The short version: advertising a registered nurse role as full-time only removes a large group of experienced aged care nurses before the first application arrives. Splitting the line into two part-time positions fills the same hours from a group of people who were never going to answer the original ad.
In Tasmanian aged care the binding constraint is the number of registered nurses living within a reasonable drive of the home. It is not the number of applications received. It is not the advertising spend. Anything that narrows that group before people even see the role is expensive.
A full-time only vacancy does exactly that. Experienced nurses with caring responsibilities, nurses studying, nurses easing toward retirement and nurses already holding a role elsewhere read the hours line, decide the job is not for them, then keep scrolling.
The hours line filters before the job description does
Most job ads are read in the order the platform displays them: title, location, hours, pay. A nurse who cannot work 38 hours a week never reaches the paragraph explaining the supported orientation, the small team or the parking. The filter happens in the first few seconds.
That matters more in aged care than in acute settings. The aged care nursing workforce skews older, part-time patterns are common across the sector. Tasmania also has the oldest nursing workforce in the country. Writing a role as 0.6 or 0.8, or as negotiable between 0.6 and 1.0, keeps that group reading.
Two part-time nurses cover the same minutes
Care minutes and the 24/7 registered nurse requirement are counted in hours of care delivered rather than in the number of contracts delivering them. A 1.0 full-time equivalent line can be met by one nurse or by two, provided the roster is written properly.
| Approach | What it delivers | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| One 1.0 FTE role | Single handover point, simplest roster | Reaches only nurses available full-time; total exposure if they resign |
| Two part-time lines | Same hours, two people trained on the floor | More onboarding, more handovers, more roster administration |
| 0.8 plus casual top-up | Most of the hours from one person | Leaves a recurring gap to fill each fortnight |
The second row also removes a risk that shows up regularly in small homes. Where one nurse holds an entire line, their resignation or extended leave takes the whole coverage with it. Nobody else on staff knows those residents or that roster well enough to step in.
The award expects a written pattern of hours
Clause 10 of the Nurses Award 2020 defines a part-time employee as someone engaged for less than an average of 38 ordinary hours per week who has reasonably predictable hours of work. Before employment starts the employer and employee agree in writing on the pattern of work. Any later change is agreed and recorded in writing too.
That requirement is a benefit rather than a burden. Predictable, written hours are precisely what makes a part-time role attractive to a nurse with a second commitment. They are also what stops the arrangement drifting into an informal casual pattern that suits nobody.
A vacancy written for the roster you already have will only ever reach nurses whose lives already fit it.
What changes on the floor
Be honest about the trade-offs before committing. Two part-time nurses mean two orientations, two sets of competencies to verify and one more handover in the week. Clinical continuity needs more deliberate documentation than a single full-time nurse would require.
Against that, you gain cross-cover for leave, a second person who knows the residents, plus a broader group of applicants for every future vacancy in the same home. In a state where registered nurse vacancies commonly run eight to ten weeks, that last point carries real money with it.
There is a second order effect worth naming. A nurse who joins at 0.6 because that is what her circumstances allow this year often moves to 0.8 or 1.0 two years later. Homes that only ever advertise full-time never meet her at the point where the smaller commitment was the only one available.
How to word the ad
- State the range plainly: part-time 0.6 to 1.0, hours negotiated with the successful applicant
- Name the days or shift pattern you can offer, since predictability is the drawcard
- Say whether school-hours or weekend-only patterns can be accommodated, then honour it
- Invite job-share applications explicitly, because most nurses assume they are unwelcome
- Keep the pay and classification in the ad, so the reader can compare like for like
- Give a named person to call, rather than an application portal alone
The wording sits alongside everything else that makes an aged care job ad work. The hours line is simply the one with the largest filtering effect, which is why it deserves the first look when a vacancy stalls.
Job-share done properly
A job-share is two people holding one role between them with a shared set of responsibilities, rather than two unrelated part-time positions that happen to add up. Done carelessly it creates a seam where things get dropped. Done properly it is one of the more stable arrangements a small home can run.
Three things make the difference. Agree in writing which responsibilities are shared and which sit with one person, so care plan reviews or family meetings have an owner. Build a deliberate handover, whether that is an overlapping hour on changeover day or a structured written summary. Give both people the same access to the clinical system, the same training and the same standing in team meetings.
The pair also needs to be chosen with care. Two nurses who communicate well can cover for each other’s leave without the home noticing. Two who avoid each other create twice the supervision load for whoever runs the roster, which is usually the person who has the least time available.
The bottom line
If a registered nurse vacancy has been open for more than a month, the hours line deserves a second look before the pay rate does. Opening a role to part-time patterns does not lower the standard of the person you hire. It widens the group of experienced nurses who will read past the third line of your ad.
If you lead a facility: rewrite your next vacancy with a range instead of a single figure, then hold the roster conversation with the person you want rather than the person the ad allowed through.
If you are a nurse: a role advertised full-time is often negotiable. Ask about 0.6 or 0.8 before deciding it is not for you.
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