After months of education, exams, and job searching, you have landed yourself a great job as a certified nursing assistant. But now isn’t the time to slack off-now is the time to prove yourself worthy of being hired, of working in your facility and of greater responsibilities down the road. There are some good ways to continue shining above the rest so that you can keep your job and show that you already for anything they have to throw at you. At this point, developing your skills is extremely important and that’s what you should be concentrating on doing.

1. Get a CNA Mentor

A mentor is invaluable in any job, including working as a certified nursing assistant. A mentor could be another nursing assistant who’s been at the facility for a while or even a full blown nurse who can show you all of the ins and outs of your workplace and help you manage the more difficult aspects that you may not have been prepared for.

2. Ask, Ask, Ask!

It may be hard to get over your initial shyness on the job, but asking questions is extremely important. This way, you can avoid making silly mistakes and constantly refresh the bits of your education that are easy to forget. Don’t be afraid to ask; it takes a moment to get an answer, but it can take days to clean up a mistake.

3. Watch Everything

Paired up with asking is observing. Watch everything that people are doing around you even if it doesn’t exactly fall within your jurisdiction. You never know when some small routine or method of doing something may come in handy later and you can take on more responsibilities as necessary if you know how to handle them.

4. Compare Notes

There is nothing wrong with chatting with your colleagues and comparing notes on things and everything right. Not only can you get rid of some stress by unloading, but you can also ask questions, get opinions, and learn things that you will not have learned in your course. It’s also just nice to have others like you around you for when things get rough!

5. Keep Studying

As part of your certification, you will have to keep up with continuing education in order to maintain your skills, but you should also refer back to your study materials whenever you feel you need refreshing on your skills or on some aspect of your work that you haven’t done in a while. You only stop learning when you’re dead after all!

6. Opportunity Knocks, You Answer

Look upon every experience in your job as an opportunity, no matter distasteful they are. This way you will be more cheerful on the job, more optimistic and you’ll be more open to learning the most you can about your job. This will also show that you are ready to take on any work that is necessary, which always makes you look more favorable in the eyes of others.

It’s important to work as hard on making the most of your job as you worked on your courses and your exam preparation. This extra effort will not only endear you to your patients, but will also make you shine that much more in the eyes of your supervisor and employers, making it more likely you’ll be up for things like raises, promotions and even have the chance at furthering your education and job prospects if you like. Most of all though, it will make the job as a CNA more enjoyable and challenging and ultimately, more fulfilling.