No job in nursing in the Philippines, what to do?

World Philippines

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So here's the thing: Worked in a call center as I waited to have my results for the boards.. when I got my license, I resigned, which was actually around last week of December 2007. Then on, tried to get into trainings and so I got into one very good hospital and finished my Red Cross and IV Therapy Training... After which, still no job. Now, I took the NCLEX, and I am not that confident that I passed... No results yet. Its my birthday today and I feel depressed coz I still no growth in my career. My parents do not want me working anything else BUT as nurse!!! So I spend my time trying to look for jobs to no avail..... :crying2:

What do you think I should do next?

Apply to Saudi Arabia?

Where I don't know if thats gonna be safe for someone like me?

Need advice. And thanks.

to the Presidentiables: how can you help unemployed, unpaid, and sometimes exploited nurses in our country?

I feel for you! i have the same dilemma. i graduated about a year ago and am still jobless. :| i took my ielts months after i passed the board exams and also took all the necessary training and seminars. Luckily, I had the chance to train for 3 months in a medical-surgical unit in a good hospital and am hopeful they'd take me in their institution after applying. I've been running around everywhere, too, just to pass my resumes. I've been trying all my best but sadly every hospital in the Philippines are in a 'freeze hiring' state. :| I'm planning to go abroad; I have a certain country in mind. However, my mom said i should go work in Saudi Arabia to earn and gain further experience. Honestly, I'm half-hearted about it. But I guess i'd have to be open to opportunities. Everything is still uncertain. Just pray hard and keep on doing your leg work whatever it takes. Good luck and God bless. Sorry i wasn't helpful at all.

that's the harsh reality of the nursing profession in our country.. i myself is now confused in my nursing career although i work as a company nurse but still w/ not-so-good compensation.. working in a hosp. is still much better however, i actually got tired of passing resumes in diff. hospitals since you wouldn't see any hope after all. i've been planning to shift my career if nothing happens within this year.. :(

Specializes in PICU, PEDIA.

'been actively looking for a nursing job for the last 2 years, went to almost all of the hospitals within the metro, even down south. Got tired of rendering my services free of charge as a volunteer nurse for a year. Let's face the reality that Nursing jobs here in the Philippines will be scarce for the next 5-10 years. We have to find some other ways for us to live decently.

GODBLESS US!!..

sheenahrn you should do both - work in a call center while getting clinical nursing experience. the reason i'm saying this is coz i work in a healthcare call center here in the u.s. and they require nurses have at least 3 yrs clinical experience, computer background and call center experience.

you cant try countries such as Kuwait, Saudi, UK, Australia, Dubai etc for a better nursing career..

Specializes in Nephrology-Dialysis/Surgery/Orthopaedics.

I stumbled upon this thread and got interested, so i have read every post from page 1 through 12.

Anyway, I would just like to share my experience, as I too, used to be in this situation.

Here's what I've been through:

I graduated in 2006, then took the NLE the same year. I was already bored a week after the exam so I worked in a bank as an investments officer while waiting for the results. It took 4 months before the results came out and by the time I became a Registered Nurse, I was still in a profession not aligned with what I have studied in college. I worked with that bank for almost 2 years.

2008. I was lucky enough to be accepted in a tertiary hospital's "nursing skills enhancement training" amidst the thousands who were equally hopeful to at least be part of a training program or to do "volunteer" nursing work just to get clinical experience. That lasted for 5 months, but unfortunately, I didn't have the "padrino" that will make me an employee of that hospital. After the program, I had no idea where my nursing career would go.

I was jobless and penniless for 10 months.

2009. A simple conversation over coffee paved the way to where I am now. I had a get together with an old friend, and that brought me to have basic training in hemodialysis. With a little luck, when my 6 month training was about to end, the renal facility got shortstaffed, and they took two of us as staff nurses. I was so grateful with that opportunity and in return did my best for the patients, and for the company.

2011. I had the opportunity to work here in the Caribbean. At first it was a struggle for me since I have to adapt to a different culture, and co-workers who have different work ethics and clinical practices. But, with hard work and perseverance, after 5 months, I was promoted to nursing care coordinator. And by mid 2012, once the dialysis center we are working on in another Caribbean nation will open, I will be transferred there to co-manage the facility.

To my fellow Filipino nurses, with this experience, I have realized that when there are just too many nurses going thru the same route, find a different, less saturated route. It may be a different country, or a different specialty, or a different work environment.

The point is, nursing is a profession with vast specialties, and one way or another, one specialty would be in high demand in a country, and wouldn't be in one. For example, by the time I had enough experience to qualify for working as a dialysis nurse in the UK, the slots were already filled up. But in South and Central America, the demand for renal nurses is slowly increasing, and I was able to capitalize on that. Now I'm focusing on being the Nurse Operations Manager in the near future, hopefully after I acquire my Master's in Business in 2 years.

Specializes in Nephrology-Dialysis/Surgery/Orthopaedics.
It's been said that Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. It would appear that the Philippine government could be insane by that definition, since they've turned nursing education into an industry, while the hundreds of thousands of graduates of those programs are unable to find employment.

Hospitals in many parts of the US are laying off nurses as the economic crisis deepens. For now they will not be looking at IENs in any sort of light at all. The longer a person's education and training goes unused, the less likely it is that they will ever use it. Nurses who dream of working in the US need to shift their focus and look at other countries where there is a nursing shortage AND money to hire nurses. As Alexk49 said, there are other ancillary health care jobs that will provide some experience and new knowledge that will be useful for the nurse, but when it all comes down to it, the employer will be looking for nursing experience. You can't get it in the Philippines, and you won't get it in the US, so where else can you look? That's where you start.

Very well said.

i've been scouting and still keeping my hopes up...

to rogue_maverick: how did you apply in Caribbean? what is your agency? I'm also interested.

Thanks.

Specializes in Nephrology-Dialysis/Surgery/Orthopaedics.

@chinita

Workabroad.ph

As of now there's an opening in Trinidad and Tobago.

You might want to check it out.

theres a lot available jobs if you now how to look at it....don't focus yet on nursing jobs..try to look for other alternative jobs....

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