What Do I Get Out Of A Nursing Career Overseas?

1. Working with new people - fellow healthcare professionals and patients alike.

Nursing in a new country will present you with rewards as well as new challenges. Getting to know your colleagues and patients and learning to understand their culture will add an extra dimension to your working day.

There are whole books dedicated to the differences between countries like the United Kingdom and the USA. Even the differences between the culture and language of such close neighbors as New Zealand and Australia can be immense. Your lifestyle will be very different in a new country and your nursing credentials and experience are your ticket to working abroad.

Career Change Nurse Overseas

If you are looking for a career change in nursing then you should consider nursing overseas. Countries around the world are experiencing an acute nursing shortage which has created opportunities for nurses to refresh their nursing careers by going abroad to fill vacancies in other countries either short term or long term.

Moving your nursing career overseas can restore your enthusiasm for the profession.

Are you disenchanted with management? Working too many shifts and never having any time for fun? Can’t remember the last time you worked with a full shift of nurses? Are you ready to give up on nursing but do not really want to...

Why not make a change? Consider a career change and nurse abroad.

Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the USA are all actively recruiting internationally educated nurses.

Why Choose Nursing Abroad as a Career #3

Travel and Explore the World
Nursing abroad means you will make your home in a new region of the world. The opportunity this lends to explore new countries and cultures is priceless.

If your dream is to explore the UK, the USA, Australia… then moving your nursing career abroad to one of these countries currently experiencing acute nursing shortages will give you the opportunity to fulfill your dream and fund it at the same time.

This is a technique I have used personally to explore the UK, Eastern Europe and South East Asia over the last 12 years.

Nursing is a Transferrable Occupation
Moving your nursing career overseas is a realistic option for both experienced and newly registered nurses not only because there is a worldwide shortage of nurses, but also because there is a long history of nurses moving around the world to work.

The most you will be required to do in order to get a job in a new country is prove you are registered at home, have a suitable equivalent level of education and training and perhaps sit an exam.

While different countries have vastly different rules which can be confusing to work around, it is easy to find a nursing job abroad with the right roadmap through the recruiting and registration process.

Why Choose Nursing Abroad as a Career#1

Why Choose Nursing Abroad as a Career #2

Choosing an Honest Nursing Employment Agency Part II

Thee more questions to ask yourself when you are evaluating whether an online nursing recruiting agency is going to honest with you and treat you fairly...

Is the website professional looking? If a company has not made the effort to put up a professional looking website, this may be a signal that they do not take their business seriously. The internet is an extremely powerful business tool, especially for a business that is working with nurses and nursing employers in different countries.

Can you find the agencies ‘terms of use’? It is customary for business on the internet to have a link to the company’s ‘terms of use’, is this easy to find? When you read it, can you understand what it means? Are the costs and responsibilities for using their recruiting service clearly stated?

Does the nursing employment agency have offline contacts listed? Online business should have a real life address, and they should show it clearly on their website. It may not be on the front page of the nursing agency’s website, it may be listed on a ‘Contact Us’ page or in fine print at the bottom of each page, or listed on the ‘terms of use’ page. If you can’t find a way to contact a representative of the agency offline, it is probably a good idea to be wary. Listing offline contact information is part of the USA’s anti-spam law and any company aiming to do business online with the USA or its citizens is required to list this information.

While I cannot guarantee that using these tips will secure you a nursing career overseas, I can assure you with confidence that I have used these strategies myself and have always had good luck with them.

Where can I get a nursing job overseas?

Most developing countries are suffering from an increasingly severe nursing shortage. They simply are not training enough nurses each year to replace the nurses that are reaching retirement age. This is an immediate problem for countries which also have an aging population who are putting more strain on the health systems in those countries.

Countries like the USA, the UK, Australia and New Zealand all have a significant number of internationally educated nurses already working in their health systems. And there are still many vacancies that nursing recruiters are unable to fill!

If you are already a registered nurse at home, moving your nursing career overseas to any English speaking country is only limited by your ability to speak the language well enough to pass the required English language test. Similarly, if you are a qualified nurse who is fluent in a language other than English, Arabic or Cantonese for example – there are many nursing vacancies abroad in the United Arab Emirates or Singapore.

Taking Cost of Living Into Account When Assessing An Overseas Nursing Contract

One of the scariest things about moving your nursing career overseas is the feeling of uncertainty when it comes to accepting a contract. Many questions go through your head, is this enough money? How much will it cost to live? Will I have enough to send home?

When looking at an employment contract for a nursing job abroad it is very easy to focus on the salary you’ll be receiving and judge the medical recruiter’s offer on that basis alone. However, should you fall into this trap you could be robbing yourself of some very attractive opportunities...

If you want to send money home, or have enough money to travel with and take advantage living in another country, then it is not the salary offered that you should be looking at when deciding if a contract is worth signing or not. What you need to be considering is the amount of money you will have left over at the end of the month, or you disposable income.


Disposable income is the difference between the income you receive in your pay packet and what you have to spend to live.

Taking Cost of Living Into Account When Assessing An Overseas Nursing Contract

One of the scariest things about moving your nursing career overseas is the feeling of uncertainty when it comes to accepting a contract. Many questions go through your head, is this enough money? How much will it cost to live? Will I have enough to send home?

When looking at an employment contract for a nursing job abroad it is very easy to focus on the salary you’ll be receiving and judge the medical recruiter’s offer on that basis alone. However, should you fall into this trap you could be robbing yourself of some very attractive opportunities...

If you want to send money home, or have enough money to travel with and take advantage living in another country, then it is not the salary offered that you should be looking at when deciding if a contract is worth signing or not. What you need to be considering is the amount of money you will have left over at the end of the month, or you disposable income.

Disposable income is the difference between the income you receive in your pay packet and what you have to spend to live.