New-ish US RN trying to find a job in Manchester UK

allnurses Guide · Apr 3, 2020

If you are not registered with the NMC then its unlikely you will be considered for a RN post, and with only 4 months post grad experience I am not sure if you meet the requirements for registration

Check the NMC website for the requirements for overseas nurses

Take care

app22 · Apr 3, 2020

1 hour ago, XB9S said:
If you are not registered with the NMC then its unlikely you will be considered for a RN post, and with only 4 months post grad experience I am not sure if you meet the requirements for registration
Check the NMC website for the requirements for overseas nurses
Take care

I am eligible of registering with the NMC, I am already in the process of doing so. I believe they used to require 12 months experience in your home country but they have taken that requirement away a while ago.

skylark, BSN, RN · Apr 4, 2020

The recruitment process is very clear, in that if you cannot tick the box saying you have NMC registration, then your form is automatically discarded.

They aren't going to call you to ask your situation, they will just move on to the next one. Simples.

IF they have an ONP they might recruit you onto that, which usually means working anything up to one year as a CNA while they have you work thru their inhouse program.

But it won't be ICU, it will be non acute, until they have assessed you and allow you to move towards registration.

canadian.j, MSN, RN, NP · Apr 4, 2020

If you're applying to Trusts directly with no NMC pin/registration, chances are you won't be considered for any posting. It can be discouraging however there's ways around this by finding an agency or hospital in Manchester who take on international graduates and offer you a job then proceed to train you for your OSCE (final step of registration here). As for new grad ICU, I'm not sure how it is in Manchester, however I know in London there's plenty of new grad ICU positions. It will really just vary where you apply and ensure you have a strong interview if you're applying with limited experience. There's often recruitment days for Trusts which I 100% recommend going to. Not only will you get a feel for the hospital, it will give you the opportunity to network. However, without registration... this may be tricky as they're already expecting you to be registered. Hope this helps!! Reach out if you have any more questions.

app22 · Apr 4, 2020

3 hours ago, canadian.j said:
If you're applying to Trusts directly with no NMC pin/registration, chances are you won't be considered for any posting. It can be discouraging however there's ways around this by finding an agency or hospital in Manchester who take on international graduates and offer you a job then proceed to train you for your OSCE (final step of registration here). As for new grad ICU, I'm not sure how it is in Manchester, however I know in London there's plenty of new grad ICU positions. It will really just vary where you apply and ensure you have a strong interview if you're applying with limited experience. There's often recruitment days for Trusts which I 100% recommend going to. Not only will you get a feel for the hospital, it will give you the opportunity to network. However, without registration... this may be tricky as they're already expecting you to be registered. Hope this helps!! Reach out if you have any more questions.

Thanks for your response. Yes it has been somewhat discouraging because I just want to continue my nursing career:( I have gone to an open day and was planning on going to more but then global pandemic happened and they got postponed...

When I went to one open day, they instructed me to put "Yes" on the question about being registered with the NMC and then writing down my expected date of being registered in the "supporting information" section of the NHS application so I did that but it has been a week since the closing date and still no word about an interview.

I feel weird selecting "Yes" to that question on the application from other trusts that haven't specifically told me to do that, but now I'm wondering if that's what I should do in order for my application not to be put aside.

canadian.j, MSN, RN, NP · Apr 5, 2020

8 hours ago, Apandriano said:
Thanks for your response. Yes it has been somewhat discouraging because I just want to continue my nursing career:( I have gone to an open day and was planning on going to more but then global pandemic happened and they got postponed...
When I went to one open day, they instructed me to put "Yes" on the question about being registered with the NMC and then writing down my expected date of being registered in the "supporting information" section of the NHS application so I did that but it has been a week since the closing date and still no word about an interview.
I feel weird selecting "Yes" to that question on the application from other trusts that haven't specifically told me to do that, but now I'm wondering if that's what I should do in order for my application not to be put aside.

I totally I get it! I graduated from grad school in Canada and proceeded to transfer my license over to the UK and it took about 6 months to become fully registered here as a RN and another month to apply, accept and train for a job. What people tend to not tell you is that UK is slow. Like in general. Everything takes forever. They still mail forms for you to be completed and expect you to mail them back. That's just one example. Another is for your paperwork to be verified by NMC, they say it takes 40-60 days (this may have changed... I was the last wave of candidates with the older application process that was phased out in October) and mine took the full 60 days. The worst thing is, you can't do anything to speed up the process and you literally just have to wait. It's frustrating so I feel for you with the whole pandemic situation as there's many unknowns right now.

Other things you can think about - have you done your CBT exam? If you have, you may be eligible to apply for temporary registration through NMC due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If a Trust instructed you to put 'yes' for NMC registration on your application, then I would only proceed to do that only for that Trust because you can back up being not registered when they ask you during your interview. They also ask you for your candidate ID, your visa information, and I believe your NIN in the application as well so even though it's not necessary to have a NIN right off the bat, it's something you'll need and takes approximately 6 weeks to get (aka start the process now if it didn't come with your visa). Many aren't flexible however I'm also in Central London where it may be a little bit more stringent. Have you looked to see if there's any Trusts who do international recruitment? The only nurses that I know who have been successful in obtaining a job pre-registration either went through the hospital's international recruitment directly or were hooked up with an agency who supported nurses during the entire process. However, that's only a handful of people that I've met while being in London. I did the entire process myself as I wasn't in a rush to get registered. I really don't regret it. It took a lot of time and money but in the end, I was able to apply to any job I wanted and it was nice knowing that I didn't owe back any money or time to the Trust.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Apr 5, 2020

2 hours ago, canadian.j said:
I totally I get it! I graduated from grad school in Canada and proceeded to transfer my license over to the UK and it took about 6 months to become fully registered here as a RN and another month to apply, accept and train for a job. What people tend to not tell you is that UK is slow. Like in general. Everything takes forever. They still mail forms for you to be completed and expect you to mail them back.

My experience is that Canada is also slow. Applied for lots of jobs once I had my Canadian license and never heard back from anyone and was living in an area that was desperately short of RNs plus now for an international nurse to register in Canada you are looking at 12-18 months. Thankfully I did find a job but that involved ringing around to see why I didn’t get responses from my applications

canadian.j, MSN, RN, NP · Apr 5, 2020

4 minutes ago, Silverdragon102 said:
My experience is that Canada is also slow. Applied for lots of jobs once I had my Canadian license and never heard back from anyone and was living in an area that was desperately short of RNs plus now for an international nurse to register in Canada you are looking at 12-18 months. Thankfully I did find a job but that involved ringing around to see why I didn’t get responses from my applications

Ah, yes. Patience is definitely required with any bureaucratic process it seems, ? regardless of country.

app22 · Apr 5, 2020

13 hours ago, canadian.j said:
I totally I get it! I graduated from grad school in Canada and proceeded to transfer my license over to the UK and it took about 6 months to become fully registered here as a RN and another month to apply, accept and train for a job. What people tend to not tell you is that UK is slow. Like in general. Everything takes forever. They still mail forms for you to be completed and expect you to mail them back. That's just one example. Another is for your paperwork to be verified by NMC, they say it takes 40-60 days (this may have changed... I was the last wave of candidates with the older application process that was phased out in October) and mine took the full 60 days. The worst thing is, you can't do anything to speed up the process and you literally just have to wait. It's frustrating so I feel for you with the whole pandemic situation as there's many unknowns right now.
Other things you can think about - have you done your CBT exam? If you have, you may be eligible to apply for temporary registration through NMC due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
If a Trust instructed you to put 'yes' for NMC registration on your application, then I would only proceed to do that only for that Trust because you can back up being not registered when they ask you during your interview. They also ask you for your candidate ID, your visa information, and I believe your NIN in the application as well so even though it's not necessary to have a NIN right off the bat, it's something you'll need and takes approximately 6 weeks to get (aka start the process now if it didn't come with your visa). Many aren't flexible however I'm also in Central London where it may be a little bit more stringent. Have you looked to see if there's any Trusts who do international recruitment? The only nurses that I know who have been successful in obtaining a job pre-registration either went through the hospital's international recruitment directly or were hooked up with an agency who supported nurses during the entire process. However, that's only a handful of people that I've met while being in London. I did the entire process myself as I wasn't in a rush to get registered. I really don't regret it. It took a lot of time and money but in the end, I was able to apply to any job I wanted and it was nice knowing that I didn't owe back any money or time to the Trust.

Well it seems like the NMC registration process has been moved totally online so I'm glad that has changed because I have heard that it used to be so much more tedious. I am actually waiting on Pearson Vue to email me an authorization to take the CBT exam, and my visa process is also on hold due to all the centers being closed...so I'm starting to just get used to the idea that there just isn't much that I can do at the moment until life goes back to normal.

Manchester's trust does do international recruitment, I found their Twitter page but can't find like a specific email that I can send a question to, so I will just have to keep looking and wait until I can get back to the UK and go to the open days.

Also, I would like to be able to not use an agency if possible, I'm planning on just trying to do it on my own, and if it starts not going well, then maybe I'll consider finding an agency. Thanks for your response!

Sweetbeth · Jun 16, 2020

Did you have to take ielts exam?

app22 · Jun 24, 2020

On 6/15/2020 at 8:16 PM, Sweetbeth said:
Did you have to take ielts exam?

No I did not