Healthcare and Community Services: Labor Market and Career Analysis

This career investigation report examines the Australian healthcare sector, focusing on the aged care and community services sectors. The report analyzes national and state employment trends, market trends, and career prospects for nursing professionals, particularly for an international nursing Masters graduate seeking employment in Sydney, Australia. It highlights the growth in the healthcare sector, especially in aged care, and discusses intercultural challenges faced by international students. The report recommends a job-seeking strategy, including targeting specific recruiters and job sites like LinkedIn, and emphasizes the importance of cultural competence training. The report concludes by identifying the aged care sector as a promising area for employment, given its growth and the potential for permanent residency. The report also emphasizes the importance of networking and staying informed about the latest job vacancies.

Running head: HEALTHCARE AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
HEALTHCARE AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Purpose of the report..............................................................................................................3
Research and Analysis...............................................................................................................3
Current Labour Market trends in Australian Healthcare Sector............................................3
National and state employment trends in Australian Healthcare Sector............................4
National employment trends in Australian Healthcare Sector...........................................4
Market Trends in Australian Healthcare sector.................................................................5
Career Prospects in Aged and Community Health Service Sector........................................6
Intercultural Challenges.........................................................................................................7
Recommendations..................................................................................................................8
Job Seeking Strategy..............................................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

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Executive Summary
The paper has been written as a form of career examination report for an international nursing
Masters who has been living as well as aiming to seek employment services in Sydney,
Australia. The report has drawn extensive insights of past, present and future employment as
well as unemployment rate in Australia to understand the potential of the job seeking
strategy.
In addition to this, by evaluating current trends and two renowned healthcare sectors in
Australia namely aged care and community services, the paper has identified areas which will
offer maximum employment opportunities.
Furthermore, with recruitment opportunities and job seeking strategies, the report offered
insights of the aged sector which will give more prospective chances for the international
nursing student to target the appropriate sector for employment services.

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Introduction
Purpose of the report
The aim of the following report is to assess career chances in the Australian healthcare sector
by evaluating its current developments and trends. The paper will further focus on the degree
to which these trends will pose impact on future and vocational opportunities for wide
ranging job seekers. The research paper will take into account extensive research of previous,
existing and future employment as well as unemployment record of the Australian health and
social care sector and will incorporate relevant resources to gather comprehensive
understanding of the Australian health care industry labour market. In addition to this,
extensive assessment of two health care sectors namely community health and aged care will
be evaluated to understand reasons behind the sector of both these sectors for this career
prospect. Furthermore, the paper will shed light on the intercultural challenges which might
be encountered by international student and likelihood of its impact on future career
prospects in Australia in addition to recommendations.
It will lastly identify 2 community organizations in Sydney for healthcare professional along
with a relevant job seeking strategy.
Research and Analysis
Current Labour Market trends in Australian Healthcare Sector
The following section comprises of critical research information on national and state
employment developments and altering labour market conditions in the chosen business
(Healy 2016).

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National and state employment trends in Australian Healthcare Sector
In 2011, Healthcare and Social Assistance has been Australia’s major sector which recruits
around 2,167,000 of Australia’s almost 10 million employees on national level comprising of
approximately 11.6% of all employees. This has been accounted to be more than 211,000 in 5
years which is over 100,000 higher as compared to retail sector which is the next leading
industry in 2006 (Hawthorne 2016). As per reports, in 2018 there have been close to around
1.7 million people recruited in this sector. In the next 5 years, it is expected that over 1.9
million people will be recruited in the sector (Willis, Reynolds and Keleher 2016). This data
proves that there is a positive prospect for the Australian health sector on macro level (Healy
2016). There has been stable growth in subject only admissions since 2015, attaining a new
high of over 2.9 million in 2018.
National employment trends in Australian Healthcare Sector
Source: (Abs.gov.au 2020)
On the other hand, report has revealed that the unemployment rate has dropped from 5.3% to
5.2% with approximately 40,000 jobs added in the sector.

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While evaluating state level employment, it has been seen that the Healthcare sector has been
the largest in each of our six states with Tasmania as well as South Australia whereby the two
states with the extreme median ages has estimated the major proportions of the employed
people employed in the industry at around 14.2% and 14.8% respectively. As per report, the
major increases in trend service occurred in Healthcare comprises of up to 127 600 while, in
retail industry has been estimated to be around 68,100 as well as Education and Training
nearly 55,500 (Abs.gov.au 2020).
However, the development rate of joblessness in Australia has been around 5.5% recorded in
2018 as compared to 5.8% in 2017. However, the trend joblessness rate has increased in the
Northern Territory from 3.3% to 4% and Tasmania from 5.8% to 6% (Hawthorne, 2016).
Meanwhile, in the same period, the joblessness rate has declined in South Australia from
6.7% to around 6% and Queensland from 6.3% to 6.0% as well as NSW from 5.0% to 4.9%
(Healy 2016). Thus, from the above evidences, it is verified that South Australia such as
Sydney with major decline in unemployment rate can present best opportunities for
prospective healthcare practitioners.
Market Trends in Australian Healthcare sector
In Australia, the Healthcare services and Health Industry Skills council has conducted an
environmental scan in order to distinguish skills required for prospective employment
services in healthcare sector such as geriatric or aged care that is probable to increase.
Furthermore, the Council has developed around 160 qualifications and 1,198 competencies as
part of the national vocational education as well as training standards (Abs.gov.au 2020). As
per reports, the healthcare sector in recent times, the healthcare sector has experienced major
contribution to employment growth since the past 15 years.
However, some of the increase in healthcare employment has been linked to the aging sector.
Similar kind of demographic trends show likelihood to have made contributions to the strong

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increase in employment in social care services which includes in-house services. However,
the consistency of relative wages in the Australian healthcare sector since the past 15 years
have indicated that the expansion of demand for employment in this sector has met an
increase in the number of employees who have relevant skills (Duckett and Willcox 2015).
Additionally, the vocational education as well as training system has played a significant role
in providing qualifications in a variety of these jobs which includes child care, geriatric care
as well as occupational therapy.
Career Prospects in Aged and Community Health Service Sector
There is a significant shortage of approximately skilled as well as knowledgeable
employees in aged care sector of Australia. Graduate or Masters Nursing Programs are
usually 12 months programs in order to assist in the transition from graduate to post graduate
Registered nurse. As per the information on the website of Australian Nursing and Midwifery
Federation, the aged care sector has been relatively slow as compared to other areas for
creating new opportunities for advanced nursing practitioners. However, the Australian
government of 2011 has offered more than $17 million of investments for a four year project
with an agenda of exploring suitable models of practice for NPs in aged care sector
(Agedcare101.com.au 2020).
With my qualification of Masters in Nursing and looking at aged care and community service
sector, I have observed that a career of Nursing Professional will provide me great vocational
prospects in both the sectors.
Aged care sector
In the elderly care sector, as NP will gain aptitude to order diagnostic tests and recruit
suitable medicines meant more well-timed treatment. In addition to this, I will be able to
conduct highly comprehensive evaluations of the elderly person as compared to registered
nurses with an agenda of providing improved quality of the clinical evidence to be used by

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the wider healthcare team. With the obtained knowledge and expertise from my master’s
qualification, in the geriatric care sector, I will get the opportunity to play robust coordination
roles in collaborating health professionals as well as family members along with provided
appreciated translation of information into language in which the elderly person and their
family will be comfortable.
Community health sector
Meanwhile, with the expected growth in community service sector in Australia, I will be
able to offer autonomous decision making on the basis of nursing, policy as well as
regulatory frameworks and will be able to work in association with leadership groups as well
as healthcare team associates. With my obtained qualification in Nursing Masters, I can work
with Drug and Alcohol abused patients and can provide them with extensive support to
overcome alcohol and drug abuse. However, it is imperative to note that the community
services sector in Australia is highly confronting. As a result, a strong and resilient
personality will be essential to develop in order to deal with these critical cases.
Intercultural Challenges
Cultural dimensions can be understood by drawing relevance to the Hofstede’s
Cultural Dimensions theory (Khlif 2016). The framework is used in order to understand the
differences in culture across nations and further to distinguish ways in which employees
coming from foreign countries can work in different cultures (Kaihlanen, Hietapakka and
Heponiemi 2019).
In the Australian aged care sector, there are significant challenges which international
students or employees from diverse backgrounds might encounter. In the view of Young and
Guo (2016), it is highly challenging for aged-care nursing professionals to support their
elderly clients as majority of the patients belong to diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.
As a result, it will pose challenges to my future employment with range of complex

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behavioural patterns or unaccomplished needs such as the ones associated with dementia
specifically when communication is taking place across different languages and cultural
patterns (Favaretto et al. 2016). However, the power distance dimension in Australia is low
with an catalogue of 36 as compared to the world average of 55 (Deresky and Christopher
2015). Thus, only through theoretical knowledge and learning, I would not be able to gain
utmost success in the aged care sector. Apart from the already obtained education, I would
require obtaining cultural competence training in order to deliver suitable as well as helpful
care (Elias and Paradies 2016).
On the other hand, cultural diversity is a critical challenge for community nurses and
can reflect several challenges in the provision of improved nursing care and in attaining
optimal health outcomes (Rawson 2019). However, although Australia has comparatively low
power distance, for community nursing practitioners, there is a need of certain degree of
resilience in their approach and perspective while engaging with clients especially if coming
from diverse backgrounds (Britt et al. 2015). While belonging to the different cultural
background where the power distance is considerably high, I must engage into the practice
with knowledge and skills attained from my own gained experiences and the education I have
gained from my Masters qualification and clinical practice. Thus, in order to get
amalgamated with the Australian labour sector, I would require cost-effective training by
utilizing educational methods like e-learning and technology-improved learning.
Recommendations
From the conducted thorough evaluation of current tendencies and developments in the
Australian healthcare sector and focusing on the aged care as well as community health
sector, I have realized that my greater inclination will lie on the aged care sector due to its
continual increase in employment services. This particular sector of geriatric sector will
provide me to obtain improved skills and competencies and sustained growth in the future.

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As a global post graduate student, my primary focus is on attaining permanent residency in
the country. Thus, by providing vast ranging nursing services in the aged care sector will aid
me to attain my desired goals and objectives.
Job Seeking Strategy
As an international nursing student in order to attain job of Nursing Professional I
must apply tap on Sydney location which in recently has been showing significant
employment growth especially in the Australian aged care sector. Meanwhile, I must seek the
best job recruiters and job seeking sites like LinkedIn and the official website of Australian
Nurse and Midwifery and keep track on all the vacancies available in the market.
Furthermore, I must establish good rapport and contact various health practitioner agencies in
the Australian healthcare sector to keep a track on every new vacancy available in the
particular market. However, by thoroughly evaluating the Australian healthcare sector, I have
identified 2 renowned community service organizations namely Sydney Community Services
and Calvary Community Care. The Sydney Community Services operates as a local not-for-
profit organization which assists its inhabitants to live a valued as well as self-governing life
and their community (Sydney Community Services 2020). I must seek employment as a NP
in this organization as they deliver quality services to the elderly population. On the other
hand, the Calvary Community Care is also another community organization which possibly
will provide me exceptional employment services in the elderly care sector. Similar to
Sydney Community services, the Calvary Community Care has been proficiently offering
support to wide ranging clients in their own homes as well as communities for more than two
decades (Agedcare101.com.au 2020). I will keep a continuous check on the career page of
these organizations’ websites and also visit them in person to deliver my candidature. In the
meanwhile, I will put on to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia for endorsement as

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a Nurse Practitioner to improve my candidature and increase the chance of attaining the
desired job in Sydney aged care sector.
Conclusion
The report on the Australian healthcare sector has offered comprehensive information
on the aged care and community health sectors to help me as an international Nursing
Masters student to identify renowned community organizations. With my degree of Masters
in Nursing, my move in the aged sector will be lucrative for me to gain utmost success in the
industry.

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References
Abs.gov.au, 2020. Australian Bureau Of Statistics, Australian Government. [online]
Abs.gov.au. Available at: <https://www.abs.gov.au/> [Accessed 22 March 2020].
Agedcare101.com.au, 2020. Calvary Care. [online] Agedcare101.com.au. Available at:
<https://www.agedcare101.com.au/operators/calvary-care> [Accessed 22 March 2020].
Britt, H., Miller, G.C., Henderson, J., Bayram, C., Harrison, C., Valenti, L., Wong, C.,
Gordon, J., Pollack, A.J., Pan, Y. and Charles, J., 2015. General practice activity in Australia
2014–15. Sydney University Press.
Cheers, B., 2019. Welfare bushed: Social care in rural Australia. Routledge.
Deresky, H. and Christopher, E., 2015. International management: Managing cultural
diversity. Pearson Higher Education AU.
Duckett, S. and Willcox, S., 2015. The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5). Oxford
University Press.
Elias, A. and Paradies, Y., 2016. The regional impact of cultural diversity on wages: evidence
from Australia. IZA Journal of Migration, 5(1), p.12.
Favaretto, R.M., Dihl, L., Barreto, R. and Musse, S.R., 2016, September. Using group
behaviors to detect hofstede cultural dimensions. In 2016 IEEE International Conference on
Image Processing (ICIP) (pp. 2936-2940). IEEE.
Hawthorne, L., 2016. Labour market outcomes for migrant professionals: Canada and
Australia compared. Available at SSRN 2808943.\
Healy, J., 2016. The Australian labour market in 2015. Journal of Industrial Relations, 58(3),
pp.308-323.