by helpmyfuturewife

Updated Feb 11, 2008 at 12:21 AM by helpmyfuturewife

My soon to be wife is looking for a Staff Nurse job locally in Manilla. She has 2 years experience and has passed all her courses.

She lives in Manilla and is having a hard time to find a job locally there. If she doesn't find a job soon, she will have to move back to her home town region...to work as a clerk for her parents. Because it breaks my heart to see her struggle and I can't help her find a job locally there....I'm doing the best I can to help her.

She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursng at Mindanao State Univrsity and worked locally as a Staff Nurse for 6 months and then worked in Singapore as a patient care assistant for 2 years.

Anybody have any advice for her ? She lives in Quezon City outside of Manilla.

Thanks everyone !

Respectfully yours,

Chris

Re: Please Help !!!

Anybody have any help, suggestions or ideas??

Re: Please Help !!!

Why is it so hard to find RN work in the PI?

Re: Please Help !!!

is she able to work as an RN in Singapore - since she already has some work experience there?
What is the employment situation for RNs in Phillipines and what has she done so far in order to find employment?

Re: Please Help !!!

The employment situation in Manila and surrounding areas is not good at this time and has not been for quite awhile. There are many more graduates, as well as students in school currently, than the country can ever use over the next 50 years or so. So competition to get a spot is quite tight. That is why you see many training programs where the nurse actually has to pay the facility for the experience and it is only that, training. And does not count as work experience when applying for a job in another country. There are several current threads about who is hiring and who is not at this time, it is going to require quite a bit of footwork on her part to be able to get a job.

But she can also look at outlying provinces to get experience, they always have a need; but the truth is that most want to work in the Manila area only.

There are currently more than 630,000 in RN programs in the Philippines in over 430 nursing schools. And the training is not as it should be at many of them now. Much can be read on that in other threads on this forum.

PCA in Singapore is essentially a nursing asst, and does not count as an RN experience, so she is considered a new grad essentially.

Re: Please Help !!!

Yes...she has worked in Singapore before but she sais that the jobs there are not a Staff Nurse position and that is what she needs and is looking for. So I'm basically helping her to find work.

She has been networking at nursing associations and applying for jobs...via online and networking with people that she knows. She extremely intelligent, motivated and very charming.

P.S. Any other thoughts or advice for her out there?

Originally Posted by GingerSue

is she able to work as an RN in Singapore - since she already has some work experience there?
What is the employment situation for RNs in Phillipines and what has she done so far in order to find employment?

Re: Please Help !!!

I'll try and give you another perspective but first of all I want to know the reasons why it has to be in Manila and what is the purpose of her getting the experience as a Staff nurse?

I know the last question might sound absurd but there is a reason, why I'm asking that.

First of all, actual employment in Metro Manila is very tight as Suzanne said. Imagine, thousands getting licensed every 6 mos. and there are only very few hospitals in Metro Manila and to be honest with the number of licensed nurses being churned out every 6 mos. there really should be no hirings at all for many years and there are only a handful of new hospitals that are being put up but much, much more that are not anymore in business or about to be out of business. To make the long story short, supply outstrips demand.

The mainstay hospitals that has been in business for decades knows this and actually takes advantage of the situation. To save money, they do not actually make new hirings and if they do, it is for the reason that their contracted hires has resigned (for various reasons) before their contract expires (usu. 2-3 years contract).

What they do is to do paid trainings and they take in many applicants at a time - more than they will actually need or project they will need since there is always that significant percentage that their previous hires will not be able to complete their contracts or will not renew it. That is always factored in. Why do they accept more applicants for paid training more than they actually need? It's paid after all as in the applicants pay for it and only a few will be accepted and integrated. And this is after 4-6 mos. or so of waiting to be called to get an exam to be accepted. No guarantees at all that they will get hired and the chances of not being accepted is quite low as they actually need is only a few hires to replace the ones getting out.

Some hospitals do is accept "volunteers". This is more variable. Some actually gets some money (very negligible - barely enough for the commute to go to work) and some, believe it or not you have to pay as well to volunteer. And volunteer is not counted as actual experience if your fiancee is planning to work abroad.

Point is, it is really hard to actually be hired and be given a contract and be part of the payroll esp. if the hospitals are getting extra help from "trainees" and "volunteers" (they actually go on duty and do whatever regular Staff nurses do - in some hospitals even more what Staff nurses do)

Re: Please Help !!!

The reason why I was asking the question of getting the experience is that most think they have to get it first before they can do anything like apply for NCLEX-RN exam or start the petitioning process if your fiancee's goal is to work in the US w/c I'm presuming she is.

In fact, the reason why so many resign or are unable to finish their contracts in the first place is they want to do all the paperworks to apply and review for NCLEX.

Also, the Phil. Dept. of Labor is finalizing a memorandum that nurses that have live contracts cannot anymore just resign for whatever reason before someone can actually replace them.

This is why I always advise that nurses who have plans to take the NCLEX-RN to just take it ASAP then they can apply for a local job thereafter, rather than wait for a call that may or may not happen and then if by luck get hired but after giving much effort and time to get hired is forced to resign to do all the paperworks and review for the exam. And some hospitals do not give proof of employment anymore if a contract is not completed. It is as if you were never hired. You may have exp. but the hospital will not back it up per their contract and so wasted the months or so gaining experience when the hospital will not give any proof that you were hired there.

And last but not least, a nurse can be petitioned even w/o extensive experience under their belt. This may change in the future but as of now, it is actually not a req't. per immigration. All that is needed is to pass the NCLEX-RN exam, and an English proficiency exam as part of the visa screen certificate and the visa screen certificate is also actually waived if the nurse is under a fiancee visa or will be getting a green card via marriage and of course already a green card holder via another route.

Re: Please Help !!!

Because she will be moving to the US once she has at least more year of staff nurse experience. She is under the impression that she has to have more staff nurse experience to get hired as a staff nurse in the US. The only thing she has to do is pass her NCLEX exam.

Thoughts?

Originally Posted by lawrence01

I'll try and give you another perspective but first of all I want to know the reasons why it has to be in Manila and what is the purpose of her getting the experience as a Staff nurse?

Re: Please Help !!!

Originally Posted by helpmyfuturewife

Because she will be moving to the US once she has at least more year of staff nurse experience. She is under the impression that she has to have more staff nurse experience to get hired as a staff nurse in the US. The only thing she has to do is pass her NCLEX exam.

Thoughts?

That's what I thought so. That is why I was asking what was the purpose of the experience.

Not that I'm saying that it is bad but she don't have to and esp. with her circumstance of either able to get a fiancee visa or GC/citizenhip through marriage. She will be waiting for about 6 mos. or so for any calls from a reputable hospital and no guarantees she will be hired as well even if she goes through their so-called training programs for a fee.

There are actually those that don't even bother to take the local board exams here and go straight for NCLEX-RN exam because they don't need to go through agencies here for recruitment or need to be petitioned by her employer because they already have a GC via their US Citizen Parents sponsoring them. Some even use their tourist visas (pet peeve of some) and go straight to the US once they have passed the NCLEX (by-passing the local boards here) if there is no visa retrogression.

And if you're going to marry her soon, she doesn't even have to go through being petitioned by an employer and get her GC through that w/c is subject to Visa Retrogression because the visas are limited only to a certain number per year or capped to so and so numbers.

There are no visa cap (no visa retrogression) for those getting their permanent residency or US citizenship through marriage. It is the fastest route there is to get a GC.

She will of course be an entry-level RN there and will have to undergo the usual orientation program for all entry-level nurses w/c unlike here in PH is of no cost to the nurse.

I suggest she just concentrate on applying for licensure to the State where you are and take the NCLEX-RN exam, whether here in PH or there.