Whether you want to get into high-paying nursing agency work full-time or are just looking to top up your income with a few additional shifts, agency work offers great flexibility and good pay. Before we look at ways to find high-paying nursing agency work, let’s look at the question more generally:
Why choose nursing agency work?
Here are just a few of the reasons why nursing agency work in Australia is so popular:
Flexible shifts
Choose shifts to fit in with your lifestyle, opting for day or night shifts depending upon your normal routine. This provides a great way of ensuring the perfect work-life balance.
High-paying
Nursing agencies do provide a higher rate of pay compared to that received from a standard full-time position. At the same time, you will also receive super and penalty rates.
Travel expenses paid
If you pick up a rural or remote nursing agency contract, your travel expenses and accommodation are covered. (Not covered for metro agency work however).
Variety – never get bored
Unlike a permanent nursing role where you are doing the same thing every day, agency nursing provides a vast mix of nursing opportunities. You will be able to pick out your preferred locations as well as the type of department you wish to work in. Such variety means you can not only make the most of your existing skills and knowledge, but also continue to develop your skills whilst gaining diverse experience.
Which are the most popular nursing agencies in Australia?
When it comes to locating agency work online, here is our pick of some of the agencies to look out for:
Healthcare Australia (HCA)
This is a large agency with offices across every state in Australia. Covering not only the major cities but also the more remote contracts, you should find something that suits your schedule. Make use of their mobile app in order to update the times you are available, accept shifts and submit your timesheets on time. When you choose HCA, you will be able to work anywhere in Australia. They also provide a great range of staff incentive schemes. With that being said, two main drawbacks are HCA’s high fees and the difficulty of finding placements for nurses in Sydney.
Health Solutions Group Australia
This covers several agencies, all working within the same group. With a great mix of locations, you should be able to target your favoured areas:
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Alliance Health – covers Sydney, Newcastle and NSW.
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Belmore – covers WA, SA and VIC.
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CQ Nursing – covers the remote/rural areas in Queensland.
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RNS – covers the whole of Queensland.
RNS
This is the agency to go for if you want to work on the Sunshine Coast. With offices in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, this is a smaller agency. Staff are friendly and take their time to find positions for you that are a perfect fit.
Affinity Nursing Recruitment
This agency covers remote and rural areas, including Tasmania. Contracts can be personally selected to suit your needs.
There are lots of great agencies out there for those looking for nursing jobs, with many of them paying superb rates of pay. However, do look at the bigger picture; as well as being paid well, there are many positions on offer that can offer greater experiences. All agencies vary and each one will provide you with a different experience of what it is like working for a nursing agency in Australia.
Now let’s look at ways to find high-paying nursing agency work.
How to find high-paying nursing agency work
When identifying the best nursing agencies with the highest rates of pay, you need to consider several factors. You could just focus on only the pay which may suit your current position, however, don’t be too blindsided by the rates alone. You should also be wary of the following:
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Location – Where are the placements going to be? These vary according to the agency and will spread across different areas, so head for the ones that are in the locations where you prefer to work.
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Preferred Supplier – look out for preferred suppliers as there are a lot of agencies out there and many could be supplying staff to the same facility. Preferred suppliers will have far more placements available to cover you long-term, plus they also tend to pay the best rates.
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Opportunities – also remember to look for other opportunities which could present themselves and help advance your education, and career or even provide you extras in addition to top rates of pay i.e. uniform, access to free education, etc.
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Access nursing work online via uPaged – if trolling through the many nursing agencies is wearing thin, how about checking out uPaged?
What is uPaged?
We are a new online platform that enables nurses to find occasional work. Purely for nurses, this facility has been set up by a nurse who knows that securing the best positions with the highest rates of pay is essential for your career and financial well-being.
uPaged is the first Australian online platform for nurses to secure work, once you have taken a little time to put together your professional profile online, you can be connected to some fantastic casual nursing jobs. Job descriptions will be transparent, and you will get a first-hand account of where you will be working and what you will be doing. Why is this important? Typically nursing agencies restrict your ability to move to full-time work should you find a hospital you wish to apply to work at full time. uPaged on the other hand supports this transition so you can try before you buy, find a workplace that you like and then apply, should you wish to do so.
Get started today. Simply create an account, put your profile together and then either wait for the shift offers according to your availability preferences, or apply directly to the shifts you’re interested in. You’re in control on uPaged. Click here to sign up today!
