How to apply for the graduate program

Eligibility

To apply for a graduate position with us, you must apply through our graduate portal. The dates for 2025 will be advised soon, please monitor this webpage for updates.

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.

The recruitment process can take between 2 to 3 months and if you don’t complete all the necessary paperwork, there can be delays.

To be eligible for the graduate program, you must meet the following requirements:

• 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.
• 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. That is, between July 2022 to July 2024, or be due to complete your qualification by December 2024.
• At the time of application submission, you haven’t 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 are 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 (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 in total, if you have prepared before hand. We have prepared and application guide [PDF 1587.92 KB] that steps you through each part of the online application process.

The application will close at 23:59 (11:59PM) on Sunday 4 August 2024.

NOTE: This is an automatic close and therefore, if you have not submitted your application before this time, you will not be able to submit your application. NO late applications will be accepted.

Referee Reports

This year the Registered Nursing and Midwifery Graduate Program was planning to use online referee reports. This will not procced and you will be required to upload two referee reports using this template:

Please note, if you have already had a referee report completed using last year’s template, this will be accepted.

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

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

Please make sure you prepare early. If you need to gather other information, you can 'save and continue later'.

Do not leave your application to the last few days, plan to start and complete your application early.

Education, clinical placement and employment history

The application will include an online resume section. This is to make sure we have your history captured in a standard format. To complete this section, you’ll need to include information about your education, clinical placements and employment.

You’ll need to include information about your principal midwifery or nursing qualification. You can also add related nursing or midwifery qualifications and any other relevant qualifications, these can be non-clinical qualifications.

For each qualification, you’ll need to provide the name of the University or other institute issuing the qualification and your Grade Point Average (GPA).

You’ll also need to list the clinical placements you did for each year of your study. When you do, include how many weeks you were placed and the clinical type, for example unit, ward or service.

In addition, you’ll need to list your current or most recent work or volunteer history. When you do, include the name of the organisation, the nature of work and your commencement and end dates.

Other things to consider

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

Queensland Health has introduced a mid-year application round and therefore, please ensure that you can commence employment through the period associated with the particular round.

Round One: July to August application period each year.

Applicants in round one, if successful, are intended to commence work between November in the same year as the application period, and May the following year inclusive.

Round Two: February to March application period each year.

Applicants in round two are intended to commence work between June and October inclusive in the same year.

Once the graduate portal is closed, you won't be able to make changes or edit your application. However, you can email the Office of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer about any changes at NursingMidwifery-GraduateEnquiries@health.qld.gov.au, they’ll make a note on your application.

There'll also be a section for your cover letter. Your cover letter is essential to the application process and you must upload one with your application.

It should be one A4 page in length and outline your motivations for applying for the role, your passion for the profession and what you'll bring to the team.  Your cover letter can be addressed in a generic manner, i.e. “To whom it may concern”. In some cases, your application will be viewed by more than one HHS. However, the focus and context of your cover letter, should be on your first preference HHS.

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

If you are accepted into the graduate program, you will 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

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 or the Rural and Remote Pathway (RRP) preferences if you want.

Group B contains HHS and RRPs. Some of the HHSs in Group B receive significant number of applications compared to 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
• Central West HHS
• Mackay HHS
• North West HHS
• South West HHS

Group B

• Cairns and Hinterland HHS
• Children’s Health Queensland HHS
• Darling Downs HHS
• Gold Coast HHS
• Metro North HHS
• Metro South HHS
• RRP
• Sunshine Coast HHS
• Torres and Cape HHS
• Townsville HHS
• West Moreton HHS
• Wide Bay HHS

You have 3 options for your application:

1. 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.
2. 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 (hospital or other healthcare delivery location), but you can select up to three.

We have produced a guide to HHS facilities [PDF 535.18 KB] and specialities, please use this to help identify which facilities offer the above specialties.

Preferencing midwifery

Midwifery isn’t considered a clinical preference because it’s a separate profession to nursing. If you have dual qualifications, you will 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 will 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 (e.g., postnatal ward).

We have produced a guide to HHS facilities [PDF 535.18 KB] and midwifery models of care, please use this to help identify which facilities offer the above midwifery models of care.

Modifying your application

You can save your application and return to it later to continue or modify the application.

Once you submit your application, it cannot be modified. If you have made an error and want to correct this, you will need to:

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