Job opportunities for nursing graduates in Hawke's Bay are looking healthy, thanks to initiatives at both local and national level.
According to EIT faculty of science dean Susan Jacobs, a survey conducted last week showed one third of students who completed their studies at the EIT and Tairawhiti campuses last month had been promised jobs before they were even registered.
"Give it three months and that figure could be more like 75 per cent," she said. "They are not all working for the District Health Board, some are working with intellectual disability or caring for older people.
"If I go back to the class that finished in November 2012, by March, 78 per cent had jobs."
A new Ministry of Health (MOH) accelerated choice of employment (ACE) project, that helped to identify which DHBs were not making full use of funding for new graduates, was creating more access to jobs.