How to apply for the graduate program

Eligibility

You must use our program portal to apply. We’ll post the link on our Registered Nursing and Midwifery Graduate Program page when applications open.

We recommend you prepare all the documents you’ll need in advance so you’re ready to submit them through the portal when it opens.

To be eligible for the graduate program, you must:

• hold Australian citizenship, Australian permanent residency, New Zealand citizenship (with a subclass 444 Special Category Visa or right to be granted), or a visa with non-employer sponsored work right
• be eligible for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), including all necessary documentation and identity checks
• have graduated within the past 2 years (domestically or internationally) from your first undergraduate nursing degree, midwifery degree, or graduate-entry Master of Nursing or Master of Midwifery
• have not worked as a registered nurse (if applying for a nursing position) or a midwife (if applying for a midwifery position) for more than 960 hours (equivalent to 6 months full time) since qualifying in the relevant qualification.

If you're working as a registered nurse in a non-government residential aged care facility, general practice, disability service or other community health organisation, you can work up to 1,976 hours (equivalent to 1 year full-time).

If you applied in the previous recruitment campaign and meet the above criteria, you're still eligible.

Completing the application

Completing the application form will take about 1 hour, if you've prepared beforehand. Our application guide [PDF 1587.92 KB] steps you through each part of the online application process.

To apply, you must upload:

• a cover letter
• an academic transcript, official or unofficial
• 2 referee reports, or receipt emails for electronic referee reports.

If you don’t upload these 4 documents, we can’t process your application.

It's a good idea to prepare early so you can submit your application on time. You can choose 'save and continue later' in the application portal if you need to pause your application.

Referee reports

Referee report template

You must use our referee template [PDF 737.6 KB] to upload a PDF copy of your referee reports. We also accept referee reports that use last year's template.

We will not accept copies of Australian Nursing Standards Assessment Tool (ANSAT) reports in lieu of referee reports.

Online referee reports

We're using online referee reports in the coming year as part of a trial program. This only applies to some applicants. We may ask your referee to complete an online referee report if they work for Queensland Health. You'll get an email receipt when they complete the online report. You'll need to upload the email receipt when you apply, instead of the PDF template.

Who to use as your referee

Referee 1 – must be a Clinical Supervisor

Referee 2 – can be an employment line manager, a volunteer supervisor or a second Clinical Supervisor

Clinical Supervisor means someone who has direct knowledge of your clinical practice and can speak about your clinical practice from experience. Typically this includes:

• clinical facilitators
• nurse unit managers
• nurse educators
• registered nurses who've supervised you during placement.

Clinical Supervisors with recent knowledge of your clinical practice are preferred.

Education, clinical placement and employment history

The application form includes an online resume section which captures your history in a standard format.

To complete this section, you’ll need to include information about:

• your education, clinical placements and employment
• your principal midwifery or nursing qualification – add any related nursing or midwifery qualifications and any other relevant or non clinical qualifications
• the name of the University or institute issuing the qualification and your Grade Point Average (GPA) the clinical placements you did for each year of your study, including how many weeks you were placed and the clinical area where you did the placement – for example unit, ward or service
• your current or most recent work or volunteer history, including the name of the organisation, the nature of work and your commencement and end dates.

Other things to consider

Work out when you can start work, taking into account the time you need to get AHPRA registration and any personal commitments.

Queensland Health has introduced a mid-year application round. Hospital and Health Services that don't have scheduled intakes don't take part in this round.

Once the graduate portal is closed, you won't be able to make changes or edit your application. You can email the Office of the Chief Nursing Officer about any changes at NursingMidwifery-GraduateEnquiries@health.qld.gov.au.

There's also a section for your cover letter. You need a cover letter to apply, and must upload it with your application.

It should be one A4 page and outline your motivations for applying, your passion for the profession and what you'll bring to the team. You can address it in a generic manner – for example, you can say, ‘To whom it may concern’. Several HHS may view your application, but the focus and context should be on your first preferenced HHS.

Watch our Prepare to Succeed webinar for more information about preparing your cover letter.

If you're accepted into the graduate program, you'll be employed by Queensland Health and are required to fulfil functions as outlined in the Graduate Registered Nurse [PDF 794.14 KB] or Graduate Midwife Generic [PDF 853.28 KB] role descriptions. Read the role description as it will help you decide if the program is suitable.

Choosing your preferences

We’ll ask you to choose your preferred work location and clinical specialty. We try to offer all applicants their preferences, but we’re not always able to.

We’ll have fewer facilities and clinical specialties during our midyear campaign, which we recruit for in January and February. Each HHS will decide the locations and clinical specialities for this round.

Choosing a Hospital and Health Service (HHS)

Group A has HHSs that are in remote, rural or regional locations. If you live in these areas or want to work for one of these HHSs, you only need to provide one preference. You can provide up to 6 HHS preferences if you want.

Group B HHSs receive a higher number of applications than Group A. These HHSs are typically in metropolitan or large regional centres. HHSs in Groups A and B are listed below.

Group A

• Central Queensland HHS
• North West HHS
• South West HHS

Group B

• Cairns and Hinterland HHS
• Children’s Health Queensland HHS
• Gold Coast HHS
• Metro North HHS
• Metro South HHS
• West Moreton HHS
• Wide Bay HHS

The following HHS aren’t taking part in our midyear campaign.

• Central West HHS
• Darling Downs HHS
• Mackay HHS
• Sunshine Coast HHS
• Torres and Cape HHS
• Townsville HHS

You have 3 options for your application:

• If your first preference is a HHS in Group A, you aren’t required to provide any other preferences. You can provide up to 6 work location preferences if you want.
• If your first preference is a work location in Group B, you must provide a second preference. If your second preference is a HHS in Group A, you aren’t required to provide any other preferences. You can provide up to 6 work location preferences if you want.
• If your first 2 preferences are from Group B, you must provide a third preference. You can provide up to 6 work location preferences.

For each HHS selected, you must select at least one facility. You may be able to select up to 3 facilities at some HHSs.

Preferencing midwifery

Midwifery isn’t considered a clinical preference because it’s a separate profession to nursing. If you have dual qualifications, you'll need to make a choice between midwifery or nursing. If you want to work in a rural and remote location and work across both professions, you can discuss this with the HHS at interview.

You'll be asked to select, in order of preference, the midwifery model of care you would prefer to work in. Queensland Health options include;

• Midwifery Group Practice or Continuity of Midwifery Care Model
• Rotational shifts across all areas of midwifery practice, or
• Work in one specific area of midwifery practice, for example, a postnatal ward.

Changing your application

You can save your application and return to it later to make changes.

Once you submit you won't be able to make further changes. If you've made an error you want to correct:

1. log in to your SmartJobs account and select your application
2. withdraw your application
3. click into your withdrawn application and scroll to the bottom of the first page
4. click on ‘delete’ to remove your application
5. use the ‘Apply now’ button on the home page to access the application portal again
6. resubmit your application with the correct information.