This is a guest post by Peter Kwong RN. Peter was recently an intern with NSWNMA in the Union Summer program. He was going to write for Nurse Uncut about his experience as a union intern but the bigger story emerged that he is an unemployed new grad. Other states in Australia had serious rates of new grad unemployment in 2012 – is it spreading to NSW?
Send a message to health ministers about new grad unemployment.
My story starts in 2007 when I was an accountant and was made redundant in the recession. From 2008 to 2010 I was working casually. I was basically living with no income and moved back in with my parents.
At that time, I was very frustrated that I could not resume my career as an accountant because there were too many new graduates and a big pool of accountants with 10 to 20 years experience in the market.
The experience of unemployment is stressful, possibly leading to depression, self blaming and anger. I was constantly looking for casual jobs to maintain an income.
After long consultation with my family, I finally decided to change careers from accounting to nursing. So I spent two years studying fulltime at the University of Sydney (Master of Nursing graduate entry), hoping nursing could provide me with a stable career not affected by the economy’s ups and downs.
Peter rides the Union Summer wave with his fellow intern Katelyn.
At the end of the course I applied for new graduate positions at several Sydney hospitals. But for some reason I was unsuccessful in gaining a position in any of them.
I then found out that I am not on the waiting list of new graduates in NSW. So instead I have been applying for positions at NSW Health, private hospitals and in aged care.
However, the things that frustrate me the most are
· All public and private positions require one to three years of post-registered experience and as a graduate, where can I get the experience when I can’t even get a position?
· Nursing homes need RNs but they only want RNs for night shift, which again doesn’t help me because usually night shift RNs are in charge of 50 to 60 patients.
· I’ve even applied for agency jobs, but they said I have no experience and refuse to take any year 1 RNs.
I have applied for jobs all over NSW and interstate. But no luck so far – I keep getting ‘unsuccessful’ emails due to lack of experience. Sigh~~~
Trying to get a step up into nursing…
The sort of nursing I want to do in the future is community and aged care, specialising as a Nurse Practitioner in community nursing. I think this role would be very rewarding and would benefit the community. But first I need a job as a starting point or stepping stone to start a career.
It’s sad, but with current employment issues, with the government cutting nurses, there isn’t much I can do but put my dream on hold.
I changed careers for better security! But it looks like nursing is full at the moment. I feel like I am stuck with nowhere to go. It’s very frustrating. Did I study nursing with no job prospects? Was it a waste of time? And the government keeps saying we are short of skilled workers and need to employ overseas workers…
If you are also an unemployed new grad, comment below or send us your story: nurseuncut@nswnma.asn.au
Postcript on Peter’s Union Summer experience
I was the Treasurer of the Sydney University Nursing Society when Tom Schrader suggested that I should join NSWNMA and see what the real nursing union does.
As an intern I got the chance to learn how NSWNMA provides services to members, learn about enterprise bargaining with a non-unionised age care facility and understand more about the legal and information services provided by the Association.
Peter helps student nurses sign up for free associate membership.
It was fun and surprising during my first few days of internship to be thrown into the deep end communicating to new graduate nurses in hospitals and student nurses at orientation days. At the end of the three-week program, I had a lot of insight into the function of the nurses’ union and as a future registered nurse I will definitely join and help spread the word to unite all nurses!
This is a problem in WA too. A young friend of mine who has recently graduated worked as an AIN during her uni studies but she has been unable to get into a grad program anywhere. She has now had to resort to returning to the nursing home where she worked as an AIN because she has no other income. The other side of this problem in WA is the number of visa nurses coming in, mostly from Africa and India. It could be construed that Australia does not want Australian nurses.
Peter, it is a fact in today’s working environment, no employment is secure. When nursing moved to uni-based quals, away from hospital training, it was seen as a ‘two-edged-sword’. Clinical knowledge is required as technology and advanced clinical demands grow. Complex cases are a fact of hospital presentations.
I strongly advise you to capitalise [an accounting term
] on your diverse language skills. These are surely in demand, as too few comprehend cultural demands of many patients in hospital settings. Having a degree is not an insurance policy of employment.
You switched. That demonstrates an openness of mind. Many don’t have this ability. Did you consider accounting in Treasury Dept either State or Fed levels?
As retired nurses now, via NSWNMA we are forming groups to mentor, share, discuss and support all nurses, as most of us have minimum of 17-35 years hospital experience.
NIGHT SHIFT:- Ask yourself this. Why did I not take that position? Most residents in Aged Care do sleep and require few RN admin meds given out. Other staff attend to ADLs or other needs, without demands of an RN. Don’t feel you are the only one on the floor.
Peter, have you thought of gaining full Quals to take bloods on wards or in community? This simple issue of anatomy is simple and thus you get the foot onto the floor and can gain ‘work experience’. Once again use your language skills. Go seek at Community Health Clinics as to gain unpaid experience so you can build on it. Ask for cover letter to add to your CV/resume.
WA: They are screaming for RNs in the mining sectors and in some remote regions. Good luck and hope this support opens wider aspects for you.
” …screaming for RNs in the mining sectors … ” Myth!
The only jobs that are available are for highly qualified ‘multi-taskers’ – that is, RNs with the full suite of WA State WorkCover courses; formal quals in WHS and significant ED experience.
A highly mechanised workplace environment, such as an operational mine, is no place for ‘new grads’. I applied a few years ago and was told twenty years experience means nothing. They want the precise quals for the job + experience before you set foot in the place.
I graduated in 2010 and received an offer in the NSW and Victorian grad programs. I took the NSW offer, and most of my classmates also received offers of employment. During the application process, I found that a lot of new grads were applying to metro hospitals. These programs may have more places on offer but they also have a larger pool of applicants.
The rural and regional hospitals have fewer places, but are certainly less competitive. The hospital that I work at now (in rural NSW) offers one new grad place each year. We had no one take up the offer in 2011 or 2012. I also noticed that there were a few unfilled positions in the Victorian program in 2011.
The hospital I did my new grad program in had all their positions filled for 2011 but they also employed new grads outside of the program as ward nurses. These part time first year RNs were not officially in the program but were allowed to attend our study days.
My advice to any new grad would be, don’t be picky. Apply to more than one state program. If you don’t get in, get on White Pages, write down phone numbers for every hospital you can find and start ringing their Nurse Managers. Have a copy of your resume up to date and ready to email. Ask them if there are any positions available (even part time or casual or temporary) for RNs on the medical, surgical or aged care units. Ask for a phone interview if you can, and be prepared to move at short notice (many rural hospitals still have nurse accommodation that you can live in short term).
The hospital I work at now has had three RNs retire in our aged care unit in the last 8 months. The most recent open position had many, many applications from overseas nurses and it remains unfilled.
If you are still looking for a job Peter, I bet you would find one here. You wouldn’t be limited to working in the aged care unit either. If you told them you wanted general nursing experience they would almost certainly rotate you through the wards as they have done with me and the other junior RNs. Best of luck to you!
I am one of the many new graduates who missed out getting in to the New Grad program. My EEN registration and clinical experience of at least two years did not make any difference. I was told I am on the list for a future call. I was very disappointed and disheartened. Three years of hard work, and all those clinical placements meant nothing for the employers. I have since applied for many RN positions but I was told I have to have at least one year of post grad experience. I also called my previously employed nursing agent and they gave me the same answer.
“Sorry, yes you worked for us as an EEN, but as an RN you have to have one year of post grad experience, we can’t employ you.”
So I went to see if I could have a chance with nursing homes, but I had same obstacle. Nursing homes also looking for experienced RNs, not for new grads. If I am not given any chance how can I get this one year experience? It sounds very unfair.
I created a Facebook page for new graduate nurses called “New Graduate Nurses say ‘Give us jobs’”. Please come and ‘Like’ us. Thank you for your support.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Graduate-Nurses-say-Give-us-jobs/557231054310095
I agree, unemployment is a depressing process. I’ve been to numerous interviews with NSW Health … they are all unsuccessful and they know that I am a new graduate nurse. All the interview questions they ask are for experienced RNs. I have trouble answering the question because I don’t have the experience to reflect on.
Nevertheless, I have just “Liked” the page you created.
Dear Peter, I just saw your reply to my comments, thank you and welcome to our FB page.
We are having a campaign and petition for New Grad Nurses who are left unsupported by the government. It must change! United we stand.
This is our community page for the petition, please sign everyone, come and sign our FB page as well.
Thank you for your support.
ANMF also have a petition page;
http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/budget-for-more-graduate-jobs-for-nurses
Bea,
Simply put, are you prepared to travel in Australia? If so, look at the ACT, or Northern Territory or Alice Springs. Are you open to indigenous nursing prac to get these required hours completed? Take a real good look-see.
Or see if the Army / Navy / Police will give you space… They all need nurses. Let’s know what you reckon. It’s your life, your future. Remain positive.
Dear Ken
Thank you for your comments and suggestions, it is greatly appreciated.
Kind regards
I’m very, very sympathetic for Peter. The graduating universities only use national requirement figures supplied by DOHA, and don’t correlate their intakes and potential outputs with state or local demand: it’s an unintentional forced migration. What’s really salient here, is that 40% of nurse graduates are in the mature age bracket, and have partners, children, houses and lives in the city they are training in, and aren’t prepared or able to relocate, so competition for local jobs is fierce (especially with the Tas government cutting its health budget by $400 million last year).
A couple of good examples of bad situations: I wrote a graduate program for a company three years ago: it was a small company and we only had one position available. The applicant we accepted was superb, I mean really top notch in every respect and never failed to disappoint. But our program was their 72nd job application since gradating!
Another example is from my days in Tasmania. The uni of Tasmania (UTAS) has a HUGE nursing school, in 2014 they expect to take in over 1300 students for first year, last year they took in 1100, and they now enjoy a very low attrition rate: gone are the 50% loss days, now it’s like 15%. But, the total number of graduate positions available in Tasmania every year: 77. And with so few permanent positions available in the state (the government has closed down the casual nurse bank for the state department of health), staff just don’t move, and it’s very common to come across staff that have spent their entire working career in a single entry-level position.
Early this year a local provider/grocer made the news when they advertised for a retail position and received over 400 applicants from new graduate nurses around the state.
So, good luck Peter, but my advice would be to bite the bullet and be prepared to travel where the work is. I worked in the NT for a number of years, and can heartily recommend Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and especially Alice Springs as fine places to work and live.
There are plenty of jobs in rural areas if you look. What a wonderful way to gain experience out in the country. Lifestyle and most country folk are much nicer than city folk.
I have rung Alice Spring Hospital and many rural places in NT. They all asked me, have I finished my new graduate program. It’s still hard to get your foot in the door without 12 months of experience.
Hey Peter, I myself am an unemployed new grad. I feel the pain of finishing but no experience. I feel very sad and hard done by the system.