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There are a number of reasons for choosing international permanent recruitment including, but not limited to:
All candidates that we send to our NHS clients will have been thoroughly assessed for their English language skills according to the criteria set out by the GMC or NMC. To be clear, we only present them to you once they meet these criteria so you are never left waiting for people to pass tests before they can start (an area we know that many agencies let themselves down is presenting candidates who just aren’t ready) The requirements include:
These tests are incredibly rigorous and tend to only be passed by those who have prepared thoroughly and already have a good base level of English. Most of the candidates that we work with come from countries that either use English as a first or second language and particularly where workplaces tend to be solely in English speaking. It is misconception that the level of English for international doctors and nurses is poor, particularly since the regulatory bodies have brought in such thorough testing. Once our NHS clients have been through their first Skype based interviews, they are generally overwhelmed by the level of English and it tends to become much less of a worry.
International Permanent Recruitment campaigns are an ongoing and long-term commitment which do take slightly longer than a normal campaign. If you are used to recruiting locum staff, then you are likely to be used to quick turnarounds and it is important to reset this mindset and always think of the long-term perspective rather than simply plugging gaps in the short term. Think of how long it will take to employ a doctor or nurse in the UK… They usually take a couple of weeks to interview, negotiate with and then accept your offer, followed by 1-3 months for their notice period and to complete pre-employment checks. International recruitment is exactly the same however you also need to factor in an additional month for certificate of sponsorship applications, visa applications, and international checks that can add additional time.
In our experience a smooth-running international campaign will take 3-5 months from engaging our services until your doctors and nurses start with you. Throughout the process, we will keep you updated and you will have a clear idea of any possible hurdles that could require additional time right from the outset.
Our fees are negotiable and tend to be determined by the demand profile and the level of work required. For ad-hoc placements of specialist doctors or nurses we charge a one-off fee equivalent to a percentage of the first year salary or a fixed fee depending on the grade required (more senior requirements usually mean a little bit more to spend). For larger recruitment campaigns with multiple vacancies and that perhaps require full teams of staff, there are efficiencies to be had and we are happy to offer volume-based discounts accordingly. The best thing to do if you are wondering about costs is to get in touch with one of the team and we can provide you a quote based on your individual needs.
One of the most important considerations when weighing up the costs of an international recruitment campaign is to look at the long-term perspective and, in particular, consider how much it will cost to employ a locum alternative. On average, our clients tell us that the cost of recruiting permanently from overseas is just 15% of the equivalent costs that are associated with paying for locums on hourly rates. Remember that you are paying a one-off fee for a permanent member of staff that will join you on a normal salary rather than ongoing hourly costs for doctors that are never employed directly by you and could leave at any time.
We invoice for our services when your doctors or nurses actually arrive in the UK and start with you. This means there are no upfront costs associated with interviewing or reviewing CVs. Basically, our service is free to the point that your doctor or nurse commences employment with you.
We are incredibly confident that you will be happy with the candidates that join you and, in our history, we have not had a single doctor or nurse have to leave because they were not suitable for the job or had any work-related issues. That said, an international move can be stressful and there is always a very small risk that a doctor or nurse may struggle to settle in and choose to leave (the thorough nature of our screening and recruitment process means that this has only happens with around 1 in 150 placements that we make). In these rare instances we offer a rebate period on our fees to ensure that you are not left out of pocket. This is usually a three-month period which slides down as the months pass by.
Once our doctors and nurses start with you, our communication with them doesn’t end and we offer full, on-going pastoral care to ensure that our candidates always settle in well. We are also happy to work with you to ensure that you are well prepared with an induction and orientation programme that is tried and tested for international professionals and gives the best chance of staff retention.
Whilst face-to-face interviews are often preferred, it is a good idea to embrace technology and focus on Skype or other web-based interview facilities. We have heard of so many horror stories of teams travelling around the world to attend face-to-face interviews only for very few of the candidates to ever actually start working for the employers. All of this extra cost, time and effort can easily be avoided by selecting fully registered and motivated candidates and using Skype facilities to interview them from the UK.
We know that technology and internet access for wireless devices can have its limitations in the NHS so if you need us to attend your interview and bring along laptops with 4G connectivity then this is absolutely fine. We can also have all the candidates added and ready for their allocated interview slots and access to all of their other contact details to ensure everything runs smoothly.
The first thing to note here is that we are committed to sustainable international recruitment and signed up to the NHS Employers code of conduct for international recruitment. This ensures that international recruitment of healthcare professionals should not prejudice the healthcare systems of developing countries and means that we do not actively recruit from those developing countries.
Outside of this commitment, we do not limit our searches to particular countries as we feel that our approach should be truly global. Of course, there are countries that tend to be more accessible to us and they tend to be those who have access to the Royal College and PLAB exam test centres so that we can ensure excellent levels of clinical suitability. Equally, the healthcare systems of some countries run very much inline with the NHS and, of course, some operate in English speaking environments, so these are obvious choices for doctors that will be suitable. If you wish to run a campaign targeted at a particular region or country then we can certainly do this for you and will focus our attentions on existing networks, event attendance and marketing in those countries.
At the point we present our candidates to you, they will have already gone through the longest parts of the process which are completing the recognised qualifications and demonstrating their level of English. This means that they already hold all of the documentation required to gain their registration, so it is just a matter of making the submission to relevant regulatory body and then attending an ID check (where applicable). This process takes around 3-4 weeks in normal circumstances and is completed well in advance of any proposed start dates. Again, we are very aware that some agencies send candidates who are yet to complete their registrations and purport to be able to help them later on however this is a very risky style of recruitment and we advise avoiding it.
