found it difficult to ask questions for fear of getting the “you trained here you should know this “ response.

It is clear that both sides offer significant arguments and the bottom line is that everyone is different and you can never know what will truly suit you until you’re there working and experiencing it for real.

For me the decision to move back to the north has not been an easy one by any accounts – for all the reasons I’ve just been through! but I decided that if 3 years ago I was brave enough to move to the other end of the country on my own, then I can definitely be brave enough to move back- and this time not on my own. I cannot wait.