While it takes enormous amounts of effort and hard work to gain your license, it may only take one mistake and disciplinary action for you to lose it.
Though it is important to decide how to proceed in a case that jeopardizes your license, it is also important to prepare for all potential outcomes. This means knowing your employment options if you lose your license.
Medical assistant
Chron discusses the jobs nurses have eligibility for even without a license. First, you may qualify for jobs outside of nursing. For example, if you have a familiarity with medical terminology, you could serve as a secretary or administrative position. Medical assistant staffing also does not require nursing licenses.
Home health aid
You could also take on a job as a home health aid. In such a position, you will help patients with personal hygiene, dressing and daily living tasks. You could look into personal care aide positions as well, which may include some housekeeping work. Note that you may still need to pass a background check for some of these positions.
It is also possible to leverage your skills as a nurse in other fields to get jobs. For example, working in the nursing field proves you can respond well to emergencies, work under pressure, and have strong interpersonal skills.
There is also the possibility you can still work as a nurse assistant, as mentioned above. However, note that certain offenses such as patient abuse or neglect will disqualify you from such jobs. Other issues like unprofessional conduct on the other hand may still allow you to get hired.