Midwifery
Due to the vocational nature of this degree, it is not surprising that the majority of graduates are employed within the health care sector.
While the majority of newly qualified midwives may work in an NHS Trust upon graduating, some may secure work in other settings. Equally, midwives may work in a range of different aspects of maternity care as their careers continue to progress.
The information detailed on this page, the excellent information resources from the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing, and the national Health Careers website can assist you in deciding on your next steps.
You might assume that midwives just work within a hospital labour ward, but you’ve probably also picked up from your course already that the role of a Midwife can take you to working in so many other settings. This opens up many exciting opportunities in terms of your career progression.
As there are a range of different roles and settings, it’s tricky to provide definitive ‘career pathways.’ Note the list we have offered here is designed to provide an overview of some examples rather than all the available roles within midwifery. There may also be some overlap in the following list depending on the employer or organisation:
Hospital
- Ante-natal care
- Intrapartum care
- Postnatal care
- Transitional care
- Neonatal intensive care or High Dependency Units
- Post-natal care
Community settings
- General Practice setting
- Community based Assessment Centre (for example offering triage for expectant mothers with concerns around birth and labour)
- ante-natal clinics
- children’s centres
- working in a local authority setting (local authority providers of community drop-in services, health visitor services, and public health programmes)
Other setting may include private sector and, or charities, community interest companies and social enterprise organisations.
Royal College of Midwives Career Framework
The RCM Career framework offers a profession specific career structure for its members, their employers and educators across the UK. The framework is built on the four pillars of education, clinical practice, management and research with leadership being placed centrally.
You can click on each section of the framework on the RCM website to learn more about the variety of roles midwives might progress into. There are also some excellent case studies where you can find out more about how midwives developed their careers within midwifery.
Explore the RCM course on the career framework
Support with applying for jobs
Get help with your midwifery job applications
What do graduates from my course go on to do?
Graduate Outcomes is a national survey capturing the activities and perspectives of graduates launched in 2018 and is the biggest annual social survey in the UK.
You can view the destinations of graduates, who completed the survey, from your course by booking an appointment with an adviser. This can help you to explore your options if you are unsure what you want to do.
Find out more about the Graduate Outcomes survey
Career progression and developing special interests
Most midwifery students graduate into Band 5 midwife preceptee roles, progressing onto band 6 positions after a period of time consolidating their knowledge and experience as a registered midwife.
Many midwives will go onto develop further special interests as part of their career progression. Here are a few examples of paths you could consider in your career as a midwife:
- Health visitor or work within a public health setting. For example, some midwives may go on to do an additional Specialist Community Public Health Nursing qualification to practice as a health visitor.
- Engaging with specific client groups, such as those experiencing homelessness, refugees, victims of sexual violence, or teenage pregnancy, and focusing on particular issues like substance misuse, sexual health, smoking cessation, diabetes, obesity, and mental health, professionals in this field have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact.
Additionally, working in specialised settings such as screening clinics, infant feeding clinics, immunisation programmes, or even pursuing additional qualifications in complementary therapies, such as aromatherapy for use during labour, as part of continuing professional development, further expands the range of skills and services that can be provided.
- Labour ward coordinator or manager, practice education, matron, consultant midwife.
- Clinical governance, policy, commissioning, advisory roles, for example, the Department of Health and Social Care or Royal College of Midwives.
- Clinical academic and research careers via opportunities such as lectureships and fellowships. Find out more via Clinical academic careers Health Education England and Integrated Clinical and Practitioner Academic Programme.
Tips for career progression
Top tips from The Royal College of Nursing
Whether it's thinking and reflecting on your career or you’re just feeling in need of a bit of inspiration, the RCN offers some excellent practical tips to help you in navigating and deciding the next steps in your midwifery career. Consider utilising their tips as a reference point to aid your career progress.
As with all careers, there is a saying that your journey will be a bit like crazy paving and that you have to lay it yourself. However, don’t think you’re alone in this, it’s vitally important to tap into all the information and support that is available to you to ensure that these can support you to make well informed decisions.
Consider using the following checklist:
1. Make the most of your placement opportunities
Ensure you maximise all the support and help available to get the most out of your placements. So many student midwives reflect that their practice placements informed some of their most important future career decisions.
2. Consider applying for University of Nottingham Dean’s Academic Health Sciences Internship
This is a paid ‘sandwich year’ between the second and third year of the undergraduate course. Nurses, physiotherapists, midwives and sports rehabilitation students are invited to step off the course to spend 12 months as a paid university staff member to work on all sorts of exciting opportunities to develop their experience, employability and future career ideas.
3. Make the most of any preceptorship year offered
If your role as a newly qualified midwife offers a preceptorship period, use the protected learning time and available support to help you develop the confidence, knowledge, skills attitudes and behaviours to practice as an accountable healthcare professional so that you are able to work effectively to the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) Code.
Find out more about preceptorship:
4. Join relevant networks to gain mentorship and support professional development
There are many opportunities both within the university and within nursing organisations that will help you to expand your professional networks, gain mentorship and develop skills while studying.
In addition, NHS trusts and professional bodies/associations have staff and member networks, with many open to placement students, to support wellbeing, belonging in the workplace and professional development.
Some examples include:
Pursing a non-clinical career
While most students who study midwifery progress into clinical practice, you may decide that becoming a midwife isn’t for you. If you have aspired to be a midwife for many years, choosing not to pursue a career in the profession can be a difficult decision to make.
Fortunately, your midwifery degree has equipped you with many transferrable skills that are highly sought after by graduate employers. These skills combined with a positive attitude, can open doors to a great number of career opportunities within healthcare and beyond the health sector.
When exploring alternative careers options, it is important to reflect on your strengths, your values, motivators and interests.
Our Choosing your career webpages are a good place to start. Whether you have some ideas or are unsure about your next steps, booking a careers appointment can help you gain clarity and explore the possibilities available to you.
Book an appointment with a careers adviser
Health Careers – the national health careers website hosts a comprehensive section on midwifery with many written and video case studies, and additional links and resources – it’s worth spending half an hour or so browsing through the information available. This may help you to generate future career ideas to explore further.