Healthcare & Medical Jobs in Australia

We place candidates across a broad range of healthcare and medical disciplines. In nursing, we recruit registered nurses, enrolled nurses, and nurse practitioners for acute care, aged care, community and mental health settings. In allied health, we place physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, social workers, dietitians, and psychologists. We also recruit for medical administration roles including medical receptionists, practice managers, health information managers and hospital administrators. In aged care and disability, we place personal care workers, support workers and residential care coordinators. Our healthcare recruitment covers both the public and private sectors, across all Australian states and territories.

Qualification requirements vary significantly by role. Registered and enrolled nurses must hold current registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and maintain CPD requirements in line with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia standards. Allied health professionals, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, psychologists and social workers, also require AHPRA or relevant professional association registration for their discipline. Aged care workers are required under federal legislation to hold at minimum a Certificate III in Individual Support (Ageing), with a Certificate IV preferred for team leader and coordination roles. Disability support workers require a minimum Certificate III in Disability, NDIS Worker Screening Check clearance, and current First Aid certification. All healthcare and medical workers in Australia are required to have a current Working with Children Check and National Police Check as a condition of employment in most states.

Most healthcare and aged care roles in Australia require both a National Police Check and, depending on client group and state, a Working with Children Check (or equivalent). In aged care, all workers who have direct contact with residents must have cleared a police check under the Aged Care Act. NDIS workers must hold an NDIS Worker Screening Check, which operates separately from and in addition to a standard police check, and is required in all states and territories. For roles working with children or adolescents — including paediatric nursing, child and adolescent mental health, and school-based allied health — a Working with Children Check is mandatory. Some employers also require a current COVID-19 vaccination record or influenza vaccination as a condition of placement. Chandler Macleod can advise on the specific requirements for any role before you apply.

Healthcare employment comes in several forms, each with different conditions and suitability depending on your career stage and lifestyle. Permanent full-time and part-time roles offer consistent hours, leave entitlements, access to salary packaging in the public and not-for-profit sectors, and a clear progression pathway. Casual roles offer flexibility in rostering and are common in aged care, disability and community health settings, but do not include guaranteed hours or paid leave — they instead attract a casual loading on the base pay rate. Contract and locum roles are fixed-term appointments typically used to fill leave coverage, project-based needs or sustained vacancies in hard-to-fill areas. Locum roles are most common in medical and allied health, often providing higher hourly rates than permanent equivalents in exchange for reduced job security. Chandler Macleod recruits across all of these engagement types and can advise which best suits your situation.

Registered nurses, particularly those with aged care, mental health and rural and remote experience, remain among the most in-demand healthcare workers in Australia. The aged care sector continues to face significant workforce shortages driven by the Royal Commission reforms and ACFI-to-AN-ACC transition, creating sustained demand for personal care workers, enrolled nurses and registered nurses in residential facilities. Mental health professionals, including psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses and occupational therapists, are in high demand across both public and private sectors. Disability support workers remain critically short supply nationally, particularly since the NDIS expansion. In allied health, speech pathologists and occupational therapists with paediatric and NDIS experience face the longest wait lists for candidates. Medical administration, particularly practice managers and health information managers with clinical coding experience, is also experiencing sustained vacancy rates in both metropolitan and regional areas.