South India!! Yes, well, where do I start? I suppose from the beginning. My job & job title is “International Nursing Recruitment Project Manager” (INRPM).I am that person that goes beyond the normal to recruit qualified nurses internationally. Before I go to any country, I do my research and investigations. Normally, I would simply come to a country and quietly do my business in regard to sourcing suitably qualified nursing staff, then after sufficient nursing candidates show interest and wanting U.K. posts,I would invite my NHS clients to accompany me and return to interview & process.
Prior to Brexit & then Covid, my life was relatively simple; going to a country market, organising and recruiting, but because of Covid I have watched the whole of the NHS change and develop their international recruitment process. It seems now that every NHS trust has advertised an “INRPM”,I myself have attended 4 such interviews and to my dismay have been passed over to make way for an internal promotion. lol it seems now that my job title isn’t as exclusive as I once thought! Anyhow,let’s move on! I decided I was not going to let the past 2 years continue in the same vain. So I boarded a flight to Southern India full of hope and aspirations to get my business back on track and focus on positivity! What I can say is that on arrival here I was brought back to earth with an almighty bump,the amount of red-tape and legislation that I had to climb through was enormous but needed. The most glaring and obvious thing is the number of recruitment agencies that are here, all clamouring for business, be it USA,Canada, Middle-East,Europe,Ireland and U.K. After my meetings with “Immigration & Police, Special Branch”,I discovered the corrupt practice of charging candidates for jobs,as much as £10K so before any NHS hires through an Indian Agency please do your ‘Due-Diligence’!! But after being located here for 2 months,I’m delighted with my progress.I have now opened a recruitment agency office & joined forces with a IELTS/OET language certification provider. We have already checked and pre-interviewed over 100 nursing candidates all with IELTS/OET. I also have over 250 enrolled into our language program!! But what I am most excited about is the number of newly qualified 2022 nurse candidates who have now joined our “student nurse” blog platform!! This will easily reach 1000 by the end of this month. I have visited some extraordinarily beautiful university nursing campuses and developed new friendships with the Principal & Dean!! These graduates undergo a 4 year BSc nursing program and are absolutely superbly qualified and ready for a “Preceptorship Program” within our NHS. Sadly, though I am shortly returning to the U.K. after suffering tummy-upset, the heat & humidity,mosquitoes,the most horrendous traffic that I have ever came across anywhere in the world,I would not swap my first experience of India for anywhere else. The people are amazingly friendly,the food,the villages,the hospitality are second to none that I have previously visited!!
