Business Development Director Jim Godsal explains why we've decided to start hosting our own events, dedicated to Doctors considering making the move overseas.....

At the end of this month Head Medical are hosting our first event in Edinburgh for Doctors considering the possibility of working overseas – whether just for a few months or as a long term arrangement. It’s a chance for us to meet some of the Doctors we speak to every day who are starting to explore what their next step is going to be, and to give them a better idea of what opportunities are available and what challenges they’ll need to overcome to secure their dream job/life.

Since we settled on the date and venue and started attracting delegates, the team here have been busy structuring the event. At the core of this was the question, what DO doctors want to know about moving abroad?  When you’re looking to uproot your life, your family and move to some far flung shore, what reassurances are you looking for?

I’ve made the move abroad myself, with a young family, but I’m not a Doctor and for us it was a case of circumstances conspiring to offer us an unexpected adventure, which we gladly took. Doctors spend years of studying to become experts in their particular field, they give any job change a lot of due consideration and demand a lot of information – we know, we’ve helped almost 500 of them start anew overseas.

So, we asked them what they wanted to know, got them to tell us what information would get them to travel to Edinburgh on a (probably) rainy Saturday in March. The answers were not unexpected, but interesting none the less.

• Working Environment – unsurprisingly top of the list and an area that raises lots of questions. What’s the healthcare system like in Singapore/Qatar/New Zealand? How does it differ from the UK? What would I need to do to adapt my practice? Will I need to learn new skills, new practices?
• Lifestyle – including housing, schooling, cultural differences, etc. Taking a new job abroad is about more than your career prospects, it’s about a new life for you and your family. So, whether we’re talking about spouses, children, pets, houses, vintage cars or wine cellars, there are a lot of things to consider.
• Financials – not just remuneration, but what happens to your NHS pension, what are the tax implications if you still have a house in the UK, etc, etc. This is an area we can talk to Doctors about but we’re not in a position to advise people on how to get the best out of their pension. Luckily we do know people who are experts in these areas and will be bringing them along to the event as well.
• Registration & Licensing – the not inconsiderable hurdle that makes medical recruitment that little bit more complicated and long winded than any other market! But never fear, we have a dedicated Registration Team who will be there to guide and advise you every step of the way, whether it be dealing with be attested documents, certificates of good standing, Dataflow or with Ministries or Supreme Councils of Health.

A career move abroad may be daunting but it can also be hugely rewarding and arming yourself with as much knowledge as possible will only make the process simpler and the transition easier. So, join us in Edinburgh on 28th March to meet the experts face to face and find out everything you need to know about making the move overseas.

If you can't make it along to why not check out our blog or our fabulous Doctor's Guides, for more information on living and working in all of the regions we recruit to. Alternatively you can search all of the jobs we currently have available here.