Build your international career today

Emjee, a nurse from the Philippines, is living her childhood dream.  She works as a Community Nurse for the Holland Park National Health Service (NHS) District Nursing Team in the United Kingdom. In between her visits to patients, she gets to walk around the community and see the beautiful sights in the Chelsea and Kensington area.

Her success didn’t come easy. At first, Emjee failed the English language assessment test she needed for her NHS application. She even briefly left her nursing job and worked in a corporate office. Eventually, she realized that being a nurse was her true calling and went on to pursue her dream of working abroad.

For Emjee, every moment in her life in the UK is well worth all her hard work.

At present, there are about 2.2 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) just like Emjee. Whatever their reasons are for working abroad, they all have one thing in common: they have the key skills that foreign companies want in employees.

Job seekers these days may have a lot of competition, but there are ways to make oneself more attractive to employers. Look at some of these qualities and skills that can set a great applicant apart from the average ones.

Digital literacy
In a fast-growing digital society, any professional must be able to confidently use technology to meet the demands and challenges of the job. This includes technical knowledge, digital ethics, and responsible use of online communication.

Adaptability
Hiring managers seek employees who are flexible and know how to handle changing conditions in the workplace. Being adaptable also means one can respond positively to stressful situations, know how to accept mistakes, and can work harmoniously with different people.

Language and communication skills
Being an effective communicator means one can convey thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively, whether through verbal or non-verbal means. Speaking another language, like English, is an important skill to have to be able to compete in a global job market.

Emjee’s stepping-stone to the UK was passing OET (the Occupational English Test). After failing a general English language assessment test the first time, she discovered OET, has been designed specifically for healthcare professionals.

Nurses like Emjee tend to pass OET more easily than other English language tests because the test uses real-life nursing scenarios that are familiar to them from their daily work. For example, instead of being asked to write about a general topic, such as global warming or jam-making, in OET nurses are asked to write a referral letter, based on a patient’s case notes.

In addition, OET offers loads of preparation material to help candidates succeed. This includes free online English masterclasses, sample tests for practice, testing guides, video lessons, and even live practice sessions with OET expert mentors. For Emjee, everything she learned in her two months of preparing for OET was related to healthcare and real-life nursing scenarios. This gave her the confidence in her English language skills to pass OET with ease. “OET has helped me in my current role as a nurse because most of the sub-tests are exactly what I'm doing right now,” Emjee shares.

Healthcare workers are currently in demand in the United Kingdom.  This means more Filipino nurses have a better chance of getting hired abroad.

“Take OET because it’s very nursing-specific,” Emjee advises those who hope to follow in her footsteps. “I encourage you to...believe that you can actually achieve your goals.”

For more information on OET, visit its official website and Facebook Page.