A Singaporean In Australia

I was trying to look for your name to address this email properly, but I can't seem to locate it. Pardon me if your name is mentioned, but I'd not caught it!

I've been reading your blog for a few months but not so much in details until yesterday. My sister and I are planning to work/study in Australia and it would really help to hear experiences and advice from people who have been there done that.

First off, let me introduce myself. I'm Grace and a Singaporean. I've graduated from Temasek Polytechnic with a diploma in internet and multimedia development. What I'm doing now has no reference to what I've studied. I've applied to ANU and couple of other universities to do my degree in Development Studies in 2017 after spending about 5 years working in an NGO, and I think it's time to finally do my degree! I've applied in July and still waiting for the schools to get back to me. 

My sister is a Malaysian and she holds a diploma in nursing from Universiti Sans Malaysia (USM). She have been working as a maternity nurse in Malaysia for 1 year and in Singapore for close to 2 years currently. So, just in case you're curious why we are off different nationalities, I have a link about us here: http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20130218-402769.html

After reading different blogs, we feel that we are not quite ready for migration to Australia as PR just as yet, we have not even visited Australia for vacation before! But don't worry, we are making plans to visit Australia in May 2016. The grant plan for us is while I study in Australia, my sister would work as a nurse to ease my financial constraint of my full-time studies and at the same time she would be able to gain more nursing experience. We are not too sure if this plan is a fairytale or it could be done. 

We did some research, but we are unsure if my sister is needed to secure an employment with a hospital or she would need to apply with the Australian Nursing Board first? Because the way Singapore handled foreign nurses is pretty clear cut and it's mentioned that all nurses must have employment with a Singapore hospital before they could even apply with the Singapore Nursing Board. From the different websites I've read, it seems like it can be done both ways? We are waiting for my universities applications to come back before she can decide where to work at.

My sister might not be the most experience nurses around given her time in the career, she worries that her diploma standing and years of working experience would lower her chances of getting employed in Australia. But we've heard stories from friends that how newly graduated nurses from Singapore could find jobs in Australia, is that a myth?

As off now, we would want to apply for Australian PR, but just not ready yet. Our master plan is actually to be a globe trotter and move around until we want to settle down some where on earth. AIMS got back to my sister and said that with her diploma now, she would only be able to migrate to Canada. For future plans, my sister would like to do her degree too, in what field, it would be up to her.

I guess being brought up in Singapore, I have a lot concerns and wants the plan to be swee swee, but I know the world is not that.

Would love to hear from you!  

Hi Grace,

First of all, I would like to congratulate you for reuniting with your sister. It was a beautiful story to me not just because both of you found the opportunity for an unlikely reunion but your commitment to get each other involved in your future plans instead of continuing on separate ways as you have always been.

My first advice is not to limit yourselves to Australia. Make the world your playground and embrace the possibilities out there. Australia is not the only place you can go, though it is a really fine country (and not that fine) worth your consideration. Since a migration agent is confident that your sister can migrate to Canada without further tweaks to her working experience or academic qualifications, it deserves a serious look as well. You are lucky that your sister is in the nursing field. She will be the one who will go places. If you are able to tag along on her merit, return the favour one day.

If you are doing a degree in future, choose your field wisely. You will not have many chances to correct a wrong again. One of the worst advice we can get out there is to follow your passion. It is very situational hence can be absolutely bullshit if my passion is to catching fighting spiders to find the ultimate king. What if I tell you that you can find success by not following your passion at all? I found out about this the hard way.

If your sister is not confident about employment, get her to do a nursing degree in Australia. With her previous credentials, she should only require to do 1 year (2 year max) study to complete her degree. With a local degree and prior work experience, it will increase her chances of getting employed in Australia. I wouldn't bet on Singapore graduate nurses finding jobs in Australia. However, Singapore nurses with working experience will have a decent chance in landing a job here. In fact, Australia graduate nurses are losing a lot of jobs to migrant nurses due to their lack of working experience as hospitals here are still having trouble to fill some of their vacancies that require working experience that local graduate nurses cannot fulfill. [link] Since your sister has working experience as a midwife, it will be advantageous in her job hunt.

If you want to country hop and see the world, take up nursing like your sister. You will be well sought after. It is a respectable profession everywhere in the world except in Singapore.