Post by Deborah Udy Okusaga Akanne (@deborah_udy_okusaga)
Five Days. Twenty Five Posts. One Week Of Everything I Know About Getting Into The NHS As An International Healthcare Professional. Here Is What It Comes Down To.
Five days ago I started this week with a question:
"You passed PLAB. You have GMC registration. So why are you still not getting interviews?"
I have spent this week answering that question from every angle.
The Immigration Salary List deadline. The Duty of Candour scoring framework. The MDT question that describes teamwork instead of evidencing it. The visa question in the interview.
The CESR evidence that cannot be recovered retrospectively. The senior IMG whose seniority is working against them. The HCA for whom the window closes in December.
The band negotiation nobody told you to have. The application form section that triggers an HR hold. The interview feedback translation. The service improvement question. The NHS culture shift. The Freedom to Speak Up framework.
The LinkedIn profile being read before your application is opened.
Twenty-five pieces of specific, verified, NHS insider knowledge.
And all of it comes down to one thing.
The NHS is not looking for perfect candidates.
It is looking for candidates whose documents, whose answers, and whose professional presence communicate that they already understand what it means to be a clinician in this system.
Not a foreign system that they are adapting to.
This system. With its specific frameworks, its specific obligations, its specific culture of personal accountability, transparency, and patient-centred governance.
The internationally trained healthcare professionals who get into the NHS and build careers there are not necessarily the most experienced or the most qualified in their cohort.
They are the most precisely positioned.
They speak the language before they arrive. They know the frameworks before they are asked about them. They enter the room not seeking permission but demonstrating belonging.
That is the work.
And that is why I am here.
If this week gave you one insight that changes how you see your next application — share it with someone in your network who needs it. That costs you nothing and it might change their year.
And if you are ready to begin — DM me "NHS" today. I will be here.
See you next week.
Warm regards — Deborah O. Akanne
Principal Advisor | Sovereign Healthcare Advisory Group
📩 sovereignhealthcareadvisory@gmail.com
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