Civillian Overseas Jobs for RN's

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Hi! I'm a Registered Nurse from Houston, Tx. I am very interested in obtaining a overseas position in Europe as a Civillian Worker in the American Military Hospitals. My specialty is Critical Care (Medical/Surgical Intensive Care). I would like to work in Germany, in high school I was an exchange student in Germany, and 2 months ago I went there to visit some friends. Is there any advice of trying to get my foot in the door? About 6 months ago I sent my resume and didn't get any replies. In May 2006, my apartment lease is up and I'm looking to move out of Texas. Preferably go overseas. Is there anyone who could help me about persuing this? Any advice will help. I'm young, single, no kids, and I'm ready to get out there and explore!

Thanks,

Paul

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

Look on the website for Landstuhl Army base in Germany. Here is the link I found for civilians jobs there http://www.chra.eur.army.mil/.

Good Luck!

Hi! I'm a Registered Nurse from Houston, Tx. I am very interested in obtaining a overseas position in Europe as a Civillian Worker in the American Military Hospitals. My specialty is Critical Care (Medical/Surgical Intensive Care). I would like to work in Germany, in high school I was an exchange student in Germany, and 2 months ago I went there to visit some friends. Is there any advice of trying to get my foot in the door? About 6 months ago I sent my resume and didn't get any replies. In May 2006, my apartment lease is up and I'm looking to move out of Texas. Preferably go overseas. Is there anyone who could help me about persuing this? Any advice will help. I'm young, single, no kids, and I'm ready to get out there and explore!

Thanks,

Paul

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Go on the internet to Google. Type in American Nurses in Europe. About 3 dozen travel agencies will pop up that can send you abroad!!!

Good luck!

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Thanks for the info. I went to google and typed up "American Nurses in Europe and it didn't get me a whole lot. It got me this one organization called "Friends of World Nursing". The rest are opportunities for England and Ireland. I have no desire to go there, the pay is not that great and I've been to the UK twice and didn't care for it that much. Anyother suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Paul

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Hello HoustonTx. Please see the below sites for you to apply for a civil service nursing position (stateside or overseas).

http://www.cpol.army.mil Click on employment, then "search for jobs", you will then see drop down menu's where you pull down what you are applying for, state, country etc... Also, in that army's website, you can also do a "resumix" to self nominate yourself for positions that you are seeking. Often the nursing positions will refer you to a fax#, mailing address, or this email address to send your resume: [email protected] There is also a point of contact person with their phone # and he/she will be able to help you if you have any problems. There are many U.S installations in Germany that hire civilian nurses via Army and Air Force, just be persistent & watch the job annoucements. Some are permanent and others are temporary. Start with the cpol website that I typed for you and you can also go to http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/

The jobs listed on the usajob website are often the sames jobs you will find on the Army's website (cpol), sometimes there are other ones listed for the Navy as well. You can also put your resume on usajobs too.

Good luck. I miss living overseas and I am currently submitting resumes. :-)

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Ok.....if you want to go work at an overseas military hospital, join a service and go do it. We're so strapped for people, you can get waivered for just about anything these days. C'mon, we need anyone with real nursing experience.

Now...if you *really* want to make a difference....if you want to be able to say that your life actually counted for something.... then go to Doctor's without Borders: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Then there is also International SOS. You've never heard of them because they don't advertise. http://www.internationalsos.com They do a lot of things overseas with offices all over the world.

Oh and dude: .....Europe's boring. You gotta come to Asia. "One night in Bangkok....." as the song goes.

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Ok.....if you want to go work at an overseas military hospital, join a service and go do it. We're so strapped for people, you can get waivered for just about anything these days. C'mon, we need anyone with real nursing experience.

Now...if you *really* want to make a difference....if you want to be able to say that your life actually counted for something.... then go to Doctor's without Borders: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Then there is also International SOS. You've never heard of them because they don't advertise. http://www.internationalsos.com They do a lot of things overseas with offices all over the world.

Oh and dude: .....Europe's boring. You gotta come to Asia. "One night in Bangkok....." as the song goes.

I enjoyed your post. However, Europe is not that boring, depends where you go. How about the Middle East, Turkey? Turkey can be quite lively as well!

P.S. Thanks for the International SOS link, haven't heard of it. I checked it out, interested.

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Hi there,

I am a military wife/nursing student. I have been looking online for jobs in Germany, Japan, England and Italy for after I graduate and get some experience. We were stationed at Ramstein from Aug 02 to Aug 05. From what I can tell, it is best to go to work in a hospital stateside and then transfer overseas. They generally do not hire through resumes and the traditional route. We are planning on heading back overseas in a few years. I am going to try to get hired here first and then transfer. It has to be a military hospital though, not the VA. Most positions, if not all, at the VA specify that they can not transfer.

I do know of people who have gotten jobs through volunteering at Landstuhl Army Hospital while there, but I also know that RN's that head overseas with their husbands/wives get stuck and find it very difficult to get a job in a US hospital. Good luck in your search and if you do find a job over there, please post. Like I said, I am also hpping to do this eventually.

Suzi

I just looked at the CHRA-E website and I wanted to add that I did see many vacancies. However, keep in mind that there is preference given to retirees, former military, and spouses for hiring purposes. So, if your have no military affiliation you are put behind these people automatically. Good luck anyways, I hope this works out for you!

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Hi there,

I am a military wife/nursing student. I have been looking online for jobs in Germany, Japan, England and Italy for after I graduate and get some experience. We were stationed at Ramstein from Aug 02 to Aug 05. From what I can tell, it is best to go to work in a hospital stateside and then transfer overseas. They generally do not hire through resumes and the traditional route. We are planning on heading back overseas in a few years. I am going to try to get hired here first and then transfer. It has to be a military hospital though, not the VA. Most positions, if not all, at the VA specify that they can not transfer.

I do know of people who have gotten jobs through volunteering at Landstuhl Army Hospital while there, but I also know that RN's that head overseas with their husbands/wives get stuck and find it very difficult to get a job in a US hospital. Good luck in your search and if you do find a job over there, please post. Like I said, I am also hpping to do this eventually.

Suzi

I just looked at the CHRA-E website and I wanted to add that I did see many vacancies. However, keep in mind that there is preference given to retirees, former military, and spouses for hiring purposes. So, if your have no military affiliation you are put behind these people automatically. Good luck anyways, I hope this works out for you!

Susie,

Hello. You are absolutely correct in regards to giving preference to former military, spouse perference, and civil service employees who may have been displaced and/or caught in a reduction in force. But, when you graduate, you will have to apply the same way that any prospective employee would have do. Make sure you have at least one year of specialized experience in the unit that you may be working on, then you can apply. You can apply whether it would be the Army's resumix website, Air Force or Navy. Medcell is taking applications...they need nurses terribly, just as the poster mentioned abover regarding military nurses. Susie, when you graduate, make sure when you are claiming Military Spouse perference, applicants must clearly show an entitlement to such perference on the resume/supplemental data that is submitted via your resume or if you are applying through the cpol's website (Army), it would be called a resumix. I know these things because I was former civil service, but worked in a different profession.

Good Luck. Oh, I worked & volunteered at a few Army bases. Some of the bases where my husband was employeed (contractor), they only had military nurses, no civilians, so I volunteered.

Ramstein is beautiful! It certainly looks like a Hallmark Christamas card in the winter. What a quaint town. Loved the food & the wine Hubby enjoyed the beer in Germany! Sitll communicate with good friends of mine who work at Ramstein via the Air Force.

Susie, you shouldn't have any problems at all being a military spouse, providing there is a vacancy at the installation wherever your spouse will be transferring to. Just get your 1 year of experience in nursing, then you will be okay. The more schooling you have, the higher GS grade you will be able to obtain regarding your salary. Often overseas COLA may be added to the base salary for overseas locations. But, you probably are already familiar with that. Anyway, good luck. Go to the websites that I mentioned above, especially the cpol website. You can click on various countries that you are interested in & it will mentioned the military installation and what type of vacancies are opened/available etc..

Take care.

Lizzie

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Hello, Thanks for all the replies. I faxed my resume to the army medcell personnel. Wish me luck. I have my 1 year of ICU experience. I really want to do this! I also sent out my resume out to SOS international too. Anyother advice will be greatly appreciated. Does anyone know if there are american clinics and hospitals (non-armed forces) in Europe that hires american RN's? If so, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

Paul

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I just wanted to say that with Direct Hire authority given to hire nurses government wide, you no longer have to wait in line behind that long list of people who have preferences. Also, you don't have to be rated and put on a "highly qualified" list and referred. The goal is 45 days, but who knows. I'd love to hear anyone's experience with Direct Hire, the real scoop and actual process.

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