About our program
We offer a 12 month graduate program for newly qualified nurses and midwives. Our program will further develop the skills you learned during training in a supportive clinical setting.
You’ll care for a culturally diverse community, with a strong focus on First Nations health care.
We’ll give you:
- orientation to help you settle in
- training and ongoing support
- dedicated education days with your peers.
We offer full time and part time positions across a variety of clinical specialties.
We encourage our graduates to apply for permanent roles and continue working for us.
You’ll get extra benefits for working in rural and remote areas, including professional development, leave, travel costs, an isolation bonus and help with accommodation. Read more about incentives for rural and remote nurses and midwives on the Queensland Health Careers website.
Graduate placements for registered nurses
Graduate nurses rotate through 2 placements, each lasting 6 months. One will be in a remote area. This gives you a unique experience and helps you build strong clinical skills.
We offer placements at:
- Mount Isa Hospital
- Cloncurry Multipurpose Health Service
- Normanton Hospital
- Julia Creek Multipurpose Health Service
- Mornington Island Hospital
- Yellagundgimarra Hospital Doomadgee.
You could work in clinical areas like:
- medical
- surgical
- emergency
- paediatrics
- renal
- mental health
- alcohol, tobacco and other drugs
- theatres
- intensive care.
Placements are based on where nurses are needed most. We can’t promise your preferred clinical area, but we’ll try to support your career goals.
We'll give you training tailored to your clinical area, and you'll have the chance to complete a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Nursing through CQUniversity. You'll get 2 credits from your graduate work, which will count towards your qualification and let you study at a more relaxed pace.
Graduate placements for midwives
Midwives spend 12 months working in our maternity core team or midwifery group practice, at Mount Isa Hospital.
You'll get midwifery training days and support to complete midwifery skill competencies and courses.
How to apply
Applications open in June and close in August. We hold interviews in September. If you’re successful, you’ll start your position from February.
Check the Queensland Health Careers website for application dates and use the graduate program portal to apply before the closing date.
You’ll fill in an online resume form about your qualifications, clinical placements, and work history. You'll also need to upload:
- a cover letter explaining why you want a graduate position with us and the skills and attributes you'll bring
- your academic transcript or current unofficial transcript if you haven't finished your course
- 2 referee reports, including one from a clinical placement supervisor, using the template on the Queensland Health Careers website.
Read more about how to apply on the Queensland Health Careers website.
Who can apply
To apply you must have one of the following degrees.
- Undergraduate Nursing degree
- Undergraduate Midwifery degree
- Graduate entry Master of Nursing
- Graduate entry Master of Midwifery
We don't currently offer a graduate program for enrolled nurses.
You must also:
- have completed your degree in the past 2 years or be due to complete it by December
- be eligible for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA)
- have the right to live and work in Australia.
You must not have worked:
- as a full time nurse or midwife for more than 6 months
- as a full time nurse in non government aged care, general practice, disability services, or other community health organisations for more than 1 year.
We encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to apply.
Read more about nursing and midwifery graduate eligibility on the Queensland Health Careers website.
Contact us
Contact us if you’ve got any questions about our graduate programs.