Nurses say jobs at Health New Zealand are becoming hard to get. Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
Graduate nurses say they're looking to Australia for jobs, after only half of the latest cohort found roles at the national health agency.
The nurses' union, New Zealand Nurses Organisation, called it a stark contrast to two years ago, when Te Whatu Ora / Health New Zealand was hiring all of them.
The health agency announced it made job offers to 844 graduates - leaving more than 770 still looking.
Graduates look across the ditch
Megan, who did not want her last name used, was not one of those fortunate enough to have received an offer - having just completed her three degrees, Health NZ turned down her application.
She said she had already started applying for roles further afield: "The first thing I did yesterday was I jumped on my computer, and I started applying for Australia."
The replies had been positive and supportive, but it was not an option she had previously considered.
Now, she faced the added challenge of starting a new role in a new country, without her usual support network of family and friends.
Another said they began hearing how scarce jobs would be during the application process, and it was "really discouraging".
"It just felt like we'd done all this study and had all this knowledge to start helping people and it was going to be useless."
They said a huge chunk people were applying to Australia, including themselves.
"We wanted to start in New Zealand but would go to Australia if we had no choice. We've spent 3 years learning this health system and getting comfortable in these hospitals we wanted to give back and start in a place we knew well."
Graduates fear community nursing jobs not as good
Te Whatu Ora said there were still plenty of opportunities for nurses in the community.
Incentives of up to $20,000 were being offered to primary, community and aged care to hire more graduate nurses, which Te Whatu Ora expected to enable an extra 200 nurses to be hired than would have otherwise.
This year for the first time, Health New Zealand would also be offering support with CV writing and interview skills for job seekers.
National chief nurse Nadine Gray explained New Zealand had brought in extra nurses to meet demand during Covid-19, and now there was a surplus.
She encouraged graduates to be flexible about the location and type of work they sought.
"I started in aged care, I didn't start in the hospital, I applied for different jobs and we are here to help."
But Megan said roles in rest homes and at general practices tended to pay about 20 percent less - and it was not why she chose nursing.
"I understand the importance of getting your foot in the door, but I also understand the importance of being happy. I've worked so hard over these past three years to develop my skills and go into something I really enjoy."
For Megan, that was paediatrics - but there was little available by way of jobs.
Another recent graduate, who did not want her name used, said the situation was "a complete slap in the face", as every placement she had been on had been understaffed.
"There's been lots of times where, as student nurses, you miss out on learning opportunities because they are using you as if you're a staff member because they don't have enough."
And she was worried about losing her clinical skills if she moved into aged care or community nursing, as well as missing out on more diverse cases, hands-on opportunities and exposure to new surgeries and medications.
"Within aged care, it's a lot of comfort care, palliative care, and generally you're not doing as much medical intervention," she said.
Another recent graduate, Maxwell Arnott, said he worried about the safety of being thrown into that kind of environment without years of experience to draw on.
"The nurses [in aged care] are overworked, and they don't have that ease of support from fellow nurses."
Often there was one nurse for up to 40 residents.
"Compare that to working in a hospital environment in which you'd be on a ward with half a dozen to a dozen other nurses, all of whom are more senior than you - you can see how that's an environment where, as a new grad, it would be more productive and more able to foster better growth and learning."
Union delegate fears job shortages will deter future students
NZNO union delegate and former co-chair of the National Student Unit, Shannyn Bristowe, said the job shortages risked putting potential students off nursing.
"You sit your final exams, you get everything done, you tick all the list off, and you get to the end and you aren't able to get a job - so it's extremely disheartening for students."
She said taking a job in community nursing, such as a rest home, would usually mean being paid about $30,000 to $40,000 less.
Most students did not want to move overseas, but did not see another option - "They have families, that have things that hold them here, and also the fact that we want to care for our own people, in our own country".
Nonetheless, it was a decision now faced by many of the more than 770 graduates still looking for jobs.
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