Nursing Instructors and Teachers build instructing, judgment and decision making and coordination skills that carry over to other work. Below are 25 careers ranked by how closely their skills match, with pay from BLS May 2025. The closest match is Clinical Nurse Specialists (92%).
Updated October 2026 · Data: O*NET 31.0 and BLS OEWS May 2025 · How we match careers
Skills you enjoy
Pick the skills you want to keep using. The list re-ranks.
Compared with Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary, median $80,250. Skill match is our estimate (0–99) from O*NET 31.0 skills, knowledge, work activities and interests, adjusted for preparation and big pay drops. Pay: BLS OEWS May 2025, national median.
Your transferable skills
How important each skill is in work as nursing instructors and teachers (O*NET importance, scale 1–5).
Instructing4.25
Judgment and Decision Making3.88
Coordination3.75
Social Perceptiveness3.75
Complex Problem Solving3.62
Service Orientation3.25
Skills to learn
The gaps that show up most often across your top 10 matches.
Service Orientation
Operations Analysis
Operations Monitoring
Operation and Control
Free and low-cost training: use the CareerOneStop training finder below.
Your top 3 moves, up close
A concrete first step, the skills to add, and the hard parts of each job, from O*NET 31.0 education, training and work context data.
Former nursing instructors and teachers can get free career counseling, job search help and, if you qualify, help paying for training through American Job Centers, which are funded by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Links go to CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Questions former nursing instructors and teachers ask
What jobs can former nursing instructors and teachers do?
The closest matches are Clinical Nurse Specialists (92% skill match, median $97,550), Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses (91% skill match, median $97,550) and Registered Nurses (85% skill match, median $97,550), based on O*NET 31.0 data and BLS May 2025 pay.
Which nursing instructors and teacher career changes pay more?
Among the 25 matches, 7 pay more than nursing instructors and teachers at the median. The biggest increases: Physical Therapists (+28%, $102,760), Occupational Therapists (+25%, $100,330) and Genetic Counselors (+25%, $100,040).
Do former nursing instructors and teachers need another degree?
25 of the 25 matches usually need no more education than you have now, based on O*NET Job Zones.
How is the skill match calculated?
We compare the importance of skills, knowledge, work activities and interests in O*NET 31.0 for your job and every other career, then adjust for extra preparation and big pay drops. The full method is on our Methodology page.
Sources. Skills, tasks and education: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. Pay: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Data Sources & Licenses