Any military spouses ever worked civil service nurisng job overseas?

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I am looking for first hand info from someone about working as a nurse for the civil service. My husband is active duty army (in Iraq now) but we are thinking he is going to get orders to Germany soon after I graduate (Dec 04), or within a few months thereof. I am wanting information about the pay and procedure for hiring. In particular I am concerned that I might have trouble getting hired without much experience (if any) as an RN. I have to sign up for my preceptor experience in nursing school for next semester. It is an 80 hour internship basically in the area of nursing that we want to work in later. Because of this I am considering what types of opportunities I might have. I really want to do WOC nursing but doubt that I will have much of an opportunity to do that in the next few years if we end up in Germany. So I am now looking at Labor and Delivery, or mother/baby nursing, but doubtful that I will be able to get into that specialty in civil service with no real experience. Any info regarding this process is appreciated. Thanks!

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I am a military RN working on a Mother-Baby ward at a Naval Hospital in Japan. We have many civilian (civil service) RN's working for us, many of whom had no experience prior to being hired. We are severely understaffed and undersupplied overseas, and we take what we can get, plain and simple (as long as you have a license :) ). Please keep in mind, however, you may get hired without a problem (the pay is much less than it is in the states, I've heard) but you also may not be oriented correctly because of short-staffing. I was thrown into Mother-Baby without a proper orientation and work with a group of RN's who also had no prior OB experience. Not a fun situation let me tell you.

My experience is strictly limited to the Navy, so things may be completely different in the Army. Indeed, I know an RN that works in the ICU at Landstult (sp?), and she LOVES it. They are very busy and very state-of-the-art (as far as overseas military hospitals go).

As far as applying goes...all civil service jobs are on file in the Human Resources Office on each particular base. Good Luck!

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If you want to get a head start at finding out what type of civilian jobs are open overseas, or Germany in your case, the Army Civilian Personnel webpage is a good place to start. There are also details there on how to apply for those jobs and eligibility requirements. Here's a link for you: http://cpol.army.mil/ Just click the search for jobs link on top and fill in the appropriate info! I hope that helps a bit!

Cheers,

Tara

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My husband is in the Marines and we are expected to go to Japan in about a year. Do they hire LPN/LVN's there, or only RN's? Thanks!

I am a military RN working on a Mother-Baby ward at a Naval Hospital in Japan. We have many civilian (civil service) RN's working for us, many of whom had no experience prior to being hired. We are severely understaffed and undersupplied overseas, and we take what we can get, plain and simple (as long as you have a license :) ). Please keep in mind, however, you may get hired without a problem (the pay is much less than it is in the states, I've heard) but you also may not be oriented correctly because of short-staffing. I was thrown into Mother-Baby without a proper orientation and work with a group of RN's who also had no prior OB experience. Not a fun situation let me tell you.

My experience is strictly limited to the Navy, so things may be completely different in the Army. Indeed, I know an RN that works in the ICU at Landstult (sp?), and she LOVES it. They are very busy and very state-of-the-art (as far as overseas military hospitals go).

As far as applying goes...all civil service jobs are on file in the Human Resources Office on each particular base. Good Luck!

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My wife and I returned from a 3 year tour in Germany at Landstuhl in Dec '02. We were both fresh out of nursing school; I was military, she wasn't. Highlights of our personal experience related to your question:

The hiring officials were strict about having one year of experience before her application for a position was considered. She gained experience by volunteering through the Red Cross and working in a contract position in the Walk-In clinic. Long, long, story short: expect to have one year of experience before the Army will hire you.

The CPOL website mentioned before is the best first step. Until you know where your husband will be stationed, your efforts will be best directed towards completing an on-line resume or 'Resumix' that satisfies the Army. Per my wife, this can be somewhat frustrating. Advice: in the Knowledge/Skills/Attributes section, some folks related better success by typing in the glossary from their nursing textbook, etc. This was due to word matching between the job description submitted by the particular ward/clinic and all resumes in the system. More words, more matches.

There are three main Army hospitals in Germany (Landstuhl, Wurzburg, and Heidelburg) with many clinics. Openings were difficult to find before '02... the additional money flowing into the DOD and the increased patient load at Landstuhl may have given reason to add nurses, though there are Reservists activated to beef up staffing.

Once you get orders and know to which post your husband will be assigned you can narrow down application to a particular medical facility. Keep in mind that Germany isn't small and the bases are not all together. Depending on your husband's MOS, somewhere in the Kaiserslautern Military Community or Baumholder would be best for employment at Landstuhl. I'm not that familiar with Wurzburg or Heidelburg.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM with any other questions.

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