New Alberta RN - Moving to Victoria -BCIT perinatal specialty

Fiona59 · Aug 8, 2017

Victoria and all of the Island is a hard market to crack.

Several nursing schools on the Island and VIHA tends to hire local new grads first.

Took me 8 months to find a casual job and I applied for everything. A friend moved to the Victoria area about five years ago, she had years of speciality experience and it took her nearly a year to find a permanent line.

Good luck

dayandnight · Aug 9, 2017

Hi everyone. I apologize for the lengthy post. But I really need help. I'm hoping someone can offer insight, advice or anything of use to help me create a career game plan.
I am a new grad RN trained and working in Alberta. I am currently working on a combined labour and delivery/post-partum unit. I have been working nearly full-time hours for almost 3 months now, and before that, I was a preceptor student on the unit for 10 weeks. Previously, I worked as an undergraduate nurse in DI as well as a health care aid on adult medicine.
I enrolled in nursing school with the intention of working in labour-delivery. However, now that I have my dream job, my husband, kids and I have to move to Victoria. He will be going soon to set up with the kids before school starts, meanwhile I will stay behind to work until I find a job in Victoria. So far I haven't received any response from jobs I have been applying to. I have been applying to everything, not just l&d related jobs. I will however continue the search and in the mean time I will be starting the perinatal specialty course this next month. Our plan to move has changed slightly, and now I have to work more hours than I originally was thinking I would have to in order to take care of my family financially during this transition from Alberta to Victoria. I am enrolled in theory 1 and the breastfeeding course. I am considering dropping the breastfeeding course for now (I will lose $122 for doing so), so that I can pick up more shifts at work. I would reconsider doing so depending on the workload. I have no idea what to expect with these two courses and how much of a time commitment they require.
So my questions are:
Any advice on acquiring any nursing job in Victoria with little nursing experience?
How about l&d or even post-partum?
Should I drop the breastfeeding course for now, or is it something I can finish fairly quickly/easily? (I will be taking 1.5-2 weeks off work in September to visit my family in BC and help them to get settled) When the kids or in school, I'll have the whole school day to work on my studies)
I so appreciate even the slightest bit of insight anyone can offer. I am feeling quite lost, overwhelmed and stressed. I am not looking forward to living apart form my family and kids, and want to make it as short of a time as possible

l&d and post partum is a hard place to crack. I have seen some lines pop up here and there but they are very competitive. Medical Surgical areas would be your best bet in finding a job unless you have a critical care specialty education or experience. Try everywhere and see if you can also pick up casually in the medical unit as well.

akire27 · Aug 9, 2017

Do you think it is even worth my time and money to bother with this perinatal specialty course?

Fiona59 · Aug 10, 2017

A couple of things to consider.

Can you afford to maintain two homes? Pay for childcare on the island?

Is your husband in the military? If yes, you can claim your relocation costs and new license on the move.

Check your hours paid into EI. If you have to leave your job and relocate because of a spousal move, you qualify for cheques.

Living in two provinces is hard. You will not land a job with VIHA when you are out of province. And as others have said and my experience has proven, you start casual and work your way in and up. You can't work casual from Alberta.

akire27 · Aug 10, 2017

Thanks Fiona. You do bring up a lot of good points to consider. Lots of them I have considered already and determined they won't be problems for us.

In Alberta, most new nurses start casually. I actually prefer to work casual at this point in my life. I have been applying to full/part time, casual and temp positions. All of which I would be happy to receive an offer in. I am open to all sorts of areas of nursing. Would you expand on what you mean by you can't work casual from Alberta? My current job is casual, so I will be working here(Alberta) and any chance I get, head to the island to be with my family and job hunt for a while.

frances81 · Jan 29, 2018

Having graduated from U of Vic in 2013 & taken my BCIT Perinatal Specialty theory courses & first practicum I can tell you:

- VIHA/ Island Health is extremely hard to crack into. They have a new grad hiring program and guarantee anywhere from 20-100% of new grads will be hired yearly. There is a yearly glut of new nurses (approx 180 or so) in a small location. Unfortunately I graduated on a extremely low year and the only position I got with VIHA after 2 years and hundreds of applications was a casual position over an hour up island in geri-psych. I didn't keep that position long due to feeling unsafe with the mountainous drive and workplace violence while pregnant. I finally moved to Alberta to work rurally as a PHN as I gave up on VIHA.

-the LDR unit is one of the most competitive areas to get into in Vic. It's very small and has a very tight-knit (some say clicky) group of long term nurses. Because you actually have to complete two 4 week practicums there before you might even be considered as a casual on Mom&Babe, I'd suggest worrying less about taking your courses now and just concentrate on finding any job with VIHA on the southern island and getting settled. I'd also suggest using your husbands address and getting a Victoria number as being external is hard enough without being out of province.

Good luck!!! Check back and let me know how it goes. :)