Entry-Level Healthcare Jobs in the US and Australia: 2026 Guide

These are on-site jobs. There is no remote version of helping someone out of bed, so plan around commuting and rostered shifts.

In a US nursing home or hospital, a nursing assistant's day is personal care and observation: bathing, dressing, toileting, repositioning, feeding assistance, transfers with hoists or slide sheets, and logging vital signs in the electronic record. Orderlies do more of the moving and logistics — transporting patients and equipment, cleaning and setting up rooms, stocking supplies. Most nursing assistants and orderlies work in nursing and residential care facilities and in hospitals, are physically active, and the combined occupation has one of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses of all occupations (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), so safe-lifting training is not optional.

Medical assistants work the clinic side: rooming patients, taking histories and vitals, sterilising instruments, assisting with exams and minor procedures, and handling scheduling and records. Most work full time, in physicians' offices, hospitals, outpatient clinics and other healthcare facilities (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Home health and personal care aides visit clients at home, often working alone, with travel between visits.

In Australia the closest equivalent is the aged and disabled carer, working in residential aged care, in-home support and disability services: personal care, meal preparation, mobility and social support, transport, and progress notes in the provider's care system. Jobs and Skills Australia publishes the share of aged and disabled carers working full-time hours and the average weekly hours of full-time workers on its occupation profile — worth reading before you assume the work is full time, because much of the sector runs on part-time and casual rosters.

Rosters in both countries cover mornings, afternoons, nights, weekends and public holidays, with short-notice cover requests common.

The employer categories that recruit consistently at entry level:

• Hospitals and health systems — internal careers pages, structured onboarding, and sometimes paid training for assistant roles.
• Nursing homes and residential aged care providers — the biggest employer group for care aide work in the US (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025) and a core employer in Australia.
• Home care and in-home support agencies — visit-based work; in Australia much of it is government-funded, so providers must be approved to deliver it.
• Disability support providers (Australia) — support worker roles requiring specific clearances.
• Physicians' offices, outpatient clinics and specialist practices — where medical assistant and clinic support roles sit (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025).
• Healthcare staffing and nursing agencies — casual and contract shifts across sites; good for building hours, less predictable for income.
• Government health services — public hospitals and state or territory health departments in Australia; public, veterans' and county facilities in the US, posted on official recruitment portals.
• Pathology, diagnostics and day-surgery groups — phlebotomy, EKG and patient care technician work. The National Healthcareer Association certifies several entry-level clinical support roles including phlebotomists, EKG technicians, clinical medical assistants and patient care technicians (National Healthcareer Association, via Wikipedia).

Apply on employer career pages where you can; aggregators often repeat the same agency ad.

Pay in both countries is time-based rather than output-based. The variation comes from shift timing, setting and credentials.

On demand, which matters when you negotiate hours: employment of medical assistants is projected to grow from 2025 to 2035, with about 109,700 openings projected each year on average over the decade (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Jobs and Skills Australia publishes a growth outlook and skill level rating for aged and disabled carers.

1. Pick the specific role, not the field. Nursing assistant, orderly, medical assistant, phlebotomy or patient care tech in the US; aged care worker, disability support worker or hospital assistant in Australia. Training requirements differ for each.
2. Check the credential rule where you will work. In the US, nursing assistants often complete a state-approved education program and pass the state competency exam, then go on a state registry — and must be on it to work in a nursing home (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Orderlies need no license, but jobs might require CPR or Basic Life Support certification, and some states let nursing assistants add a Certified Medication Assistant credential to dispense medications (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Most states do not require medical assistants to be certified, though employers may prefer or require it; certification information is available through CareerOneStop (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). In Australia, check the provider's stated qualification and clearance requirements.
3. Finish training and clearances before applying. Background checks, immunisation records, first aid and CPR, and a driver's licence for home care are routine screening items and often the tie-breaker.
4. Build a one-page resume aimed at care work. Lead with your credential and registry or certification number, then shift availability, then hands-on experience — including unpaid family caregiving or work with vulnerable customers. List manual handling, infection control and documentation.
5. Set up pay and tax paperwork. In the US, onboarding tax forms and direct deposit; in Australia, a tax file number and a superannuation account. Check requirements on the national tax authority's own website.
6. Create profiles where employers look — employer career portals, government health recruitment sites, and two or three reputable health staffing agencies. Keep availability fields current; recruiters filter on them.
7. Make the first application specific. A short note naming the facility, the shifts you can reliably cover, your credential status and earliest start date, with certificates attached as PDFs.

• Verify the employer is registered. Look it up in the official business register for that state or country, and for Australian aged care and disability work check the provider is approved to deliver those services.
• Get the offer in writing with job title or classification, rate, roster pattern, probation and notice period.
• Confirm how and when you are paid, and whether anything is deducted for uniforms, equipment, training or agency fees. Undisclosed deductions are a reason to pause.
• Check penalties, overtime and travel. In Australia, confirm which award or agreement applies. In home care in both countries, ask whether travel between clients is paid.
• Confirm guaranteed hours and ask what the last person in the role actually averaged each week.
• Confirm shift and on-call expectations in writing, including night rotations and notice before roster changes.
• Check your credential transfers. US registry requirements are state-specific; ask which registry the employer will verify.
• Read independent reviews on general employer-review sites, plus official government quality ratings for aged and residential care. A repeated complaint is data; one angry review is noise.
• Ask about injury prevention. Given the high injury rate in this occupation group (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), ask about manual handling training, lifting equipment and night-shift staffing levels.
• Never pay to be placed. Legitimate employers do not charge candidates for offers or sponsorship.