Registered & Enrolled Nurses Graduate Program

Nursing image

Our Program

St Vincent's Private Hospital Sydney (SVPHS) offers two supportive 12 month programs. The programs are open to both Registered Nurses and Enrolled Nurses, and provide experience in a diverse and challenging range of specialty nursing environments. The programs have a strong commitment to excellence and a culture of enquiry, research and best practice.


SVPHS Nurse Graduate Program aims to educate and support new graduate nurses who completed their undergraduate studies within the past 12 months. The program is designed to help graduates develop confidence, professionalism, and clinical expertise. The program commences in early February each year, and graduates rotate through two specialty areas. Second rotation options include Peri-operative and Mental Health. Dedicated Peri-operative and ICU program are available (ICU is available for RN applicants only). 


SVPHS Transition Support Program is open to newly graduated nurses and experienced nurses seeking to change specialties or move from a non-acute setting to an acute hospital setting. The program commences with a mid-year intake in late July or early August and also involves a rotation through two specialty areas. Second rotation options include Peri-operative, and there is also a dedicated Peri-operative program available. The program provides education and support to help nurses develop their skills and adapt to a new work environment.


Why choose St Vincent’s Private Hospital Sydney for your Graduate Program?

  • $172 Million hospital redevelopment completed in 2021.
  • Full time and part time program options are available.
  • A well planned, developed and professionally structured program.
  • Comprehensive orientation program.
  • Supernumerary days.
  • Clinical Nurse Educators in each specialty.
  • Preceptors and Clinical Nurse Specialists available for support.
  • Scheduled debriefing sessions.
  • Allocated study days with a focus on clinical development and career development.
  • Professional and friendly workplace.
  • Community atmosphere.
  • Salary packaging


Our Specialities

Graduates choose to come SVPHS due to our highly renowned reputation and our acute and varied case mix. Graduates may gain experience in our adolescent mental health unit and in the following surgical and medical specialties: 

Surgical services

  • Breast Surgery
  • Cardiothoracic Surgery
  • Colorectal Surgery
  • General Surgery
  • Gynaecology
  • Head and Neck Surgery
  • Neurosurgery
  • Ophthalmology
  • Orthopaedic Surgery
  • Otolaryngology
  • Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
  • Renal Transplant
  • Surgical Oncology
  • Upper GI Surgery
  • Urology
  • Vascular Surgery

Medical services


  • Cardiology
  • Endocrinology
  • Gastroenterology
  • Geriatric Medicine
  • Haematology
  • Immunology
  • Medical Oncology
  • Nephrology
  • Neurology


  • Palliative Care
  • Psychiatry and Psychological Services
  • Radiation Oncology
  • Rehabilitation Medicine
  • Rheumatology
  • Sports Medicine
  • Thoracic Medicine
  • Vascular Medicine

A Hospital of the Future

St Vincent’s Private Hospital Sydney has always strived to be progressive, through the way in which it operates and with its approach to patient care. Over the years, we are proud to have paved the way for our leading teams of clinicians to provide the latest surgical approaches and technologies for our local community.


Demand on our hospital’s services has grown over the last 100 years, particularly accelerating over recent decades, primarily due to Australia’s ageing population. Furthermore, within an evolving and competitive era of private healthcare being able to offer patients these world-class medical and surgical services and high-quality patient care all within a modern first-class clinical setting is what we knew would continue to position our site as a leading hospital of the future.


In late 2021, we completed a $172 Million hospital wide redevelopment project to respond our community’s healthcare needs. This includes a rehabilitation service comprising of an exclusively private 12 bed rehabilitation ward with a hydrotherapy pool and specialist gymnasium, two new operating theatres with state-of-the-art technology and equipment and a full renovation of our in- patient wards resulting in wider corridors, larger rooms with a bright, modern and airy feel along with brand new ensuite bathrooms.

St. Vincent’s Campus - Surgical Firsts and Innovations

  • Our urology department, have completed the highest number of robotic procedures in Australia.
  • The only private facility in Australia to offer shockwave therapy using a lithotripsy machine, providing patients with an alternative non-invasive treatment option for kidney stones.
  • We were the first hospital in Australia to purchase the Lumenis Holmium laser incorporating Moses technology which enables more energy to reach the target stone or tissue and results in improved efficiency, greater control and more precision, whilst shortening procedure times.
  • The only hospital in NSW offering blue light cystoscopy for bladder cancer diagnosis and treatment which improves the detection of cancer.
  • One of only three centres in Australia to be appointed federally to undertake prostate research and is now considered a national and international leader in the initiation and research of a wide range of cancer therapies.
  • At the Garvan Institute we have the largest and most established prostate tissue, patient data and blood banks in the southern hemisphere, the third largest in the world.
  • A more recent urology treatment available for prostate cancer is a day surgery treatment called focal nano knife therapy. We were also the first facility to offer this treatment and are now a teacher of this technology.
  • Our campus has a MRI Guided Ultrasound machine with innovative technology not offered anywhere else in Australia or the Asia Pacific Region. The MRI represents a major breakthrough in the treatment of patients with tremors, Parkinson’s disease and dystonia.
  • The first hospital to employ frameless stereotactic equipment in the routine provision of craniotomy.
  • The first private hospital in NSW to implement the functional program of deep brain electrodes for Parkinson’s disease and the first private hospital in NSW to initiate Duodopa treatment for this disease.
  • One of the first sites to utilise the Zeiss robotic microscope providing better definition of brain tumour borders with double screens providing 4k and 3D imaging capabilities and precise visualisation through fluorescent lighting features.
  • St. Vincent’s Hospital Sydney performed the first heart transplant in Australia, leading to the establishment of the first Australian heart and lung transplant program.
  • SVPHS undertakes surgery for heart failure. With the backup of our mechanical assist and transplant program we can undertake operations many hospitals cannot offer. Patients needing complex redo surgery, ventricular remodelling surgery and high-risk operations come to St Vincent’s.
  • We are one of a few private hospitals in NSW using temporary heart and lung assistance for patients. Our Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation program, helps support desperately unwell patients during their illness and aids in bridging them to recovery.
  • The only private hospital in Australia inserting Left Ventricular assist devices for the treatment of end stage heart failure.
  • The first minimally invasive surgery for mitral valve, aortic valve and coronary artery bypass grafting was performed here in Australia at St Vincent’s more than a decade ago.
  • We were the first to introduced the Trans Catheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) program in Sydney.
  • Our site pioneered robotic coronary surgery.
  • Closed operating rooms dedicated to orthopaedic surgery only and access to specifically designed orthopaedic spacesuits.
  • Consistently scored above 95% in self-reported patient satisfaction surveys.
  • Our infection rate for joint replacements is one of the lowest in Australia at 0.3% compared to accepted rate worldwide of 1%.
  • We performed the first robotic-assisted persona knee replacement surgery worldwide using the new Zimmer Biomet Knee platform. This new system has been developed to assist surgeons in optimising accuracy and efficiency when planning and performing total knee replacement procedures.
  • We are a tertiary referral centre for Otolaryngology in Australia with a large caseload of high complexity, and referrals from regional and interstate as well as from overseas.
  • The department has performed the largest number of pituitary surgeries in NSW.
  • We are a centre of excellence for cochlear implants with the first implant in Australia being performed here and have the longest running cochlear implant program in Sydney.
  • We have the first female robotic trained surgeon in Head & neck cancer surgery in Australia.

Applications

SVPHS Nurse Graduate Program


Applications for our 2024 program open 3-31 July 2023


We welcome applications from all universities throughout Australia and New Zealand. You do not have to have completed a clinical placement with us to apply.


2024 Program - Important Dates


  • Intake: 5 February 2024
  • Applications open: 3–31 July 2023
  • Interviews commence during October 2023
  • Notification for successful candidates - on or before Wednesday 15 November 2023
  • Apply for Graduate Program 
    (click on the links below)
  • Enrolled Nurses
  • Registered Nurses


SVPHS Transition Support Program


Applications for our 2024 program will open
in May 2024. 


We welcome applications from all universities throughout Australia and New Zealand. You do not have to have completed a clinical placement with us to apply.



Required Documentation

For your application to be eligible for consideration, please submit the following in full as part of your application:


Cover Letter


  • Maximum 1 page.
  • Include your nominated stream (Med/Surg, Peri-operative, ICU) or if have no preference, state you have no preference).

CV and references 


  • You need to include a minimum of 2 referees.
  • One must be a university/TAFE supervisor from your final year of study OR your current manager from a healthcare related role (e.g. AIN).
  • The second referee should be a university/ TAFE clinical supervisor/facilitator, a preceptor you have worked alongside within a clinical setting (greater than 3 shifts), or a manager who had a direct supervisory role with the past two years.
  • Referee details must include name, title, phone contact and email address (professional email addresses are preferred).
  • Ensure you have asked your referees permission and inform them they may be contacted.

Submitting your application

  • Applications that do not include all required documentation will not be progressed, so ensure your application is complete prior to submission. 
  • Applications can only be accepted via the SEEK / Workday website.
  • Applications emailed directly to HR or Learning & Development will not be considered.
  • Ensure you have the entire required documentation ready at the time of submission as incomplete applications will not be considered.
  • Keep copies of all documents you have submitted as these cannot be returned to you.
  • Keep copies of all emails received acknowledging receipt of your application.
  • Applicants will not be contacted regarding their application until after the closing date.
  • You can check the status of your job application for updates in your application progress. 


After submitting your application

Once you have submitted all of the required documentation, you will receive an automated email acknowledgement of your application.


Due to the volume of applicants, you will only be notified if you have been successful by being invited for an interview.  


Offer of interview

If you are successful to progress to interview, you will receive an emailed interview invitation with time, date and location. You must RSVP by the indicated date for your interview to be confirmed. 


If you would like to decline an interview, please indicate the same by email, and we can then offer to other candidates on our waiting list.


Offer of employment

The graduate recruitment team will contact you via email. You will be advised of the timeframe to “Accept” or “Decline” the offer in writing (email). If we do not hear from you by the said date, it will be deemed that you have declined your offer with us. Applicants who are considered eligible for employment at St Vincent’s Private Hospital, Sydney, but due to limited positions available, will then be offered a position on the eligibility list. Should a successful candidate decline an offer, an offer will then be made to candidates on this eligibility list. Please note - if you are unsuccessful, you will be notified by email.


Acceptance of employment offer

After you accept an offer of employment and have confirmed in correspondence, you will receive an official letter of offer.


The letter of offer will outline the date that the letter must be signed and returned to our Human Resources Department. Only the signed letter is due by this date, all other documentation can be returned three (3) weeks prior to your outlined start date. If the signed letter has not been returned by the due date, it will be assumed that your offer of employment has been declined and your offer will be withdrawn.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, GradStart is for public NSW hospitals only. To apply for the SVPHS New Graduate Program, you must apply via SEEK or Workday. Please note that while St Vincent’s Public Hospital Sydney is our direct neighbour, both the public and private hospitals run their own separate new graduate programs. If you are interested in both programs, you are encouraged to apply to both. Apply though GradStart for the public hospitals program.
 
As several people will review your application, please address your cover letter to the Learning & Development Department (e.g. Dear Learning & Development Department).
Working rights Employer Nomination Sponsorship cannot be provided for those employed on the St Vincent’s Private Hospital Graduate Nurse Program. To be eligible, overseas students graduating from universities must have full working rights that allow them to work full time for a minimum of 12 months. Those graduates on student visas who would require sponsorship in order to take up a full time position are therefore not eligible to apply.
 
Providing you have no more than 6 months’ work experience as an Enrolled / Registered Nurse since graduation you can still apply.
Yes, to be eligible you must have recently completed or completed within the past 12 months an undergraduate degree in nursing; or are due to complete the same prior to the start date for the graduate program.
 
Yes, if you graduated within the past 12 months with a Bachelor’s degree or Diploma in nursing; and have no more than 6 months’ work experience as an Enrolled / Registered Nurse since graduation.
 
Unfortunately, applications lodged after the closing date will not be accepted.
We are aware that you may require some time to obtain registration prior to starting on the graduate program and the recruitment process is timed to allow registration to be in place prior to the start date.
If you have any questions about our St Vincent’s Private Hospital Graduate Nursing Program, please contact Learning & Development by email only at svphs.learningdevelopmentteam@svha.org.au