Career desirability: young people's perceptions of nursing as a career Jane Hemsley-Brown BEd Adv DipEd MA PhD Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Research in Education Marketing, Research and Graduate School of Education, University of Southampton, Southampton, England and Nicholas H. Foskett BA MA PhD Director, Centre for Research in Education Marketing, Research and Graduate School of Education, University of Southampton, Southampton, England Accepted for publication 29 July 1998 HEMSLEY HEMSLEY-BROWN BROWN J. J. & FOSKETT FOSKETT N.H. (1999) N.H. (1999) Journal of Advanced Nursing 29(6), 1342±1350 Career desirability: young people's perceptions of nursing as a career The majority of young people make a career choice without regard for salary, and base their decision on interest and enjoyment or a desire to help people. This paper examines students' perceptions of nursing as a career at a number of key stages in their education decision-making, and how this information in¯uences their subsequent career decision either to choose or to reject nursing. Factors relating to image and status are also explored and some comparisons are made between nursing and young people's own choice of career, to highlight a number of signi®cant issues. The ®ndings indicate that although young people expressed admiration for the work of nurses, this was rarely matched by an envy of nurses, or a desire to become a nurse themselves. Keywords: career, choice, human resource planning, labour market, nursing, recruitment, role, shortages, workforce INTRODUCTION Pay is not a signi®cant factor in the decision to choose or to reject nursing as a career Ð but by late primary school most young people have rejected most jobs, including nursing, on the basis of perceptions. This paper reports on an analysis of the study of perceptions of nursing as a career, considered in the Career Perceptions and Decision Making (CAPDEM) research project (Foskett & Hemsley- Brown 1997, 1998). The CAPDEM project was established to focus on how speci®c careers, including nursing (and engineering), are perceived by young people at different ages pre-18, and how these perceptions in¯uence decision-making about subject choice, education and training pathway, and ultimate career ambition. A survey of contemporary research literature reveals ®ve main themes in connection with the choice of nursing as an occupation in the last decade, including: gender issues and the personality characteristics of males and females (e.g. Leckey et al. 1995, Francis 1996, Marini et al. 1996, Marshland et al. 1996, Whitehead 1996, Lightbody et al. 1997); issues related to early and late career decisions and their effect on career satisfaction (e.g. Soothill & Brady 1993); reasons for choosing nursing based on the retro- spective views of nurses who were currently working in the profession (Sonahee 1988, Murray & Chambers 1990); issues of the status and role of nurses (e.g. Kohler & Edwards 1990); and research into ways of improving image and recruitment [e.g. Health Services Management Unit (HSMU) 1996; Rafferty 1997, Naish 1997]. The research presented in this paper differs from previously published work by providing insights into the process of career choice undertaken by young people during the crucial decision-making years, whilst they are still in full- Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1999, 29(6), 1342±1350 Experience before and throughout the nursing career 1342 Ó 1999 Blackwell Science Ltd