Sarahjane88

Hi everyone

I think I'll start with a brief background so you guys understand a little more about me before I ask my questions.
My husband and I have been trying to emigrate to Ontario, Canada for a very long time now. Three years to be precise! We've been 100% committed and readied ourselves for what we knew would be a long and arduous journey. The whole prospect hinged on my nursing career! I studied really hard, passed my competency assessment with the CNO in Toronto and then subsequently passed the NCLEX in London. It's been, what I can only describe, an emotional rollercoaster.
Since November we have been in the Express Entry pool with 430 points. As it looks like we aren't going to receive an ITA anytime soon, I've been concentrating on getting a job offer for that all important 50 point boost. The problem is it must be a full-time, permanent position subject to an LMIA. I know, I know! You're thinking... good luck with that!
I've sent many resumes and applied to several positions within the Greater Toronto Area, anyway. And for good measure, I applied to a hospital in Thunder Bay. I've been marketing myself as an experienced medical/cardiology nurse, placing great emphasis on my 4 years experience. I had one hospital in Tillsonburg "put my resume on file" and the Thunder Bay application resulted in an interview which seemed hopeful. They were going to speak with HR to see if they could find me a (full-time, permanent) position somewhere within the hospital. Naturally, I wasn't going to be guaranteed my preferred area of nursing!

Ok, so now for my questions. I'm sorry there are so many, grab a glass of wine lol

In some job adverts, I have noticed that employers sometimes ask for a post-graduate certificate. I looked into what these involve, in particular, the Coronary Care 1 unit. I discovered that it takes 1 year to complete and costs approx $15,000!!! This was a minimum requirement for a position that is almost identical to the job that I am performing now. I realise now that perhaps selling my experience might just not cut it anymore!
What I want to know is....
1) Are nurses expected to undertake these post-grad courses at their own expense or is it normal for the employer to fund this when they are in a secure job?
2) Are post-grad certificates a very common requirement, and how important are they, to prospective employers?

My experience with the CNO has been frustrating, and that is putting it mildly. An email can take MONTHS for a reply, and a call usually has a wait well over 30 minutes to speak to someone who usually can't offer any insightful information that is out with their 'script'. It took several emails and eventually a fax to get a helpful response from someone regarding a complex and urgent enquiry.
3) Is this a common experience with big organizations in Canada?
4) Do nurses who are already registered with the CNO suffer the same problems?

Finally, my last question is about employment conditions. I have been using the ONA collective agreement as a guide to how much salary and annual leave I could expect. I used to think that every hospital in Ontario was part of this agreement but now I realise this might not be the case.
5) Do the conditions set out in the ONA collective agreement only apply to me if I am a member of that union? How does this work?
6) Should I join the ONA (assuming I can do so while I still live in the UK) and will this make me a less attractive candidate?

I would be grateful for any insight you guys could offer me!
Sorry the post was so long. And if I have posted in the wrong section feel free to nudge me in the right direction.

Best wishes,
Sarah-Jane

Silverdragon102

Sarahjane88

Thanks Silverdragon, I think I'm slowly grasping how nursing unions work in Canada. Does the collective agreement only apply in certain hospitals? I assume I cannot join the ONA and then expect the collective agreement to apply to just any hospital I happen to work in. If so, is it the normal practice for nurses to join a union only when they are established in a particular hospital?

The CNO's problems with correspondence is well known it seems. What concerns me is that everyone just seems to accept it. Is this the Canadian culture? Service like this just wouldn't be accepted in the UK and with bigger organizations I would expect the service to be better, not worse!

Silverdragon102

charlottyb

I'm in BC, but its pretty much the same here. There are nursing jobs available that are non union (with clinics etc) but any job in the health authority is unionized, even if it is casual.
I'm a Public Health Nurse with Island Health, and it took blood sweat and tears to get in, despite my 25+ years of nursing experience. I worked for some years in a non profit clinic first.
The courses you describe are usually online but cost closer to $1500 here, and we pay for them ourselves.
Union seniority is everything here in BC, especially under our BCNU contract. Sorry, it really is very difficult to crack.

Sarahjane88

Wow I didn't know getting in the union was a privilege! Maybe I should forget about unions at the moment!! What worries me now is I have no idea what kind of annual leave I will get offered because I was hoping to have at least 4 weeks after my first year of service. The legal minimum annual leave in Canada is just depressing!

Thanks Charlottyb, your reply made me have a much closer look at post-grad courses and I'm glad I did. The Coronary Care 1 course is actually significantly less in other colleges, than the $15,000 I saw on Incsol. No idea what on earth they were marketing but it must be something completely different! This was the link: Graduate Certificate in Coronary Care Nursing Toronto - INSCOL.

Silverdragon102

bats

bats

<div style="text-align:left;">Job prospects aren't too good as Doug Ford has just introduced a jobs freeze fir government employees. Most jobs advertised are part time and several of the nurses I worked with were part time working two jobs. Part timers have first shout at the full time jobs.</div>