Help!!! New grad military spouse

Nunya, BSN · Nov 6, 2019

8 hours ago, Nurse SMS said:
There is a huge lineup of people wanting to get a job on base as a US Citizen in Germany. As a new grad with no connections and no experience, your chances are pretty much zero.
You may need to live with your parents or some other living situation while your husband is overseas if you want to work as a nurse.

Yes, there's a lot of people who want jobs but nursing is a specialty and it's different. And a lot of people who are nurses don't want to work shifts, nights etc; a lot of them want more flexibility for kids and traveling in Europe. At least go there and make your decision after trying to get a job; you can always volunteer to get your foot in the door. When I was military in Spain a new graduate couldn't be hired till she had one year experience, guess who volunteered on med-surg full-time for a year and then got hired?!?

Nunya, BSN · Nov 6, 2019

4 hours ago, Nurse SMS said:
There really isn't such a thing for Germany. Now and then you can find it for England I believe, but I have researched both Germany and Italy heavily. Its a unicorn.
What adventure_rn was suggesting is that you take three month travel contracts stateside and stagger those with going to Germany to be with your husband in between.

Every travel company I've looked at requires at least one year full experience.

Nunya, BSN · Nov 6, 2019

6 hours ago, Valley_girl1021 said:
Update **There are other places on his list that are possibilities for us to stay in the states (NY, Alaska, Kansas) that have shorter stays such as just a year. Should we suck it up and go to a duty station we possibly won’t like so I can gain experience and we not separate and then just try for Germany the next go around?
Thank you all for the advice so far! It’s been really helpful!

Is he ABSOLUTELY sure it's only a year, because usually that short of a tour is for remote assignments and/or overseas assignments. And unless there's a guaranteed follow-on (like remotes had when I was active duty AF) there's no guarantee you'll ever get Germany again.

Nunya, BSN · Nov 6, 2019

I Inow several people have said or agreed that you should stay in the States for 1-1.5 years or even try to do travel nursing and be separated for 3 months at a time. Granted, I don't know you or your marriage but after being military for 12 years and civil service for 10 I can say that being in the military is stressful for both the active duty person and their spouses. I think it's a great life but it's not like other jobs. When you visit him if there's an emergency going on he may have to cancel that trip you had planned, or he may have it cancelled because someone else has a family emergency and has to go back to the States. He may not get leave at all. If he's jr enlisted and you aren't there he may be required to live in the dorms, depending on what base he may have to share a room. He can't get on base married housing if you aren't there, and there may be rules about housing allowances given to him for off base housing if you're not there. I do know there is a family separation allowance if the family members decide to stay in the States but I don't know how much it is and you might end up spending a lot of that on plane fares. Please think long and hard about temporarily separating.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Nov 6, 2019

Another idea: volunteer as a nurse with the Red Cross while you are in Germany. It's not paid, but it is experience. I know spouses who did that.

Also, start looking for jobs on USAJobs.gov no matter where you end up. If you get into the GS system, it will be much easier to get jobs when you PCS. Good luck!

allnurses Guide · Nov 6, 2019

11 hours ago, Elaine M said:
Yes, there's a lot of people who want jobs but nursing is a specialty and it's different. And a lot of people who are nurses don't want to work shifts, nights etc; a lot of them want more flexibility for kids and traveling in Europe. At least go there and make your decision after trying to get a job; you can always volunteer to get your foot in the door. When I was military in Spain a new graduate couldn't be hired till she had one year experience, guess who volunteered on med-surg full-time for a year and then got hired?!?

Even nurses can't find work on base in Germany. My husband and I would very much like to leave the US. I have been a military spouse and our son is a warrant officer in the Army. I have done my research on Germany and Italy. Of course Spain may be different.

adventure_rn, MSN, NP · Nov 6, 2019

Given the current political climate, I'd imagine it would be relatively hard for most Americans to find employment in Europe. My understanding is that priority would be given first to German citizens and to citizens of other countries in the EU (since citizens in EU countries don't require a work visa to work in other EU countries). I'm guessing it would be much easier for a nurse from any other EU country to land a nursing job than an American nurse. Unless you're being sponsored by your employer, my understanding is that non-EU-citizen applicants fall to the bottom of the barrel (especially as a new grad with no experience).

There used to be opportunities for American nurses to take long-term travel contracts (i.e. 2 year contracts) in the UK, but my understanding is that they've fallen by the wayside in the last ten years. Kind of makes sense considering the current Brexit 'anti foreign workforce' mentality.

11 hours ago, Pixie.RN said:
Another idea: volunteer as a nurse with the Red Cross while you are in Germany. It's not paid, but it is experience. I know spouses who did that.

I agree that volunteering is definitely better than nothing; however, in the other forum I linked to earlier, it sounded like many hospitals don't include volunteering as 'recent experience,' even if the experience is relevant to the nurse's specialty (in that case, a nurse applying for lactation consultant positions with extensive lactation volunteer experience). Unfortunately, it sounds like that OP found her volunteer experience pretty useless when she returned to the US.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Nov 6, 2019

58 minutes ago, Nurse SMS said:
Even nurses can't find work on base in Germany. My husband and I would very much like to leave the US. I have been a military spouse and our son is a warrant officer in the Army. I have done my research on Germany and Italy. Of course Spain may be different.

A friend of mine just got hired into a GS clinic job in Germany, so it happens - as you know, the locations just aren't as plentiful anymore! Geez, we used to have huge hospitals there, like Wiesbaden. Have you check Naples, Italy? Not sure if there is still a big hospital there, but there was that plus a clinic in Pinetamare (outlying area).

Nunya, BSN · Nov 7, 2019

On 11/6/2019 at 7:01 AM, Nurse SMS said:
Even nurses can't find work on base in Germany. My husband and I would very much like to leave the US. I have been a military spouse and our son is a warrant officer in the Army. I have done my research on Germany and Italy. Of course Spain may be different.

They've really been cutting down on nurses hired from the states and they've been sending people home after their 5 years more consistently lately. It's because of money, it costs so much more to bring a nurse from the States. But if she goes there with her husband all the hospital has to budget for is her salary, no housing or moving costs or home leave.

Nunya, BSN · Nov 7, 2019

23 hours ago, Pixie.RN said:
A friend of mine just got hired into a GS clinic job in Germany, so it happens - as you know, the locations just aren't as plentiful anymore! Geez, we used to have huge hospitals there, like Wiesbaden. Have you check Naples, Italy? Not sure if there is still a big hospital there, but there was that plus a clinic in Pinetamare (outlying area).

Naples still has the big hospital, Back is under a different application system, I don't remember the name but it's not usajobs. Air Force doesn't really hire stateside nurses for they're overseas hospitals, they do local hire. It is harder to get a job with the military overseas as a stateside hire because it's so much more expensive to hire and bring someone over than to hire a spouse; it can be done but it's competitive.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Nov 7, 2019

Just now, Elaine M said:
Naples still has the big hospital, Back is under a different application system, I don't remember the name but it's not usajobs. Air Force doesn't really hire stateside nurses for they're overseas hospitals, they do local hire. It is harder to get a job with the military overseas as a stateside hire because it's so much more expensive to hire and bring someone over than to hire a spouse; it can be done but it's competitive.

So funny - I had applied for positions as a GS ER nurse at Landstuhl in 2010, I grew up over there and wanted to go back. Just as I was accepted for commissioning active duty into the Army Nurse Corps at the end of 2010, I got an email from a manager at Landstuhl wanting to interview me for an ER position. lol. Such bad timing! Oh well.

My buddy is loving Stuttgart! I would bet he'd like to extend past his time, but as we've seen, it might not be an option.

LuckyU11 · Nov 7, 2019

I was stationed at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center as a nurse from 2008-2011 so this is my almost-decade old input (my husband is still an active duty CRNA)……You will not be able to get a job without at least one year’s experience. The army does offer a nurse preceptorship, but the reality is no one wants to hire a nurse but be forced to have to wait 4-6 months to have that nurse land on their floor. While I was there we went from about 5% to 50% civilian nurses as the navy reservist nurse corps was demobilized and the hospital back-filled with civilians. If you are willing to work a rotating Panama schedule (nights for three months, days for three months, 80 hrs per pay period) and have that one year of experience, it won’t be hard. I do know the patient census has dropped dramatically over the last decade so that may also be a roadblock.

As for working on the economy (in a German hospital), that’s nearly impossible even if you are fluent in German. I have a German friend who was in the US army (dual citizenship) for four years as a nurse and has been waiting over a year to have the German “officials” approve her American nursing education to be able to work in a German facility. If your hsuband ends up getting stationed in Germany, you might consider staying behind to get your one-year experience- if you start working immediately after graduation that would mean a separation of 8 months? As a military spouse myself now, though, I know every moment together is precious and I hate the thought of purposely separating when the Army already does a good bit of it.

Germany was one of my favorite duty stations and we are now thinking of returning. However, as a new nursing grad it might be a career-killer….That being said- call over and talk to HR at the hospital and see what your obstacles may be and what you can do to make it work. We had a number of Red Cross nurse volunteers that would work the floor from time to time too. I hope it all works out!