Hi Bea,
I’m gonna put my 2 cents in with the risk of starting world war III
You stated, “each year hundreds of nursing graduates come our of universities in Australia and finding themselves in the real world of public health system” There are many people are out there that are in the same, if not, worse predicament than graduate nurses. Welcome to what many people have been dealing with a lot longer than a few months. It’s called a ‘competitive job market’ Many Australians have a family to support, a mortgage to pay, no job and a lack of any qualifications. As you can imagine there are some pretty desperate people out there that will take any job they can get. Unemployment is not a choice for them like it seems to be for you.
Just because you have finished university and now have your degree does not mean you are entitled to a job. It is no secret that there are limited grad jobs compared with graduates in the public system. You cannot blame the government that you missed out on a grad position. The successful graduate nurses either,
A – Had better grades than you
B – Performed better in the interview than you
C –Constructed a better cover letter and resume
D – did all of the above.
No conspiracy. The best person for the job was chosen. That’s how the recruitment process works. Some win, some loose.
You said…“We want every nursing RN graduate have the opportunity to practice their skills. This is very important” Then stop blaming the government and go look for a job elsewhere.
Think outside the square. The public health system is not the only way to get a new graduate job.
Ever thought of joining the private sector? Gradplus a 1 year grad program, at well over 30 hospitals in 3 states is available to all recently graduated Registered Nurses - http://www.gradplus.com.au/. Open now for applications.
This next quote is from the NSW government site – Graduate Nursing application page itself…..
“Employment opportunities also exist in the Private and Disability Care Sectors. Vacancies in these sectors are usually advertised in newspapers and on hospital web sites”
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/employment/Pages/Recruit.aspx
Or, here’s a thought....what about spending your graduate year working in Aboriginal Health? Or in aged care or mental health? Theres 2 ways that this scenario could go….
Prospective boss interviews someone who he sees has been proactive and stepped out of their comfort zone to help care for some of Australia’s most vulnerable… OR… receives job application from someone who has been unemployed since graduating university What are you going to say to them if they ask you why you haven’t been able to find work? That you were too good to bite the bullet and take a non-public system nursing position, or… SHOCK HORROR….a non-skilled job to tide you by? Yep, employers tend to see long unexplained periods of unemployment as a bad thing, go figure.
Stop sabotaging your chances of landing a decent job - Sometimes we all have to settle for second best.