You are here:: Pulse UK Home > Resource Centre > Graduates > Nursing & Care Graduate Jobs

Nursing & Care Graduate Jobs

Nursing & Care workers are responsible for providing care and assistance for patients in their treatment and recovery. They are also responsible for promoting good health. The majority of graduate nurses work in the National Health Service, although many also work in private hospitals, the armed services, schools and voluntary organisations.

Typical jobs a nurse must undertake

administering drugs and injections
assessing the medical history of patients
monitoring the progress of a patient
taking and monitoring of blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, etc
assisting other medical staff, such as doctors, during surgical procedures
providing emergency medical care
maintaining patient hygiene
providing emotional support

Qualifications for Nurse training

To become a nurse you need training through either Diploma or degree entry. The minimum entry requirements are given below, please note however that many universities will require you to hold more than the minimum, including A' levels:

5 GCSE/GCE O levels, grade C or above (including English and a Science/Maths subject for entry to Midwifery); or
5 CSEs Grade 1; or
5 SCEs grade 1 (Scotland); or
5 SCE ordinary, grades A-C (Scotland); or
GNVQ Intermediate level plus one GCSE/GCE O level, grades A-C; or
GNVQ Advanced Level or NVQ level 3; or
SVQ level 3; GSVQ level 3 (Scotland); or
SVQ level 2 (Scotland) if the programme began after Sepetember 2000
A Kitemarked Access to Higher Education course; or
EDEXEL Foundation (BTEC) National or Higher National Diploma; or
Passes in the Northern Ireland Grammar School Senior Certificate of Education;
A qualification awarded by the NNEB dating from 1985, including the Diploma in Post-Qualifying Studies

Temporary work with PULSE as a nursing graduate

In order for us to be able to find you temporary work as a nursing graduate we require the following:-

General - Minimum 6 months post graduate experience (although we will start the recruitment process with any applicant who has 3/4 months post grad experience as elements of the recruitment process (CRBs etc) can mean that 6 months experience has been achieved by the time of completion). Additional post graduate training course certificates are helpful but not mandatory. All applicants will be put through a comprehensive mandatory training programme including, but not limited to, Basic Life support, Manual handling, Health & Safety, Infection control and Fire safety.
Critical - Minimum 12 months post grad experience (although, again, we can start the recruitment process with applicants ahead of this). Additional mandatory training as per General nursing plus post graduate relevant training certificates such as Post grad ITU course/critical care course for Band 6 associates.
Midwifery - Minimum 12 months post grad experience (see above for variations and mandatory training). In addition, annual CTG and Neonatal resus training required. All applicants must produce an Intention to practice certificate and identify their named Supervisor of Midwives.
Mental Health - Minimum 6 months post graduate experience. although we will start the recruitment process with any applicant who has 3/4 months post grad experience as elements of the recruitment process (CRBs etc) can mean that 6 months experience has been achieved by the time of completion). Additional post graduate training course certificates are helpful but not mandatory. All applicants will be put through a comprehensive mandatory training programme including, but not limited to, Basic Life support, Manual handling, Health & Safety, Infection control and Fire safety.

Broadly speaking we recruit temp Nurses for 4 distinct areas of Nursing:

General (Mostly Band 5 and 6)
Critical ( includes ITU (Band 6), A&E (Band 5), Theatres (Band 6) and Paediatrics (Band 5 and 6)
Midwifery (Mostly Band 6)
Mental Health (Band 5 and 6)

Permanent work with PULSE as a nursing graduate

For more permanent roles, we have a very varied client base. This means that we can find you positions within corporate organisations, research companies, private clinics etc, as well as within hospitals. Although you may not have experience in one particular sector, do not worry about this as we tend to look at the type of person, the clinical knowledge and the skill base that is required for each role before making a judgement on your suitability.

In order to work with us in a more permanent role, we typically request that potential applicants have at least one year's post qualifying experience. As a result, we recommend you gain this experience before using our perm service, with our temporary roles being more suitable for newly qualified candidates. For a permanent job within a clinical position we require that applicants have experience in the clinical areas of what the job requires (or detailed transferable skills). As a result, we recommend reading the job description carefully before applying.

For permanent roles we will look at any specialty as our requirements change on a regular basis. Indeed, we assess each person individually to see how we can help them at each particularly moment in time. Therefore, even though we may not have a suitable position for you at the moment, we may well do in the future.

Please note that All Nurses, regardless of whether they are interested in the temporary or permanent route, need to hold current registration with the NMC or HPC (Theatre ODPs) with one of the following qualifications: