Fresh graduate--looking for the right place

[KellyTel]

I am a registered nurse with Bachelor of Nursing (Hons) from MYR who only graduated four months ago. Apart from the clinical rotation during my four university years, I do not have any nurse-related working experience.

Right after I got my license in June, I had been trying my best to look for jobs abroad because that's all I have ever wanted. I had already applied for graduate nurse program in few hospitals in Australia already but two had already declined my application while the others not yet reply. It knocked me down because I was told that the chances to get in is very slim, especially for MYR nurses--which I do not know why. I want to be able to work in Canada or even better USA also. But their systems are so different from our system in MYR. What's more, many resources reported that there're increasingly more unemployed nurses in those countries and they try to cut down on recruiting international nurses. It seems to me the chances are even slimmer and suddenly I feel that I do not have anywhere to turn to.

I do not come from a very well to do family and my parents are getting very old. I need to be very careful with every dime I spend because I can't be wasting a whole lot of money from them and get nothing back. I am expected to start earning as much as I can as soon as possible.

Well, I do have a temporary job now in a private hospital dealing with a nursing home project. It sounds quite good because I am helping the general manager of the private hospital to set up a new nursing home in another city. It has good potential--that's for sure. But I do not utilise any of my clinical nursing skills in this job at all. Many of my lecturers discourage this start up because 'as a fresh graduate, all I need to do is get as much hospital experience as possible'. And I do feel that this job is not promoting my growth in nursing career.

The reason being I can't get a proper nursing job in my hometown is because I do not plan to stay long term in my hometown since I am not used to a laid back lifestyle in my very small hometown after coming back from the biggest city in the country. Moreover, I really want to work in another part of the world as soon as possible for exposure at younger age. Unfortunately I do not know what to do. My friends suggested of me going to the country I want to work in to look for job while registering for their license--make sure I have a job awaiting before licensure. Getting a license does not guarantee a job at hand, just so you know. My good friend who lives in California is very willing to let me stay over while I try looking for job and have a face-to-face interview since it has higher chances of being employed. Of course--there are also some who say I should stay to work with this nursing home project for a year while slowly apply to go overseas. The fact that I do not get a real nursing job really makes me feel bad. Many of my friends have got RN jobs in Singapore now. But since Singapore is never in my list, I do not consider applying there.

If you have already heard of Royal Canadian Institute of Technology, they offer a registered nurse licensure preparation program. I do not know if it is trustworthy and worthwhile to spend so much money for the preparation course to get a license at all. However, it does sound like a good catch though and it seems to largely increase the chances of us getting licensure and being employed. I am wondering if I should go for that if all else fails. They have intakes in October, November and December.

[amliddell]

I had a coworker wanting to move to Canada and she applied for her nursing license. She said it takes a long time just to get all the paperwork together and even longer for the approval process. She is still waiting and it's been over a year. Good luck!

[KellyTel]

Yes, Canada and United States are very difficult because of the amount of paper work. But I read that some got lucky because they manage to get their license at a shorter time. I decided to start revising my nursing books daily just so I keep a fresh memory in case I get the chance to sit for CRNE or NCLEX some time.