Anaesthetic nurse

wanderingnurse

Hey guys, first time poster here
I was just wondering if anyone here has any advice or experience...I’m an anaesthetic and recovery nurse and I’ve been thinking about travelling to Oz solo on a WHV next year. I’ll have a little over 2 years experience by then. I was wondering how easy nursing jobs are to get in this area? Whether agency or casual pool in a hospital is best?
I’m kind of open to going anywhere in oz, haven’t got my heart set on a particular region yet. So any advice is really appreciated!

pete4130

On the WHV you will only be able to work for one employer/job for months at the most. This can put some employers off hiring people on WHV.

I would imagine with your qualification and skills that finding a job in your profession wouldn't be too difficult & as you don't have your heart set on any particular area, the option is there to go work and live in regional/rural Australian areas.
There is usually a high demand for nurses and healthcare workers in regional areas. The rate of pay is usually very good, the cost of living is usually much lower and you would also qualify for your 2nd year WHV if you work in a regional area for 88 days (you need to check area postcodes to see if they qualify for 2nd WHV). You could do that for 6 months, have a large chunk of savings and know you have 18 months left on your WHV.

If you enjoyed your time here your profession is probably on the skills list to get permanent residency if you wanted it.

Tom Mann Centuria

Try and get your theatre nurse course done, lot of hospitals use theatre nurses for anaesthetics and recovery. And you're a general nurse at the end of of the day, wouldn't limit yourself to such specific role if you want choice of destination.

aido79

pete4130 wrote: »

On the WHV you will only be able to work for one employer/job for months at the most. This can put some employers off hiring people on WHV.

I would imagine with your qualification and skills that finding a job in your profession wouldn't be too difficult & as you don't have your heart set on any particular area, the option is there to go work and live in regional/rural Australian areas.
There is usually a high demand for nurses and healthcare workers in regional areas. The rate of pay is usually very good, the cost of living is usually much lower and you would also qualify for your 2nd year WHV if you work in a regional area for 88 days (you need to check area postcodes to see if they qualify for 2nd WHV). You could do that for 6 months, have a large chunk of savings and know you have 18 months left on your WHV.

If you enjoyed your time here your profession is probably on the skills list to get permanent residency if you wanted it.

Nursing does not qualify someone for a second year visa regardless of where they do it. Here is the list of jobs which qualify for the second year visa:
http://www.visabureau.com/australia/specified-work.aspx

Irish_Aus

http://www.swingshift.com.au/

wanderingnurse

Thanks so much for your helpful replies! I was thinking I may need to do the farm work alright, just to cover myself in case I don’t get sponsored in the first year. I don’t think I’ll have the theatre course by the time I leave as the hospital I work in don’t pay for it. So I’m hoping the 2 years experience will be enough...

Ciarand11- that agency looks pretty good. Thanks for linking it. Have you used it yourself by any chance? Most of the nurses I know use HCA but are having trouble getting enough shifts.

Irish_Aus

Hi Wanderingnurse, I almost worked for that agency a few years ago. I know the Director was travelling a lot to the UK and Ireland to attract nurses in, especially people on WHV. At the time they had contracts with all the major hospitals across Australia, they struggled to get people to work in regional areas. I live in Tasmania and there is a massive shortage of nurses, there is also state sponsorship here as well. Good luck

amtc

My cousin works in Royal Perth Hospital...can apply direct. .she was saying they are desperately looking for staff

One of the things that she said was because a lot of the population are immigrants from here they really prioritise Irish people. Now she works in geriatric care so may be specialised for that. Just thought it was interesting

My cousin qualifies for a residency visa (she was born there...accidentally...which is a whole other story) but she was telling me of some of the work arounds for regional work. It's not just fruit and farm picking now. Apparently you can do tour guiding now. My cousin's mate did it in Margaret River. Nice one!

wanderingnurse

Thanks so much ciarand11! That sounds really good then. I’ve never thought much about Tasmania so I’m going to look into that. Definitely different to the usual Irish nurses going to Sydney or Melbourne!

amtc wrote: »

My cousin works in Royal Perth Hospital...can apply direct. .she was saying they are desperately looking for staff

One of the things that she said was because a lot of the population are immigrants from here they really prioritise Irish people. Now she works in geriatric care so may be specialised for that. Just thought it was interesting

My cousin qualifies for a residency visa (she was born there...accidentally...which is a whole other story) but she was telling me of some of the work arounds for regional work. It's not just fruit and farm picking now. Apparently you can do tour guiding now. My cousin's mate did it in Margaret River. Nice one!

Thanks so much for your reply that’s brilliant that you can apply directly! Didn’t know that about the regional work either. I was convinced that it was all fruit picking so tour guiding for a few months wouldn’t be bad at all.

Thanks again for all your replies I feel much more comfortable work wise going now!