Complete Change of Job, anyone?

[Guest alan smallman]

Hi:)

 

I'm interested to know if anyone went out to Adelaide having gained employment in an area which they were both qualified and experienced, BUT......at some point something happened and they ended up doing something completely different, which on reflection, has turned out to be great for them?

 

Y'know what I mean? Someone who went out say, as a carpenter but ended up as, say a landscape gardener who really enjoys what they do. I'm a nurse and hoping to work at the Memorial (people seem really friendly there), but you never can say never to something that might come along and bowl you over.

 

just interested

 

Cheers

 

Alan:notworthy:

[Guest graandjac]

:biglaugh:Funny you say that....Iam a Roof Tiler and slater by trade, and iam now Landscape Gardening, working for a small firm just me and the boss , but i love it .......but be warned all those looking to change occupations its not as easy as you might think with out the right qualifications as out here it all they seem to want that or experence.

[Guest Pesky Varmit]

Hi

I used to work in retail pharmacy years ago and left to set up my own childminding business when we were at home - now we are here in Oz I have a job in hospital pharmacy which is not at all like retail pharmacy and I work in the labs manufacturing chemotherapy, antibiotics etc for the local hospitals without any previous knowledge or training! ( I obviously have had the neccessary training now - don't panic!!)

[Guest chippie74]

came out here as a carpenter..and now unemployed :-)

[Guest the staffords]

im a boilermaker...came out here thinkin what a great chance to take a job that i might really enjoy....it didnt happen...i saw the dollar signs...we needed the money...pays more etc..and here i am,doin the job i got my visa for!!!oh,well...im gonna win the lotto anyway!

[maria]

OH started out as painter and decorator, he now works with people with learning disabilities and loves it!!!

[Guest soggy]

Hi,

I have spent 20 years in construction, 10 years painting and decorating and 10 years property maintenance, I now run a snackbar/coffee shop in Adelaide, quite a bit different from my old job. Including travelling I used to do about 65 hours a week in the UK, I have no travelling now and work for about 80 hours a week ! but enjoy not having a boss ( apart from my wife) looking over my shoulder and now the suns out may even make some money.:)

 

Simon

[Guest Hansonhouse]

Hi Alan

 

I had a telephone interview for a post as a Nurse Manager at the Memorial Hospital this morning so keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Pleased that someone else likes the sound of it.

 

Where do you work now?

 

I am at Chesterfield

 

Roz

[Guest alan smallman]

Hi all

 

Many thanks for your replies. I hope that whatever you have all ended up doing that it works out for you.

 

Roz,

 

I currently work at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital. A couple of weeks before we were due out to Adelaide (in April 08) I had an interview with a satellite site on the east coast. I got the job (it was going to be a tester for meeting new people, working in a different speciality etc in readiness for our move to Adelaide). Unfortunately the matron spent most of the time telling me what I wouldn't be doing rather than convincing me that I he wanted me. I didn't take up the offer!! But it's sad that I had to go to the other side of the world to be made to feel that my experience and skills as a nurse would be welcomed and given encouragement and support. The people there treated both my wife and I very very well :notworthy:and our interviews were conducted in such a way that we both felt, on leaving the place that we had made friends (indeed, I ended up hugging and kissing my ward manager!!). I remember walking through the botanical gardens just opposite the hospital (it was a warm autumn afternoon) and we were really enthused by the people we had just met and the jobs and opportunities that were on offer. we couldn't wait to get back to sell the house. Unfortunately we are trapped at the moment as we can't sell the house:arghh:. I've been so miserable since I've got back. Our lives are on hold as so many other people's are too. I love my job (it's the nearest thing to playing center forward for Aston Villa I'll get) but it's getting me down. I work on a emergency urology, medical and surgical ward permanently on nights just to keep out of all the politics. It's sad really. My missus works as a gynae scrub nurse but has been offered a job in Recovery (which is what she did before gynae scrub).

 

So what do you do now at Chesterfield? Ward Manager? We may meet up one day, who knows? Please pass on our regards to the DoN and her team. Good luck with the manager's job!!! Please keep us posted with your progress - I'd be interested in how you get on.

 

Cheers

 

Alan

[Guest Hansonhouse]

Hi Alan

 

The part about Memorial sounds lovely and I definately felt that level of warmth and pragmatism when I spoke with the DON on the phone which made me feel comfortable really.

 

I am currently General Manager Critical Care at Chesterfield and interestingly the woman appointed to take over my post (she started end of June) worked for Lincoln in a similar role (mainly Theatres and Sterile Services background) so you and your wife may know her, her initials are AG?? I love my job (have loved all my jobs actually along the way through A&E, Emergency Care and Critical Care) but feel strongly that I need to return to a more clinically focussed Nursing Manager post when I move to Adelaide so that I can get to know how things work over there. If I decide to go for promotion and climb the ladder again then I feel that the ACHA, Memorial, Ashford and Flinders Private have good structures and small friendly hospitals in which I could see myself enjoying, rather than large, less intimate hospitals.

 

The interview/discussion was for Nurse Manager over the 39 bedded Surgical Ward, Orthopaedics, Mixed Surgical Specialities and Paeds - rare combination!

 

I hope that you have some luck with your house sale soon, that must be sooo frustrating. We have two sets of friends in Adelaide waiting for us, the second family moved there in April 08 and left their house in Sutton in Ashfield, Mansfield up for sale, it's been up for 18 months now and still now closer to a sale and I know that they are soo frustrated by it, especially when the visa process itself takes so long. It makes me laugh that the SA government have been all over the press this week advertising for young females to go over as they have a surplus of young males. Frankly they will all be drawing their pensions by the time they get through the visa process and the house selling process. They make it look so straight forward and quick.....

 

We were really lucky to sell in March for a reasonable price and have been living in a rented house since then.

 

Good Luck and will definately keep you posted. As you say, maybe our paths will cross.. along with some of the many other nurses on here

 

Roz

[Guest alan smallman]

What a small world it is Roz!!!

 

The penny didn't drop until I asked my wife if she knew AG. She does indeed (and it turns out, so do I fairly well). We've both worked 'under'. We hope you do well out there - please ask KS in Adelaide to keep our jobs open LOL (I'm gonna e-mail her this week just to let her know the state of affairs). Think it's likely that we'll place our house on the rental market (we've just gone ahead with paying to lodge our visa).

 

All The best (and keep an eye out for us!!!!!)

 

xx Alan

[Guest Hansonhouse]

Funny old world eh!

 

Will definately keep my eyes open for you and will keep tabs on your visa progress on here. Yes definately keep KS posted as she sounded like a genuinely nice person who was keen to secure genuinely good nurses.

 

Will update with any news

 

Roz

[Guest alan smallman]

Cheers Roz

 

Take Care and good luck

 

 

Alan