Hi Tarsha, Thanks for agreeing to chat with me! Can I start out by asking which state you are from, what year you graduated and whether you are RN or EN?
Hello, I am from QLD. I graduated in 2018 and I am an RN.
Great! So when you graduated did you apply for any grad positions?
I did, I applied for Cairns and Townsville. I didn’t get an interview for Townsville and I had an interview in Cairns but was unsuccessful.
How did that feel when you found out?
It was crushing. I felt like a failure. I had sacrificed so much time from my children to complete my degree and it felt like it was all for nothing in that moment.
That must have been really damn hard. What did you do next?
Starting applying for nursing jobs on job search websites until I was successful.
Any idea how many applications you put in? And then how many interviews before you were offered a position?
Umm not off the top of my head. But I remember I did quite a few applications. But the first interview was with the job that I was successful in.
Oh wow and what area was that in?
Aged care.
And how did you find your start in aged care, were you well supported?
It was horrible! There was no support what so ever in the facility I was employed at. I was told on my first day that they were understaffed and I was actually going to work on the floor and not get any buddy shifts and it was down hill from there.
Oh wow! Are you still there?
No I lasted there 9 months then I resigned and got a job at another aged care facility and have been there 2 ish years.
Was there anything good or any skills that you were able to learn and take from your first job that will help you in your career?
Of course. It was my first role as a nurse, it was 9 months of me finally getting to put what I learnt at uni into practice on my own. We had a lot of high care residents so I learnt a lot about chronic wound care, peg feds, co morbidity, dementia and death. And I built lovely relationships with some of the residents and other staff.
And are you enjoying your current role?
I’m currently working in an acfi coordinator role and yes I am enjoying it.
Ooh could you tell us more about what that is?
It’s a role that coordinates the funding for aged care residents. Acfi stands for aged care funding instrument. It’s a range of assessments that evaluates a monetary amount each year for each individual resident depending on their care needs paid to the facility in which they live.
Ooh it sounds really interesting! Do you see yourself staying in this area or are you looking to move to something new?
I will stay for a while. I was recently offered a job in paediatrics but I chose to stay where I am.
That's great! And if you could give a message to any grads or students that are worried about not getting a grad program what would you say to them?
It is not the end of the world, despite how it feels at the time. There is other opportunities and pathways that you can take other than grad years. And they can lead to wonderful careers too.
Thank you so much for sharing 
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