Chances of getting a nursing job after bridging. What are the factors?

Apple_06 · Apr 5, 2013

True, it can be quiet difficult to get a nursing job here in australia, especially if you don't have the experience in the particular field your applying for. I am already a permanent resident here (was previously sponsored 457

Then to PR by my previous employer). I'm trying to look for another work but most of the hospitals are only looking for casual staff. Most of them are looking for very experienced nurses in areas like theatre or CCU. I tried nursing agencies and even they are finding it hard to book shifts for their nurses. If you are looking for sponsorship I know there are still hospitals willing to sponsor but remember you are competing with the local nurses here as well. If you are already here in australia doing your BP, I would advise looking for sponsorship in nursing homes and private practice. They are willing to sponsor even if you don't have enough experience. For those who are still thinking about working here as an RN, pls pls seek advice from ur friends who are already working here and check out websites of different organisations and check if they are still sponsoring overseas nurses. Goodluck!!

danceinstructor · Apr 5, 2013

SCENARIO IN AUSTRALIA.

It has been quite some time since I last visited in this site and I felt the need to post what I had experienced while doing the bridging program here in “The Land Down Under” to discuss with what is really happening. I hope this will somehow facilitate those who are aspiring to come and do the BP.

OVERVIEW. I am from BOHOL, Philippines and have just completed the IRON program (batch 7) of La Trobe University- Bendigo last month. The course runs for 13 weeks which started last 14 Jan 2013, however, I qualified for an “early exit” that’s why I was able to finish it in just 8 weeks. One will qualify for such if you can carry out the National Competency Standards for RN here in Australia regardless if you have enough experience back in your own country or none at all. We were 40 international trained nurses in our class, 29 which were from the Philippines, 2 were from Japan, 1 from Taiwan and the rest are from India.

I would like to stress out the phrase “regardless even if you have enough experience or none”. Yes, you can PASS the bridging program even if you have ZERO experience and you can also FAIL the course even if you have ENOUGH experience. Failing the course means you are not competent to be a RN Div 1 here in Australia, you may be competent in your own country but it does not necessarily give you an assurance that you can also be competent here. And that is happened to my other FILIPINO classmateS (Plural from) who FAILED the IRON program. THEY HAVE HAD ENOUGH EXPERIENCE back in the Phils, and yet they failed. The reason? I do not know. :no: :down: There were already nurses from other countries in the previous batches who were sent home because of not passing the course.

REGISTRATION. Those who succeed in the “early exit” got their certificate of completion from our school last 13 March. Some got their AHPRA registration in just a week’s time, some in 2 weeks while I waited for 3 weeks for my registration to be finalized. Those who did not qualify for the early exit by some means finished the course a few weeks after we graduated. The course will supposedly end on 12 April and our 575 student visa will expire on 12 May to most students. If you will pass and finish the course in the 10^th or 11^th week then you do the math if it would take you 3 weeks for your registration to be processed. Time element is really a big factor. :yes:

JOB. Amongst the 40 nurses from our class, ONLY 1 got a job offer at the moment. Some already went to NSW, QL, SA yet still, no sponsorship has been given. Some of my classmates have a well calibrated experience from the top hospitals in the Phils but they are having a hard time in getting a sponsorship. Yes there are still LOTS of RN jobs available but most of them do not offer sponsorship for 457 visa anymore, some are casual and part time positions only. For one to qualify for the Employer sponsored 457 (work) visa, you should have a permanent full time position. The thing is that they are now prioritizing more on the locals/ residents here, and that is also 1 reason why the 457 visa will have strict changes starting 1 July this year. On top of that, you will be competing with the Graduate nurses here and the Div 2/ Enrolled nurse for they are the ones that most employers would most likely hire at present.

There are also many job openings for RN in special areas like ED, theatre, CCU/ICU, NICU but you should have at least 1-2 years experience in that special area, some hospitals even requires post graduate course certificate in those fields but still it does not guarantee that it will likely be sponsoring you for your working visa.

ACCOMMODATION. Bendigo is one of the regional areas in Australia and their minimum rent per week basing on what my other classmates had were between AU $ 150-175 PER WEEK. Some of my colleagues who were in an agency with a “fly now pay later” scheme had a temporary accommodation for almost 1 month only and after that they were on their own of finding a place in their remaining days of stay here. I was lucky enough that I got an accommodation for AU $ 120/ week that is just a 15 min walk to the hospital where I did my acute clinical placement and a 10 min walk to my non-acute placement but it took me 2 rides in going to the school. Somehow it was okay that I stayed away from school since there will only be 3 weeks classroom lectures and the rest are for the placements. I spent roughly AU $ 5 PER DAY for my fare to school.

If one is planning to come here then he should be tough and be prepared for every possible thing that may happen. Hope for the best and expect for the worst. Some students who finished their BP in other schools but couldn’t find a job yet have already enrolled to other courses just to extend their stay here and continue their job hunting. I guess every one already has an idea of how much is the cost of their courses especially if you are an international student.

To the next IRON batch of LTU, good luck and believe that dreams do come true! You may PM me if you have queries like accommodation and others. I am not sure though if I can regularly check this site for any comments but you can also send me sms in my roaming Smart mobile no. +639185728503 for urgent matters.

Thank you and God bless us all!

ghiezumms · Apr 13, 2013

Hi everyone. I am new here but I had been reading posts on this site since last year. Anyway, I just want to ask if you guys have an idea if La Trobe University accept applicants for the IRON program even in the absence of work experience? If not, do you know any? Thank you!

ceridwyn · Apr 13, 2013

For everyone elses information, have you been approved for a bridging course by AHPRA without any experience? As many different stories come out of there.

Many have been told 1-2 years if you are from the Phillipines and usually as for all locals you need at least 3 months full time experience to be registered unless a new graduate.

steppybay · Apr 13, 2013

SCENARIO IN AUSTRALIA.
It has been quite some time since I last visited in this site and I felt the need to post what I had experienced while doing the bridging program here in “The Land Down Under” to discuss with what is really happening. I hope this will somehow facilitate those who are aspiring to come and do the BP.
OVERVIEW. I am from BOHOL, Philippines and have just completed the IRON program (batch 7) of La Trobe University- Bendigo last month. The course runs for 13 weeks which started last 14 Jan 2013, however, I qualified for an “early exit” that’s why I was able to finish it in just 8 weeks. One will qualify for such if you can carry out the National Competency Standards for RN here in Australia regardless if you have enough experience back in your own country or none at all. We were 40 international trained nurses in our class, 29 which were from the Philippines, 2 were from Japan, 1 from Taiwan and the rest are from India.
I would like to stress out the phrase “regardless even if you have enough experience or none”. Yes, you can PASS the bridging program even if you have ZERO experience and you can also FAIL the course even if you have ENOUGH experience. Failing the course means you are not competent to be a RN Div 1 here in Australia, you may be competent in your own country but it does not necessarily give you an assurance that you can also be competent here. And that is happened to my other FILIPINO classmateS (Plural from) who FAILED the IRON program. THEY HAVE HAD ENOUGH EXPERIENCE back in the Phils, and yet they failed. The reason? I do not know. There were already nurses from other countries in the previous batches who were sent home because of not passing the course.
REGISTRATION. Those who succeed in the “early exit” got their certificate of completion from our school last 13 March. Some got their AHPRA registration in just a week’s time, some in 2 weeks while I waited for 3 weeks for my registration to be finalized. Those who did not qualify for the early exit by some means finished the course a few weeks after we graduated. The course will supposedly end on 12 April and our 575 student visa will expire on 12 May to most students. If you will pass and finish the course in the 10^th or 11^th week then you do the math if it would take you 3 weeks for your registration to be processed. Time element is really a big factor.
JOB. Amongst the 40 nurses from our class, ONLY 1 got a job offer at the moment. Some already went to NSW, QL, SA yet still, no sponsorship has been given. Some of my classmates have a well calibrated experience from the top hospitals in the Phils but they are having a hard time in getting a sponsorship. Yes there are still LOTS of RN jobs available but most of them do not offer sponsorship for 457 visa anymore, some are casual and part time positions only. For one to qualify for the Employer sponsored 457 (work) visa, you should have a permanent full time position. The thing is that they are now prioritizing more on the locals/ residents here, and that is also 1 reason why the 457 visa will have strict changes starting 1 July this year. On top of that, you will be competing with the Graduate nurses here and the Div 2/ Enrolled nurse for they are the ones that most employers would most likely hire at present.
There are also many job openings for RN in special areas like ED, theatre, CCU/ICU, NICU but you should have at least 1-2 years experience in that special area, some hospitals even requires post graduate course certificate in those fields but still it does not guarantee that it will likely be sponsoring you for your working visa.
ACCOMMODATION. Bendigo is one of the regional areas in Australia and their minimum rent per week basing on what my other classmates had were between AU $ 150-175 PER WEEK. Some of my colleagues who were in an agency with a “fly now pay later” scheme had a temporary accommodation for almost 1 month only and after that they were on their own of finding a place in their remaining days of stay here. I was lucky enough that I got an accommodation for AU $ 120/ week that is just a 15 min walk to the hospital where I did my acute clinical placement and a 10 min walk to my non-acute placement but it took me 2 rides in going to the school. Somehow it was okay that I stayed away from school since there will only be 3 weeks classroom lectures and the rest are for the placements. I spent roughly AU $ 5 PER DAY for my fare to school.
If one is planning to come here then he should be tough and be prepared for every possible thing that may happen. Hope for the best and expect for the worst. Some students who finished their BP in other schools but couldn’t find a job yet have already enrolled to other courses just to extend their stay here and continue their job hunting. I guess every one already has an idea of how much is the cost of their courses especially if you are an international student.
To the next IRON batch of LTU, good luck and believe that dreams do come true! You may PM me if you have queries like accommodation and others. I am not sure though if I can regularly check this site for any comments but you can also send me sms in my roaming Smart mobile no. +639185728503 for urgent matters.
Thank you and God bless us all!

Yes, thank you for sharing your experiences with us! That's the same story I mentioned about my contacts who after now going into almost their 2nd year after their bridging program are still looking for their very first job!!! Not even an interview has been granted!

With the new visa restrictions, it will be that much tougher now.

It's even worse for those that had to finance the bridge program with agencies such as PHILMAN or AG Finance, as they can't afford to pay those loans back and depending again on others (family, relatives, friends, friends of friends) to come up with monthly payments, so sad. If you don't pay back, those agencies get "nasty" to collect.

The job market is quickly shrinking for PH nurses and like you said, the hiring preferences are now going to the local grads as the top priority, as the same thing in the States.

zarmp48 · Apr 14, 2013

hi there. i could'nt send a PM to anyone of you here because i don't have the privilege yet to do so. if there is anyone here who could email on my add: [email protected] as i would just like to ask some questions regarding this matter, thanks.

emes05 · Apr 14, 2013

hi there. i could'nt send a PM to anyone of you here because i don't have the privilege yet to do so. if there is anyone here who could email on my add: [email protected] as i would just like to ask some questions regarding this matter, thanks.

hi, you may post your queries here and members would usually be helpful in providing all your needed info.

zarmp48 · Apr 14, 2013

thanks for the info emes05. just recently got my eligibility from ahpra. i'm currently working as a staff nurse in a tertiary hopital. been there for 5 years alreadyand is only assigned in a medical-surgical unit. do u think that i will have a big chance to be employed as a RN in aussie later on? are there any other options aside from the working visa should i not be offered with such by a future employer? thanks for anyone here who will find time to answer my query.

emes05 · Apr 15, 2013

thanks for the info emes05. just recently got my eligibility from ahpra. i'm currently working as a staff nurse in a tertiary hopital. been there for 5 years alreadyand is only assigned in a medical-surgical unit. do u think that i will have a big chance to be employed as a RN in aussie later on? are there any other options aside from the working visa should i not be offered with such by a future employer? thanks for anyone here who will find time to answer my query.

you may browse through the different threads here tackling the bridging program (steps, concerns, costs) and you would read some helpful comments from those who have finished the course and from the guides in this forum.. i have read that nurses with 3 or more years experience in critical care have more chances of getting sponsorship after acquiring registration. anybody can have a chance in employment - it will be a matter of qualifications, timing, luck and perseverance. and probably lots of spare money too, in some cases.. one option aside from the working visa would be filing for the skill select after registration, but that is another whole application and process.

ceridwyn · Apr 15, 2013

If you had come 2 years ago..good chance, employers were giving overseas new graduates jobs. Times have changed.

No employer is supposed to give someone needing a visa over an applicant that does not. Locals with a few years experience in general are too scared to move as there are no jobs due to cutbacks in all states health departments.

Also there are record numbers of nurses coming from the UK USA and Canada all wanting to work in Australia as well...and of course our New Zealand nurses many, many wanting to come to Australia after graduation.

All this, one must use critical thinking skills, there is a chance, but not a good chance. You will be fourth in line. If there is a local, an applicant that has worked in english only medium especially Australian experience already, applicant with a PR visa from the Phils, India, then applicant from, UK, Canada Phils, India wanting sponsorship.

joji2013 · May 2, 2013

Hi everyone...been reading this post for couple of days now...will undergo bp on july and im quite worried what will happen after bp...will I be able to successfully find a nursing job??? Im glad to have read all experiences from those who've already been there...it helped to weight things up...its a difficult decision for now but it would be too late to back out...i will have my visa processed this month...and everyone else is expecting me to leave...it really do concerns me a lot since i only have 2 and1/2 years experience in medical surgical ward plus 1/2 year experience in emergency as volunternurse...which makes 3 years experience...do u think i can find work with this experience???I dont have any specialty experience so far...please help me weight things up...

iamnomad · May 2, 2013

joji2013

as what others have said here before, it will be difficult to find a sponsor these days, and the Australian government is tightening the work visa program. But really, it's still possible. It will all depend on your perseverance, patience, and prayers (and a bit of luck).

Getting a job is one story. Immigration is another. You can probably qualify for a permanent residency without a sponsor (visa subclass 189) if you have all the qualifications.