Photo by Zach Vessels on Unsplash
Every year, many people decide to make a new life in a different country. It can be an amazing experience to live in another country. Living in another country, even if it’s only for a year or two, can change your entire outlook on life.
While it would be nice to be rich and not have to work to fund your lifestyle, most people will need to work to make a living.
The good news is, as a trained nurse, your skills are needed virtually all over the world. Healthcare is often one of the most required skills in a country and unlike many industries which can disappear with a recession, it’s always needed. However, there’s a lot to consider when finding and applying for jobs.
Read on for a guide on working as a nurse in another country.
Check your qualifications
Not all nursing qualifications are the same across countries. Unfortunately, the training in some countries may not be at the required standard to practice in another.
Check which qualifications are accepted in the country you are planning on moving to. If your current qualifications aren’t sufficient, there may be an accelerated or conversion course that you can do to be recognized officially.
If you’re a newly qualified nurse, getting some work experience under your belt before you apply for jobs in another country is a good idea and can increase your chances of finding a good role.
In addition to your qualifications, you may need to be officially licensed by a professional body too.
Buying the right equipment and uniform
Depending on where you eventually end up practicing nursing, you may need to buy your own uniform or other pieces of equipment. You need to be sure that you’re going to be comfortable and wearing something you know is going to last wash after wash. Try getting your nursing scrubs from Uniform Advantage as well as comfortable footwear and a range of accessories.
Learn the language
You could be the most qualified, most experienced nurse in the world, but if you don’t understand what people are saying, you won’t get far. If you’re moving to a country where they speak English as a first language, then you will only have to get to grips with the dialect or different names for certain things.
If the language is different, then you are going to need to learn it to an acceptable standard before you begin applying for jobs. Start taking courses to get your general language skills up to scratch and then look for a specialist course that concentrates on medical and health-related language. Other than helping you do your job, learning a language is a fantastic skill to learn and will help you integrate into your new country.
Updating your resume
As with any job application, you will need an up-to-date resume and supporting personal statement. Employers will be looking for evidence that you are both academically qualified, have experience, and will be a good culture fit for the hospital. If resumes aren’t your strong suit, use a professional company that can help yours stand out.
Looking for jobs
There are many ways to find nursing jobs abroad. Check on nursing websites and nursing publications as they will often have a section dedicated to both domestic and international vacancies.
From time to time, certain countries find themselves lacking in qualified nurses and decide to run an international advertising campaign. These campaigns are often run by the government or health services in those countries. They usually have some form of incentives such as a relocation allowance, VISA sponsorship, or bursary.
When you see these types of offers, do a little further research and make sure they’re legitimate as it is also common for scammers to try to get money from people who want to emigrate.
Look out for recruitment events held by international recruitment agencies. These usually take place a few times a year and are a great way to get more information and sign up for their services. They will be able to send you relevant job openings as they occur.
If there is a specific area or facility you wish to work in, you can try applying directly.
Countries with nursing shortages
There are a number of factors that lead to nursing shortages around the world. A growing population puts pressure on health care and an aging population means that the number of people retiring is higher than the number of people entering the profession.
Here are some of the countries that are currently experiencing a shortage of qualified nurses.
UK
With one of the most comprehensive public health services in the world, the UK is facing a struggle to fill its vacant nursing posts. There has been a lot of confusion over the status of healthcare workers since the decision to leave the EU, but there are many government initiatives to fill these posts with workers from both the UK and other countries.
New Zealand
Though it has a small population, New Zealand still needs qualified nurses. The country has the best working practices in the world, with excellent conditions for workers and a great work-life balance.
Norway
If you’re willing to learn Norwegian, then moving to Norway could be a perfect option. The country has a fantastic healthcare system but has trouble recruiting the number of nurses needed to run it. Norwegian workers also benefit from excellent working conditions and benefits.
Canada
Canada has an amazing public health system for its residents that requires a lot of nurses. It’s estimated that it could need an extra 60,000 by 2022.
Denmark
Another country with a great healthcare system and employment rights for workers. Denmark requires all healthcare professionals from overseas to have the required level of Danish but the benefits and pay are very good.
Australia
Many people are attracted to Australia due to the climate, scenery, and renowned friendliness of Australians. There are opportunities in both the private and public sectors for those qualified nurses with experience.
United Arab Emirates
The UAE recently changed its educational requirements for nurses. A nursing degree is now required, meaning that many foreign nurses who had diplomas, lost their jobs and created a shortage. If you have a bachelor’s degree, then consider the UAE as it is offering very generous bursaries and packages to suitably qualified applicants.
Research the cost of living
There are huge differences when it comes to the cost of living around the world. You will need to know these when you’re looking for work so that you can make decisions on the salary. What might look like a good salary, may not be enough in some countries where the cost of living is very high. On the other hand, if a country has a very low cost of living, then a smaller salary might get you quite a lot.
Before you start applying for roles, look into the cost of housing, tax, transport, and food in the area you are looking to live in.
Get a professional to look at any contract
When you receive an offer of a job, ask for some time to review the contract in full. It’s a good idea to have a professional give it the once over. It’s common to assume that employment laws are the same everywhere, they really aren’t. Some countries will have better regulations and protections for workers, some will be a lot worse. You should know what is expected of you and what you can expect from your employer. This can save a lot of potential distress later on.
Ensure that there are no conditions or caveats around your hours and pay. For example, the salary they offer should be the salary you are paid, not dependent on overtime or passing certain certifications.
If in doubt, get it clarified in writing. There’s no question too small when it comes to this.
Join a nursing union
Membership of a nursing union in your own country won’t be relevant when you move abroad. It is a good idea to join an organization based in your new country so that you have good representation. As you are bound by the laws and employment contracts of the country you are working in, you will need someone with knowledge of this so that you can be well advised.
Maintain your nursing license in your home country
If at any point you intend to return to your home country to practice nursing, then you should try and keep your license current if possible. See how long it is before you need to be recertified and keep this in mind when you’re away.
Takeaways
Being a trained medical professional is a huge advantage if you’re thinking of moving to another country. Many countries have caps on immigration and give priority to those with the skills they require. Healthcare is always on these lists.
The key to finding the best role for your skills and experience is to be very thorough in your research. Knowing as much as possible about the country, health care system, cost of living, and employment law will help you navigate through the recruitment process. By doing this you’re giving yourself a huge advantage on finding the right role and avoiding scams or schemes that take advantage of those who want to live and work abroad.
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Happy Thursday friends! Today I am excited to share a reel about the final reveal of my classroom! You can find it HERE!
In many respects, teaching can be quite a challenging career, even though it also has a lot of plus points and benefits to it. One of the difficulties that all teachers are aware of is that you need to be able to protect yourself as best as you can from a variety of potential dangers. Knowing what those dangers are is the first challenge, and then knowing how to deal with them and respond to them is another one. Let’s take a look at this in this article in some detail. You might find that this helps you to protect yourself in your teaching career much more easily.
Stick To The Behavioral Policy
Every school always has a school wide behavioral policy, and it is there for a very good reason. If you want to make sure that you are not putting yourself in harm’s way unnecessarily, you will need to make sure that you stick to this policy as best as you can at all times. That is going to ensure that you are much less likely to find yourself in a damaging or dangerous situation, so it’s definitely something to think about from the very start of being a teacher.
Find Legal Representation
Unfortunately, many teachers often end up in situations where they need legal representation for one reason or another. It might be that you have been the victim of some violence or abuse of some kind, for example. Or it might be that you are not being treated fairly by your employer or colleagues. Whatever the situation might be, you need to find legal representation at your earliest convenience, and ensure that it is someone you can easily trust. To make sure of that, use a professional legal search service like Wegman Partners and be clear about what your needs are.
Be Careful With Personal Details
As a rule, you should never give out your personal details to anyone involved in the school, unless for an official reason. It should go without saying that you should certainly never give your details to any child at the school, for obvious reasons. If you find that you accidentally have your details leaked, then you should consider taking action such as changing whatever of those details you can or disciplining children who might have stolen the information. It is important that you are protecting yourself first and foremost in such a situation.
Safeguard Yourself & The Children
There is a question of balance to be had here, in that your role as teacher means that you need to safeguard yourself and the children equally well. If you are focused more on one than another, for instance, that can prove to be a big problem later on, so it’s something that you need to make sure you are getting right. As long as everyone is safeguarded as well as possible, you should be able to keep yourself protected without putting any of the children at risk at the same time.
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Have you been thinking about your confidence lately? If you have, then one of the things you may have been thinking about is how you can get it back. We all lose out confidence at one point or another in life, and it’s up to us to put the effort in so that we can feel it again. While the steps that we are going to be looking at are easy, the meaning behind them isn’t, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get there. In this article, we’re going to be looking at three easy steps to make yourself feel more confident, so keep reading down below in order to find out more.
Sort Out Your Smile
First, you are going to need to sort out your smile. If you think that your smile is awful, or you simply don’t like the way it looks, you are likely going to avoid smiling wherever you can. This is a huge shame because you are always going to look your best when there is a smile on your face. As such, the first step that you are going to need to take is to go and see a dentist. See what they would recommend in order to fix your smile and give you back the confidence that you have lost.
It might be the case that they simply need a deep clean by the dentist, maybe you are going to need clear teeth aligners, or it could be something different. Whatever it is though, your dentist will be able to tell you what to do, and your smile will be back in no time.
If you don't have a dentist yet, a quick Google search for terms like "quality dental crowns Harrisburg NC" or "clear aligners in New York", should pull up a list of experts you can reach out to.
Dress For You
Another thing that you should be doing is dressing for you rather than anyone else. If you want to feel confident, you should always focus on making yourself feel good and look good before anything else. You don’t have time to worry about the opinions of everyone, you only have time to worry about yours. If you think that you look good, and you feel good in the clothes that you are wearing, you are going to exude confidence. There is nothing more attractive than someone who isn’t afraid to dress in what makes them happy, rather than what people expect.
Exercise Regularly
The last thing that we want to mention is that you should exercise regularly. This is great for losing weight if this is your goal, but it’s also about making you feel good. When you exercise, your brain releases a hormone called endorphins which are natural mood enhancers and pain killers. Trust us when we say that you are going to feel a lot better about yourself when you have these hormones swirling around.
We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now understand three of the steps that you can take in order to make yourself feel more confident. It’s important that you take our advice, as this is going to be the quickest way to make yourself feel better and more confident. The last thing that you want is to lose your confidence for the rest of your life, so follow this steps to avoid this happening.
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Stress doesn’t just affect us mentally but also physically. Stress hormones cause changes all around the body. These changes are designed to help us be more alert and reactive to dangers - what some people call our ‘fight or flight’ system.
Stress is designed to be a short-term survival mechanism and can be helpful in allowing us to fight or run from dangers. Stress for prolonged periods isn’t so helpful - in fact, it can cause damage to our bodies. Below are some of the physical effects of chronic stress to be wary of.
Increased inflammation
Stress triggers inflammation around the body. This is when white blood cells protect the body from potential external dangers like bacteria and viruses. Unfortunately, this can lead to unnecessary swelling and soreness in many cases - existing aches and pains can temporarily get worse while stressed. The increased inflammation can be particularly bad for joint pain - while you may be able to see a chiropractor to help relieve some of this pain, the best way to reduce further pain is to relieve stress. Skin inflammation such as acne can also be made worse by stress.
Digestive problems
The digestive system is not seen as important during periods of fight or flight. Often the gut slows down or even stops, which can lead to digestive issues such as constipation. Other people experience diarrhea. Stress has also been found to increase exposure to gut bacteria, which can lead to other gut problems. Medication can help to reduce digestive problems, but stress relief is the best remedy.
Muscle tension
Our muscles become tense when we are stressed. This is a way of guarding against pain. If we are stressed for long periods however, this can have an adverse effect. Chronic stress can lead to achy muscles, which can lead us to feel physically exhausted.
Headaches
Stress heightens our senses and causes our mind to be more alert by affecting blood vessels in the brain. Over a long period, this can lead to headaches. In fact, tension headaches are most commonly caused by stress.
Sleep deprivation
In order to keep us alert to dangers, stress hormones interfere with our ability to produce sleep hormones. As a result, many people experiencing chronic stress also develop insomnia. Sleep deprivation can have many knock-on negative effects on our health including poor wound healing and memory loss.
High blood pressure
When we are stressed, our blood pressure increases. Constant high blood pressure (hypertension) as a result of stress can be dangerous and is believed to be a leading cause of heart attacks and strokes.
Beating stress
By finding ways to relieve stress, you may be able to prevent yourself from developing many of the health problems above. A few ways to relieve stress include:
Exercising
Listening to music
Taking a hot bath
Laughing
Meditating
Using calming scents
Drinking herbal tea
Stress cannot always be avoided, but but finding ways to relieve stress you can stop it becoming chronic - preventing many of the negative physical effects.
One of the biggest mistakes many gym owners make is not keeping up with their skills. You need to constantly update your knowledge on health and fitness, understand what new technologies are out there, watch documentaries about the latest findings in exercise science, study how people interact with technology to better apply it to your business, and more. If you don't keep advancing your skills then you'll be left behind.
Another common mistake is having too much equipment. This may sound counter-intuitive but having too much equipment means that members have difficulty figuring out which machines they should use for specific exercises. It also means that you might have trouble storing all this extra equipment.
Failing To Advance Their Skills
This is one of the most common mistakes that gym owners make. As an owner, you should continuously develop your skills and improve yourself as a fitness professional. For this reason, consider enrolling for a Tactical Fitness Certification to provide customers with the best service.
If you stop advancing your own skills, then it will become clear to customers & clients who are looking for the best possible experience in their workouts at all times.
Having Too Much Equipment
Having too much equipment doesn't just mean that you have a ton of unused equipment in your gym, it also means having the wrong types and amounts of relevant pieces. If you don't know how to use half the stuff on your floor or if what you have is either outdated or useless, none of this will help advance your business.
Too much equipment will also mean that your personal performance will most likely suffer because you're spending too much time managing the gym.
If you want to run a successful business, it's best to keep things simple and effective with uniformity throughout all of your equipment selections.
Misguided Marketing Efforts
Many gym owners get themselves into trouble by failing to advance some marketing skills or spending more of their time and money on advertising than they should.
Marketing is one of the most important parts of running a gym. You can have the best equipment and most talented trainers, but if no one knows about you then your business will fail to thrive like it should.
If marketing is not something that comes naturally for you, consider hiring someone who has experience - they may be able to provide suggestions on how to get more people through your doors while also developing new clients.
You will make mistakes when learning how to market yourself successfully; however, what's important is not making these same errors repeatedly.
Focusing on One Client
Focusing on one client is not bad, but some gym owners focus too much on one client and lose potential revenue from the rest of their members. This is a mistake because most of your clients must become recurring customers since they'll help you generate more revenue.
Ensure that you find a balance when handling your clients to ensure that you're getting the most out of each customer, rather than just focusing on one.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you are a gym owner, you must avoid making these mistakes. However, if your membership numbers start to dwindle and your profits decrease because of one or more of the above mistakes, then it might be time to bring in an experienced coach who can help get your business back on track.
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