I start work officially tomorrow, starting with an orientation at 8 am. I'm nervous about having to drive there. Hubs is going for his 4 hours training starting at 10.30 am. So I'll be taking a test drive with him to Nedlands when he gets home. Our 1st drive there for my interview didn't go very well & he was the 1 driving. I wanted to use my handphone as my GPS but he refused, saying that it'll be dangerous if a call or sms comes in & my navigation disappears. To think that I'm more nervous about driving there than starting a new job.
We had a good weekend with Ton. He was shivering, his ears & paw pads were cold to the touch. So we got him a sweater at City Farmers. We tried a couple of different designs but the XXS was too small & the XS was too big. The only 1 that fitted well was the sweater. I never believed in buying fanciful accessories for dogs. I don't understand the rational of bling bling collars, fanciful bowls, "nail polish" for dogs, dying their fur a multitude of colours that sort of thing. In SG, doggy clothes are merely for fashion coz the weather's too hot to keep them on for long periods of time. Why not spend the money on things that contribute to their health instead?
We left Ton home alone yesterday for 2 hour as a trial. He took to it alright just as expected. I'm only worried that he'll be cold. Hopefully the sweater's enough. We got him a bunny toy for $3 at The Reject Shop & he absolutely loves it. D & J came over with their daughter to see Ton & to play with him. Surprisingly, he's quite good off leash around the house. He comes back when called when he goes too near to the start of the driveway. I think he somehow knows that's part of the house & anything beyond is "outside". Smart boy.
Congratulations on your first day of work!
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind, I would like to ask tips from you on job hunting as a Nurse. I have 2 daughters working at Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital as a Nurse. Daughter A used to be in the Ortho then was transferred to the Medical Ward. Daughter B used to be in the Surgical but is now currently in the Isolation Ward. She was promoted to Staff Nurse 1 a month ago. Both studied in Nanyang Polytechnic.
They are already Residents here in Oz and will be permanently moving here May of next year, when they complete the 3 years bond.
My questions:
1. How did you go about taking the Australia Board Exam? the AHPRA? Is there no exemption for that? Can you do that online?
2. How did you go about finding a job as a Nurse?
Hope to hear from you.
Hi Lorna! I'll try my best to answer your questions. When you say your daughters are residents do you mean PR? If they're PRs & have intention of getting a degree, they can do it here in Oz at resident rate.
Delete1. As far as I know, Singaporeans don't have to take any exams. I have a friend in Sydney who used to work in an agency (or something), assisting nurses apply for registration with AHPRA & get them jobs. She told me that she had a couple of Singaporeans with Diplomas rejected by AHPRA for registration as they don't have a degree. I'm not sure if it still applies. Your daughters can try but if it's not successful, you'll have to forfeit the processing fees which is a few hundred dollars. I applied for registration when I was halfway through my degree & I completed it, sent them my cert & transcript before they approved my registration. There's no exemption from AHPRA as it is something like SNB. You need to be registered to practise nursing in Oz. I don't think you can do this online. I had to print out the application form from AHPRA's website & courier it to their office.
2. I started applying for jobs when I was still in SG. The only hospital that got back to me & gave me a phone interview was Joondalup. They asked me to contact them once I've arrived in Perth which I did. But becoz of my lack of recent working experience (my MOT exp was 10 years old), they told me they will have to put me into a 6 mths OTJ training program. They only had 2 places & I didn't get chosen. I applied for 20 over jobs advertised on Seek & all of them got rejected. I didn't even get offered interviews. Just outright rejections. I'm not sure if this is the norm but I also came at a bad time as the govt was freezing head count for all public hospitals till end of June. The job agencies were of no help at all. Absolutely nobody got back to me.
My most recent exp was in eye OT. Before I left my previous company, 1 of the surgeons I was assisting told me to contact LEI which I did. I dropped the HR an email but upon knowing I was still in SG at that time, I didn't hear from them anymore. When I got to Perth, I emailed HR again. Pure stroke of good fortune, a staff went on maternity leave & they were hiring. So I applied & got it.
I heard many people say that employers value local work exp very much. I was lucky that what they do in LEI is very similar to what I've been doing in SG & hence gave me an edge over the rest of the applicants. I hope this helped answer your questions. Do drop me a note if there're other things you'll like to know.
Forgot to add that I did my degree in Sg 2 years part time with Griffith University (under Kaplan). So AHPRA recognised my degree since it's an Australian Uni.
DeleteThanks for the reply. We got in touch with AHPRA and was told that despite being a Permanent Resident in Oz, my daughters will still be treated as an international applicant as their education and experience were from overseas. So...we are in the process of gathering their requirements. Is it possible to be referred to your friend who helps in the processing of AHPRA from Singapore applicants?
ReplyDeleteAnother thing we are looking at is the degree path... Oh it is so expensive to study in an Australian Uni while in Singapore! We are still searching for a uni here in Brisbane with the same curriculum as NYP so that less studying time. So far , we can't find any....The ones that we know are Curtin, Flinders, La Trobe and University of Sydney.
I am kinda curious why you chose Perth. Are there more nursing jobs there compared to the other states?
My friend doesn't do that anymore unfortunately. She found another job 1 month later & has been working as a scrub nurse.
DeleteMy degree is from Griffith, Queensland. I think if it's done on a full time basis it should be 1 year. It costs about sgd16k for the 2 years part time course.
I heard that the big cities like Sydney & Melbourne have more jobs but I can't verify that info. My inital choice was adelaide but was told by a friend that employment is very quiet there for a while now. I wanted a quieter place so I wasn't keen on Sydney & Melbourne. Perth is the closest to sg & also my husband has a friend here. So we ended up in Perth.
Hi again Missy Jo! Were you required by AHPRA to sit for an IELTS exam when you processed your AHPRA registration?
DeleteMy daughter will be studying in UQ (University of Queensland) for a year to be able to get the Bachelors degree in Nursing and I thought that once she finish that course, she will be automatically be a registered nurse in Oz?
No, at the time of my application, IELTS is not required by APHRA. Subsequently they reinstated the need for IELTS but not sure about now. But I had to do my IELTS (professional version) for PR application & needed to get at least 7 in all categories.
DeleteI studied in Sg so I'm not sure if she'll be automatically registered. I think she'll still have to fill in the application forms & send necessary documents for registration. Perhaps she can ask her lecturer?
Thanks heaps for your reply. I saw your post on that dated 3 Jan 2014 and gave that link to my daughter.
ReplyDeleteI am not a Singaporean but I lived in SG for 9 yrs before moving here. I can relate to your posts, including being an introvert or so.