Perioperative Career and Recruitment Insights

54% of Australian job seekers in a 2026 Greenhouse survey had an AI interview. What the survey found, what it cannot tell us, and what theatre nurses can ask.

Who picks the music in theatre? What the research says about music, teamwork and communication, and a question for you: team playlist or team quiet?

Why operating theatres run cold, what the NICE guideline says about theatre temperature, and a question for you: team cold or team warm?

Are you procrastinating right now? You're not alone. Have you ever stared at your workload, knowing exactly what needs to get done, yet somehow found yourself deep-cleaning the kitchen or lost in endless scrolling? It's not laziness. It's not a lack of ambition. It's actually your brain trying to protect you. Procrastination isn't just a productivity problem. It's an emotional coping mechanism. When you face a task that feels overwhelming, difficult or uncertain, your brain s

One bad interview could cost you your dream job, and you may never get a second chance. Most employers won't give you a do-over if an interview goes badly. First impressions matter, and if you don't get it right the first time, that door could close. I get it. The fear of saying the wrong thing, stumbling over your words or freezing under pressure is real. Nerves, poor preparation or a single mistake can undo a strong application. The good news is that most interview mistakes

Walking out of a theatre job on the spot can feel powerful. When the reason is bullying, there is a better way to protect yourself, your options and your next role.

A conversation I had recently has stayed with me. I asked a perioperative nurse why they were thinking about leaving. I expected the usual answers: salary, hours, career progression. Instead they said something much simpler. “Kate... I can't remember the last time anyone thanked me.” Sadly, I wasn't surprised, because I've heard versions of it countless times over the years. We all want to feel that we matter It doesn't matter whether you've been in theatre for three months o

Interviewing for a theatre nurse role in Australia or New Zealand? Eight common mistakes, and how to fix each one before you meet the panel.

Every day, I speak with nurses who bear their burdens in silence, weighed down by a profession that demands everything from them. A call today stirred something in me, urging me to shine a light on their struggles, as burnout is robbing healthcare of its brightest stars. If my words can ease the load for even one nurse, it will be worth the effort. Employers must take heed. Nurses in high-pressure units labour through gruelling shifts to deliver top-notch care to every patien

Registration is recognised across the Tasman, but the anaesthetic bay and the way pay is set are not the same. What theatre nurses need to know before moving.

One advert says $50 an hour, another says $100,000 a year. How to put a theatre nurse hourly rate and an annual salary on the same footing before you choose.

Salary packaging for nurses comes up constantly in conversations with theatre nurses weighing up a move, and it is still one of the most misunderstood parts of a job offer. Get it right and it can genuinely change your take-home pay. Overlook it, or simply not ask about it, and you may end up comparing two roles on headline salary alone when the real difference sits somewhere else entirely. This is general information, not financial advice, and every employer's scheme is diff

Every week I look at the live scrub scout and anaesthetic nurse vacancies coming across my desk, and this week is worth talking about. Right now there are genuinely live, currently advertised scrub scout and anaesthetic nurse vacancies open across Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia, all at the same time. That spread tells you something about where perioperative nursing sits in the market today, and it is worth unpacking what it actual

Kate on why the nerves of starting a new perioperative role never fully disappear, and what actually helps in the first few months.

Most theatre nurses do not resign from a theatre job over one bad day. By the time the resignation letter gets written, the decision has usually been building for months. The reason given at an exit interview is not always the reason underneath it. Before you resign from a theatre job, there is one question worth asking yourself honestly, because the answer changes what you should do next. The question I ask first When a theatre nurse tells me they are ready to resign, I ask

A counter offer arrives at the worst possible moment. You have already made the decision, already had the difficult conversation, and then your manager asks for a day to see what they can do. This is one of the most common things theatre nurses ring me about, and it is worth thinking through calmly rather than in the corridor between cases. I am not going to tell you never to accept one. Sometimes a counter offer is the right answer. But it deserves the same scrutiny you woul

Choosing your referees is usually the last thing a theatre nurse thinks about and one of the first things an employer acts on. Most people give it about ninety seconds, name whoever they reported to most recently, and move on. Then a reference comes back flat, or late, or from someone who genuinely could not remember which lists they scrubbed on, and a strong application quietly loses its momentum. It is worth more than ninety seconds. Here is how I would go about it. A refer

Why measuring your theatre career against a colleague's timeline rarely gives you an honest picture, and what to pay attention to instead.