Due to recent changes regarding applications for International nurses to Australia and the combining of the nursing boards to one central nursing board in Australia AHPRA I have started a new thread for people to discuss the new process on working in Australia.
Currently New Zealand is not accepting new applicants from International trained nurses except those that meet the Trans Tasman Mutual Recognition Agreement {TTMR} this will be updated once the New Zealand nursing board reopen their books to International nurses.
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency AHPRA
Hello! Has anyone contacted College of Nursing in Burwood recently? Have you guys happened to fish out some info about their BP and the schedules for next year? havent got a reply from them since I sent an email last week. Prolly it just caught up with the holidays.
I got my endorsement letter/ eligibility letter last 22nd of dec., so I am basicallly on my school hunting phase now. Anyho, I wish everyone a prosperous 2011! :)
hi mikyong! it's been a while since i last checked the thread. may i ask when you sent your application to ahpra? i applied and sent my requirements to victoria last april2010 but the new system caught up with me and they sent me back my docs last july2010. was able to resend my docs to ahpra last august but haven't heard from them since then. tried sending an email and inquired about the status of my application, but to no avail...was just wondering if you sent your docs just recently.
giving a shoutout to liaa who i believe was in the same situation as i was back then.
hi mikyong! it's been a while since i last checked the thread. may i ask when you sent your application to ahpra? i applied and sent my requirements to victoria last april2010 but the new system caught up with me and they sent me back my docs last july2010. was able to resend my docs to ahpra last august but haven't heard from them since then. tried sending an email and inquired about the status of my application, but to no avail...was just wondering if you sent your docs just recently.
giving a shoutout to liaa who i believe was in the same situation as i was back then.
hello! we were on the same boat, bbniss. I reapplied and sent my application with the additional requirements to Ahpra victoria 2nd week of august. I received a letter from my registration officer on the 3rd week of november informing me to send my IELTS result.. which I did send to NBV before. I tried to call her through the number given in the letter to tell her that I already sent it to NBV, but I had problems getting through. I had been through hell that time, I was desperately calling the number everyday but it didnt work. Fortunately, 2 weeks after, I received an email from her asking me if I received the letter. We communicated thru email. She told me that they found my IELTS and she apologized. I was advised to just wait for the result of my application in writing. I got the eligibilty / pre-registration letter 2 weeks after her last email.
The last time I checked (during the holidays), liaa is still waiting for hers as well. I hope you receive yours soon! happy new year! :)
For some strange reason, I cannot get into my old account. Anyway, Ceridywn isn't joking about the value of experience when it comes to employment. I had a batch mate who didn't have any experience and she went back home after her bridging course (Deakin). Anyway, my sister is already in Melbourne and I'm scheduled for the March 28 intake at VCHN. Is there anyone here attending that intake date?
What is it with nurses from your country, they can be advised of something and they totally ignore or tell you that you are bursting their bubble or come up with 'fighting and winning'?
The truth is no experience is of no asset as a nurse in this country. A piece of paper that says you are an RN is a piece of tree that has been pulped down and made a piece of paper.
Experience that comes after that piece of paper is the real learning of nursing. Communication and caring for patients effectively comes after that piece of paper and one should not think of oneself as the be all and end all as a nurse just because of that piece of paper hs their name on it and capable of any specialty and environment (another country or ie: remote area nursing) just because of that piece of paper.
I understand that many countries will not even entertain nursing registration until 1-2 years has been gained.
Australia does give registration and hopes to give inexperienced nurses from OS experience, but they are not responsible and do not owe inexperienced OS nurses this.
It is not impossible to get work here still in 2011 to get full-time work as an inexperienced RN but come to terms that it will be very difficult. Do not consider jobs that are not in your scope of practise as a beginner RN. Within your scope of practise, which worries me about these bridging courses....do they instill this in their education?
And I still say 3 months as a volunteer nurse in a foreign hospital is a toe dip in the water with Australian nursing experience. It is different here, I do not think most inexperienced nurses realise this, it is not supposed to be task orientated the way we communicate to our patients is different (have worked with OS RNs and get feedback from patients) we have different cultural mores (which in a 8 week bridging course cannot be learnt) and values (ditto) and scope of practise...that we work with as a health professional.
As an experienced nurse you will have dealt with different people of different ethnic and socio economic groups and possibly different cultures and gained much of these abilities to learn the differences quickly and recognise these and have the ability to set right, but as inexperience no. along with the technical and task orientated skills you will have gained.
You are all very young and have not even gained many life experience skills as well, these also leads to over confidence.
So to say it is not much different here is wrong, we have many, many, cultures here as well as our Australian Aborigines so therefore it is much different and we must care for all of these people as individuals. Our whole health system is different.
I wish you all well, but do not believe you have the right nor the experience to be a fully fledged RN in Australia and are qualified for everthing because you have a piece of paper that says you are an RN.
I'm sure it's all been clear to everyone that inexperienced nurses have a difficult chance of getting a job in Australia. But what's wrong in believing? Why put down the hopes of others? If they still want to pursue it then let them be. It's their consequence. It's true that not all fight is a winning battle, but if we all decided to quit then it'll be just a lose situation. It's ok to give a warning or advice and I so appreciate it, but to say that WE SHOULDN'T BELIEVE IN OURSELVES is a big no-no.
You missed the point, blinded by the piece of paper.
Believe in yourself that you can do this and will work within your scope of practise and will not be too intimidated and have the courage to ask for help if you do not understand a procedure or a drug etc etc. as some OS nurses feel they have some sort of 'reputation' to behold and do not. Yes.
Believe in yourself that you will pass a bridging course and get sponsorship, Yes
Be careful to have some humility and realise you do not know everything with that piece of paper. As I also say to new Australian graduates that I mentor.
I want the best for the people that you care for and knowing and appreciating that you know very little is the start of a brilliant nursing career, which does not seem to come across here, anyway all the best and what will be will be, what come around, comes around good luck.
I came here to Australia as an overseas RN who did a bridging course with La Trobe with little to almost hardly any experience in the hospital setting. As a fellow Filipino nurse, who then was on the same boat with all the rest of the nurses who can hardly find work as a nurse in the Philippines, I could only try to invest my time in various trainings and volunteer works. I can definitely say I lack the hands-on experience when it comes to patient care. That said however, I know myself and I believe in myself. I knew I didn't get through two bachelor degrees if I didn't have it in me.
Like I always say... if you are clever to easily pick up things and you are confident using the English vernacular (Confident that you are comprehensible by all means) then your chances of landing a job would dramatically increase. It basically all boils down to how you present yourself once you are given an interview. Of course do not expect too much to land a job in acute hospital setting if you have no experience whatsoever (not saying you can't,) but then you can probably get a job in nursing homes. And there are quite a number of agencies you can apply with who would be glad to hire you even if you have little experience because there are plenty of hospitals and nursing homes who are in need of on-call nurses/casual nurses.
Now in our batch of 26 students in La Trobe for the last intake, everyone has got a job. And I know of a few who didn't have any experience at all but even got jobs working in acute or nursing homes. They were fresh graduate RN's that went here to do their bridging course after getting their RN license in the Philippines. It was hard for some to obtain a job especially for those who lacked the experience while it was quite easy for those who had extensive experience to boast. I had little experience but I was able to get offers from a nursing home, from an agency, from a hospital and offers for interview with 2 or 3 more other hospitals which I already declined.
Put it simply, your chances of getting hired increases when you obtain your nursing registration. Different institutions will then take time to look at your CV when you are already registered. If however, you do not meet their criteria then of course your application will be denied. Then again, there are some that will give you a chance and give you an interview especially if they are a bit in dire need of staff. Still, your interview matters a lot. Don't think because they are desperately looking for staff that your interview will simply be for formality reasons. That's where you strut your stuff... And make sure to speak fluent English as much as possible because I cannot stress this enough that how fluently you speak matters A LOT!
Now I never bothered to say these things before because I just simply want people to experience things first hand rather than just getting people's hopes up. First, because I do not want to be quoted wrongly and second, it all depends on the individual. Whether you are smart and knows how to get around tight situations or whether you're one of those who simply expect good things to come knocking on your door. I will say this again and as I said before... Job hunting is hard but not that hard.
Those people who says they have friends who went back home because they couldn't get a job yadayadayada... Well, what were the underlying reasons? Did they have enough time in their visa to warrant enough time to look for jobs? Did they exhaust all measures available for them before they decided to go back? Were they picky in terms of job availability? Etc...
Australia is not desperate to hire inexperienced nurses... That is true. However, being inexperienced doesn't mean you aren't smart enough to pick up things quickly while you're doing your placement and you didn't absorb anything while you are in the classroom studying the theories. Now, there are still plenty of facilities and nursing homes who are after permanent staff nurses and hard working nurses. They may test out your knowledge base during interviews and that's where you prove to them that you may be lacking in experience but you know what to do and are clever enough to quickly learn the ropes. Besides during most interviews, they will ask you scenarios in which they will test how you will be able to deal with things. Even without experience, some of you have passed the NCLEX which has questions that pertain to actual settings. But rather than ticking a choice, this time you simply have to explain and narrate your answer. Therefore, it goes back to your knowledge base and how comprehensible you speak.
Also, remember how some of your review instructors for the local board exam has little to no experience at all? But when they teach, they speak as if they have already done all those nursing procedures and stuff. And as a student, weren't you impressed?
Job hunting isn't easy at all but you still have a fighting chance...
I came here to Australia as an overseas RN who did a bridging course with La Trobe with little to almost hardly any experience in the hospital setting. As a fellow Filipino nurse, who then was on the same boat with all the rest of the nurses who can hardly find work as a nurse in the Philippines, I could only try to invest my time in various trainings and volunteer works. I can definitely say I lack the hands-on experience when it comes to patient care. That said however, I know myself and I believe in myself. I knew I didn't get through two bachelor degrees if I didn't have it in me.
Like I always say... if you are clever to easily pick up things and you are confident using the English vernacular (Confident that you are comprehensible by all means) then your chances of landing a job would dramatically increase. It basically all boils down to how you present yourself once you are given an interview. Of course do not expect too much to land a job in acute hospital setting if you have no experience whatsoever, but then you can probably get a job in nursing homes. And there are quite a number of agencies you can apply with who would be glad to hire you even if you have little experience because there are plenty of hospitals and nursing homes who are in need of on-call nurses/casual nurses.
Now in our batch of 26 students in La Trobe for the last intake, everyone has got a job. And I know of a few who didn't have any experience at all. They were fresh graduate RN's that went here to do their bridging course after getting their RN license in the Philippines. It was hard for some to obtain a job especially for those who lacked the experience while it was quite easy for those who had extensive experience to boast. I had little experience but I was able to get offers from a nursing home, from an agency, from a hospital and offers for interview with 2 or 3 more other hospitals which I already declined.
Put it simply, your chances of getting hired increases when you obtain your nursing registration. Different institutions will then take time to look at your CV when you are already registered. If however, you do not meet their criteria then of course your application will be denied. Then again, there are some that will give you a chance and give you an interview especially if they are a bit in dire need of staff. Still, your interview matters a lot. Don't think because they are desperately looking for staff that your interview will simply be for formality reasons. That's where you strut your stuff... And make sure to speak fluent English as much as possible because I cannot stress this enough that how fluently you speak matters A LOT!
Now I never bothered to say these things before because I just simply want people to experience things first hand rather than just getting people's hopes up. First, because I do not want to be quoted wrongly and second, it all depends on the individual. Whether you are smart and knows how to get around tight situations or whether you're one of those who simply expect good things to come knocking on your door. I will say this again and as I said before... Job hunting is hard but not that hard.
Those people who says they have friends who went back home because they couldn't get a job yadayadayada... Well, what were the underlying reasons? Did they have enough time in their visa to warrant enough time to look for jobs? Did they exhaust all measures available for them before they decided to go back? Were they picky in terms of job availability? Etc...
Australia is not desperate to hire inexperienced nurses... That is true. However, being inexperienced doesn't mean you aren't smart enough to pick up things quickly while you're doing your placement and you didn't absorb anything while you are in the classroom studying the theories. Now, there are still plenty of facilities and nursing homes who are after permanent staff nurses and hard working nurses. They may test out your knowledge base during interviews and that's where you prove to them that you may be lacking in experience but you know what to do and are clever enough to quickly learn the ropes. Besides during most interviews, they will ask you scenarios in which they will test how you will be able to deal with things. Even without experience, some of you have passed the NCLEX which has questions that pertain to actual settings. But rather than ticking a choice, this time you simply have to explain and narrate your answer. Therefore, it goes back to your knowledge base and how comprehensible you speak.
Also, remember how some of your review instructors for the local board exam has little to no experience at all? But when they teach, they speak as if they have already done all those nursing procedures and stuff. And as a student, weren't you impressed?
Job hunting isn't easy at all but you still have a fighting chance...
Good luck.
well said Haoyin. You are truly a real Filipino, you have the Filipino spirit, the right attitude and right perspective. Well done and thank you. I wish you all the best in your career in Australia. And for sure you will be a great RN from the Philippines that will excel and become an efficient RN that is practicing in Australia. You have a very kind heart as well. :)
You are truly a real Filipino, you have the Filipino spirit, the right attitude and right perspective. Well done and thank you. I wish you all the best in your career in Australia. And for sure you will be a great RN from the Philippines that will excel and become an efficient RN that is practicing in Australia. You have a very kind heart as well. :)
bbniss
7 Posts
hi mikyong! it's been a while since i last checked the thread. may i ask when you sent your application to ahpra? i applied and sent my requirements to victoria last april2010 but the new system caught up with me and they sent me back my docs last july2010. was able to resend my docs to ahpra last august but haven't heard from them since then. tried sending an email and inquired about the status of my application, but to no avail...was just wondering if you sent your docs just recently.
giving a shoutout to liaa who i believe was in the same situation as i was back then.