Hi teepee,

Thanks for the swift reply, having folks like you that have seen and done it to guide us newbies through is invaluable.

Unfortunately i've only been a paramedic for one year and a tech for two as i did the uni foundation degree.

I'm also a nurse with many years experience in A+E which i'm hoping they'll take into consideration. They seem fairly pro-active when it comes to all the RPL business and i'm hoping this will help get me in.

Thanks again

Paul

the nursing stuff will defo help.

Hi,

I am currently working in Brussels as a Communication Assistant for an NGO. I am very eager to retrain as a Nurse or a Speech therapist in the next two years, as I think it is time for a change (coming from a journalist, photographer, PR background).

Previus jobs have included working as a receptionist at a GUM clinic and whilst there, the nurses showed me their career and it did really interest me and one of the senior nurses was surprised I hadn't thought of the career. I have also worked with the Stroke Association with adults who had strokes.

So, I am thinking at the moment to take a year out and visit Japan for a couple of weeks and then head to Sydney, to live and work. I ame ager to find a job ahead of my arrival - I am looking to be based in the centre and I am looking for part time posts or a full time post that is paid, to gain an income but also, I would really like to find a way to enable me to gain experinece in the health sector... to give me an insight and experience that would help me to come back to the UK to retrain as a Nurse or to train as a speech therapist. I am also looking to do Science courses that are useful for training as a nurse/speech therapist (the high school equiv of GCSE/A levels) as I wasn't the best science student.

I believe that life is too short so I want to make the most of it - I want to make a big difference in lives of others, make them smile while they get better..
Please visit my links and please drop me a line - I would welcome any advice on living in Sydney tooo! please

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Paul is your nursing registration still valid? If so you will have no problem getting a job out here. You can even apply on a working holiday visa (if you're under 30) for nursing roles. I think there is a separate visa for doctors and nurses also, I know this isn't ideal but beats not working. Also a lot of nurses leave nursing and pursue a career in the ambulance field out here so no doubt your experience will help.

They have recently released a new SOL which Paramedics do not appear on, so a GSM application is out of the question. I'm living in Melbourne and have had interviews with Ambulance Victoria and pending completion of GSM visa I have a job. Hooray - until the news about the GSM visa came through and as I'm still waiting for my skills assessment to be completed (yawn) I could not get the applcation in on time. The reason i'm told is to target 'professionals' as the last list actually would allocate more points to hairdressers than say a phd graduate from oxbridge.

I have pursued all other options but am limted as I only have 2 years exp as a paramedic. I have become exceptionally pissed off at the extreme level of red tape and the time any decision takes over here. My girlfriend with no relevant quals/skills/experience has been offered sponsorship from her employer? It is made worse by the fact that all I hear in the news is that there is a massive shortage of Paramedics in Victoria.

What is even funnier is that I cannot find another job over here. For instance I applied for a first aid officer role and was told I do not have the right quals and experience. Hang on a sec, an honours degree, PHTLS, PALS, ACLS, 2yrs as a Paramedic etc is not equivalent to a four day course? Just setting you up for the mindset over here which I have found weird, very weird. Even going round job agencies over here is mental, two the other day asked what a Paramedic was, suffice to say I havn't heard anything back from them. Yet another exmple: I was told I couldn't work in a cafe because I don't have enough experience making toast -WTF?

My advice to anyone is make sure you have a job and/or residency sorted before you come over.

This is my third trip to Australia now and the previous two times were enjoyable but the last 4 months has been utter hell. In retrospect I should have waited until confirmation of a job offer but the girlfriend was desperate to get out here. I gave in thinking if I tried hard enough that everything would be cool and NSW would sort out the LA etc failing that I could get a job doing something else.

It's likely that I will return to the UK in the coming weeks as I cannot afford to stay out here with no work (insert violin).

If anyone has any fresh ideas please feel free to comment.

PETE

Hi Pete,

Firstly thank you for your post, its really helpful to hear from guys like you in the same situation as myself.

Strangely enough your situation is almost the same predicament myself and partner are facing.

Secondly, sorry to hear that its been such a pain in the arse trying to find work, there's nothing more frustrating than the pointless battles with red tape and bureaucracy that defies any form of common sense or what should appear to be a fairly straight forward process.


Your examples of the knock backs your getting for jobs your clearly well over qualified for sounds wild to say the least!!!! Its really useful for me to hear this stuff and get a good idea of what i may be up against.

I guess if your going through the skilled migration visa process in order to get the job, you may be having to pay the total costs yourself without sponsorship which obviously costs a bomb.

I had a look at the various visas that i may have to consider should the NSWAS not get their labour agreement back. The GSM visa appeared to be one of the most expensive and i thought that a partner visa may be better since my partners an Ausi, and much cheaper.

Only problem is that firstly you have to apply for a temporary visa which generally lasts for two years then you can apply for a permanent one.

NSWAS are unsure whether they would be able to offer me employment on a temporary partner visa and by the sounds of things from your post it may be the case that it would be to much red tape to even bother starting the process.

The other consideration for this one would be the potential of not working as a paramedic for some time which could cause me problems as they require recent work experience in the field your applying for. I'm not sure exactly how long this gives you before you've been out of the game too long?

Although i am still registered and practising as a nurse i'm going to try to avoid getting permanent employment as a nurse in Aus as i can see me going out there and for one reason or another getting stuck in nursing whilst waiting for a paramedic job which may also put me out with the lime they consider recent work experience. Although nursing may well be considered recent relative work experience which my be worth considering.

Since i've only been a Registered Paramedic for 1 year i'm hoping that NSWAS will take my nursing experience into consideration or count my years as a technician towards what they would consider paramedic experience. I understand that only having 1 years experience as a Paramedic may cause me a problem as they usually want a bit more experience in the job before they'll consider sponsoring someone.

Oh well fingers crossed, we shall see.

Thanks again for your post, much appreciated!!!

Paul

Paul (+ everyone else)


Good news (if you fancy living in WA).

http://www.seek.com.au/job/qualified...7449977/100/1/.

Where did you work in London? I know a couple of Chase farm T/L's went to Perth, I could try and get their contact details if you want to talk to them.

Ta

Pete

Hi Pete,

Many thanks putting this up. We're ideally hoping for NSWAS as my partners family are in Young (NSW countryside) but this may definitely be an option if this labour agreement takes forever to come through. I've heard good things about western Australia but very mixed reviews about the ambulance service itself from a couple of London bods who have gone and come back. I guess its a very individual thing.

The application process seems much simpler for St John also, not to mention the fact that they do telephone interviews which would save loads of time and money.

Good luck with your new start and let us know how it goes.

Thanks again for the information and contacts offer, greatly appreciated.

Paul

Thinking of finally making the leap! Emailed the HR dept a few weeks back but have heard nothing back yet, I'm guessing things don't move too quickly

Hi, Welcome to the thread. As you may of read in prev posts, there has been a bit of a delay with recruitment. We're all waiting for news here about the labour agreement etc.
Things do move slow at times. Recently had a look at ASNSW web site and it still states recruitment to start later this year. Finger crossed things will get moving soon.
Any questions you have, feel free to ask, and have a peek thro the prev posts (there is a lot!) but it gives you a great idea of the whole process.

Phil

Heard a rumor coming from a person close to the ASNSW "management level" that said "not in 2010"...So be prepared to wait even longer...

That's not good!! Any other details on that? This Labour agreement must be a hell of a thing to sort out!!

Hi Guys

Again welcome to the thread, there appears to be loads of us on here hoping for for some news, any news. It will be a happy day if and when they regain this precious labour agreement as i guess we all feel in limbo at present. We've heard various rumours from various sources and its hard to know what to believe. As i said in a previous post I heard a couple of months ago from NSWAS recruitment that the labour agreement would definitely be in place within 3 to 6 months but i think we've heard that old chestnut before and rumours since been less inspiring.

However, I have been following with interest the global situation with regards to Australian immigration which until this month had been suspended from the beginning of this year which no doubt had a bearing on the labour agreement not being reinstated. On the first of this month the immigration department released a brand new skilled occupations list and new employer nominated skilled occupations list which ambulance officer and intensive care paramedic are on which is great news.

I'm hoping that since the immigration department appear to be sorting themselves out and have decided on the skills that the country needs, things may start moving for those of us with these particular skills that are hoping to immigrate.

Its worth having a look in immigration, visa's and citizenship section of the Australia forum to see whats happening as its obviously has a bearing on on the labour agreement that we're all hoping for.

Fingers crossed and if anyone has any more news then let us know.

Paul

Thx for that info Paul
Wonder how the new ENSOL list will affect us all? As latest I heard was ASNSW only to sponsor in at P1 level and not ICP anymore, even for those who had been RPL'd at ICP level and are waiting for official letter offer of employment (Unless that has now changed)

Hey mate,

Thats an interesting point now you come to mention it. I do remember reading that this was the case earlier on in the the thread but I cant remember who it was that said it and what the source of the information was.

From memory the reason for this was to suite service requirements in terms of posting people, in that many of the vacancies are in rural areas and these vacancies are for ambulance officers and not intensive care paramedics. This meaning that if they recruited the internationals as ambulance officers (i am assuming that this is what a P1 would be classed as) instead of intensive care paramedics (which is where the skills assessment would put most UK trained paramedics) then they could post them to the back of beyond where they're needed.

I'm sure many of you know that the new ENSOL list awards points to each profession dependant upon what your area of expertise is. The interesting thing is that ambulance officer is awarded 40 points towards the 100 or 120 points needed and intensive care paramedic is awarded 60 points.

This said if NSWAS were to grade you as an ambulance officer as apposed to an intensive care paramedic in order to suite their service requirements would this give you less chance at obtaining a visa?

Hmmmm! Its a thinker!

Paul

To be honest I've never given it much thought. Always assumed, and maybe wrongly so that if you were being sponsored in, points system didn't matter at all. If anyone can shed any light on it, i'll be glad to listen.
Am looking at immi web site, but there's a lot of info to look thro and not always very clear to interpret