Life Care Planner Career Plan

Life care planning is a niche field that you generally enter after you already have a license in a related profession. Life care planners have college degrees, and they may have a license in one of a number of fields including social work or special education. The most common is probably nursing — you will hear frequent references to nurse life care planners.

1. Take a solid college prep curriculum. Focus on math and science as these are critical for nursing school. Also work on your composition and communication skills.
   These will be crucial for work in life planning; getting the skills now can help you write a stellar college application essay in which you share your passions.

   Do as much career exploration as you can — one of your goals is to decide what field to pursue your primary degree. Will it be nursing, or will you choose another field with a emphasis in rehabilitation? Make sure you have a realistic picture of what the job is like and what schooling you will need to get there.

   Try to attend nursing camp over the summer if your future intentions are to work as a Registered Nurse in Life Care Planning. (Some nursing camps are low cost or even free.) Also see about job shadowing/ career exploration through AHEC or another organization.

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2. Research programs and complete prerequisites, aiming for a GPA of at least 3.0 — higher is better

3. Enter your program and complete coursework and internships. Treat your field experiences as potential job interviews and be very professional. Also join a professional organization during this time.

4. Take a job and start getting experience in your primary field. Utilize professional connections as well as online job boards to find jobs in life care planning.

5. Be a stellar employee and continue to network and participate in professional development activities. Remember that people are often promoted to higher positions if they stay at their place of employment and perform above expectation. For some nurses, case management is a step toward life care planning.

   Meanwhile, enroll in a life care planning course. Make sure it will meet educational requirements for certification.

6. Now it’s time to look for your dream job. Your professional contacts will be a potential source of job leads.

Personality Traits: Life care planners are caring and people-centered and have good critical thinking skills.