commonwealth

I have a friend's brother who wants to study nursing in Australia with the intention of working afterwards using the 2-year post-study visa.

Is the job market for fresh nursing grads looking good?

ukecadet

No.In a nutshell we have taken too many overseas nurses over the last few years and this has left graduates out in the cold.

Last week my wife who is in a managerial position has had to cut down her days and job share with another girl.She was told she could pick up the days that she has lost by working on the floor doing bank shifts.No problemo.
Then she finds out at a meeting that they have closed 2 wards in another part of the hospital they have to find positions for 5 'overseas'nurses on her unit.So this equates to more competition for shifts.
It's not a good time for nursing I'm afraid. My wife is fortunate in that she is very experienced and well qualified.

benedict1843

Hi do you think that is just in Melbourne or all over Australia? Because on the sol list they are on the critical list. You can't beat local Knowledge.

Grayling

We have thousands of graduates without jobs in Brisbane and Queensland health are doing very little recruiting and have made a lot of nurses redundant....there is a lot of competition for jobs here.

Things are not good at the moment

Bernieboy

Pollyana

Certainly not good for those with no experience. Those with a good background in a specialist niche have a better chance

commonwealth

would the odds increase if the person had at least 2 years experience?

ozzieeagle

Pysch nursing still has unlimited OT AFAIK.....

Pollyana

To be honest I'd say the more experience the better, especially if looking for sponsorship. I'd also venture to say that its probably easier for someone who can get a visa without any sponsorship, but also without any family to worry about - that gives the freedom to pick up agency work and takes off the pressure of needing to sort out so many bills etc.

Margaret3

Agree with the others. There is a nos of changes in the pipeline in our dept, but it all seems to be a bit of a secret. One we know of is all the ANUM's (charge nurses) jobs were all reviewed and the recommendations were to be introduced in April, but this has now been postponed untill the new financial year. This and the other mysterious recommendations are causing much angst among staff

Dorothy

How are they going to get 2 years experience if they can't get a grad program?

Really, your friend would be much better off to stay in UK to study, get some experience then apply as an experienced nurse. Studying in Australia as an international student is very expensive and there is no guarentee that he would be able to stay at the end of the course.

Bernieboy

That's very true Dot

Kapri

Yes, I am an experienced mental health nurse with additional therapy qualifications and I got a job easily. I was also offered lots of other interviews but turned them down once I had got the job I am heading to.
This is NSW. I did get offered a couple of interviews for Qld but it wasn't generally looking good.
I think I could also have secured work in Perth fairly easily but it would have been ward work and I do community.
I definitely think its harder for grads at the moment but IMO it won't last.
Various governments often think they can save money by not recruiting into front line posts - until they realise that services can't actually function without them.

Kapri

You won't have any problem getting a job with your skills and experience B.

Bermudashorts

There is no such thing as a "critical list" and hasn't been since about 2009, so no nursing definitely is not on any such list.