Marketing and Comms Group Podcast_Final Version

This podcast episode is a collaboration between the University of Kent and KMPT to promote the recruitment and retainment of healthcare professionals from overseas studying in the UK. Two guests, Liran and Gürcan, share their challenges as international students. Liran discusses difficulties in finding suitable accommodation, especially for mature students with partners and pets. Gürcan talks about struggling to register with the General Medical Council and facing language and communication barriers. Emily from KMPT and Jolene from the University of Kent discuss their collaboration to support students in finding jobs in the healthcare sector. KMPT offers incentives and support for new employees, including accommodation assistance. The University of Kent provides resources and training modules to enhance employability, including language training and strength-based recruitment training. Hello everyone, my name is Bola Olubadjo. Welcome to this podcast collaboration between the University of Kent and Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, KMPT, to promote the recruitment and retainment of healthcare professionals from overseas studying in the UK. Recently, the UK hit its 600,000 international students target a decade earlier than hoped. In today's episode, we will be highlighting some of the challenges associated with being an international student studying in the UK. Now to my first guest, welcome Liran, please introduce yourself. Hi, I'm Liran. I'm a dentist by background studying Healthcare Management at the University of Kent now and I'm 42 years old and actually they call me a mature student at school. Moving to a new country and starting a new life is both exciting and difficult. Thanks, Liran. What has been your experience or challenge so far? Well, firstly, the rental market in the UK does not really favour internationals, especially students. In fact, accommodation options for students are not few. But if you want to rent a family home away from the university, it's a nightmare. As a mature student myself with a partner and a pet, it has been quite challenging for me. Now over to my next guest, welcome Gürcan. Thank you for joining us. Please introduce yourself. Hi, Fola. My name is Gürcan, a qualified GP with 15 years experience from Cyprus. The main drive for me migrating to the UK is poor working conditions in my country to have a better quality of life and maybe for financial reasons. I recently completed my postgraduate degree also in Healthcare Management. I would prefer to work at the Healthcare Management level in the UK. Thank you, Gürcan. Please tell us a little bit more. In my case, Fola, as a qualified GP, I struggled to register with the General Medical Council. With stricter immigration policies on student visas, I could only maintain short-term job contracts. Presently, I'm trying to secure a work placement. The language and the communication barrier remains a concern for me. It's now time for a quick break, folks. When we come back, we will be joined with Emily from KMPT and Jolene from the University of Kent. Welcome, Emily. Thank you. My name is Emily. I'm a General Manager for KMPT, and we are the main mental health provider across Kent and Medway, and we work collaboratively with the University of Kent to target students who do need support with getting jobs with NHS after graduating. Hello, guys. I'm Jolene. I'm a career advisor from the University of Kent. We provide advice, workshops, and tools to prepare postgraduate students for employment. Thanks, ladies. Can you please tell our audience this exciting joint collaboration, and what solutions do you have to offer both Gürcan and Niren? Thank you, both Niren and Gürcan, for sharing your experiences. As the main provider of mental health across Kent, we do recruit quite widely, locally and internationally, and we offer lucrative working conditions with incentives, including welcome packs, for new employees to support with accommodation and work placements. I would be more interested to hear about the accommodation options. Well, we do meet with the local developers to secure accommodation to new employees through the key worker schemes to meet your individual accommodation needs. Thanks, Emily. That's great. Now over to you, Jolene. We deeply emphasize the challenges faced by job seekers like Niren and Gürcan. At the University of Kent, with our collaborative efforts and an extensive network with our partners, including organizations like KMPT, we offer invaluable resources for job hunters. We have designed modules like PG Employability Edge for current students like Gürcan. Jolene, can you please explain a little bit more? Those modules provide comprehensive information for anyone seeking to secure a job in the UK. They cover various aspects, such as producing valuable online recruitment platforms. We also offer virtual training packages, including English language, to build confidence for international students just like Gürcan. And we also offer strength-based recruitment training for free with 80% success rate. Oh, that's great. KMPT, join University of Kent. We have a dedicated support team and a comprehensive range of resources. We will help you navigate the job market, secure interviews, and achieve the career you've always aspired to. These informations and opportunities were great. Thank you very much for your time and effort. That brings us to the end of this episode, folks. Thanks to my guests, Niren, Gürcan, Emily, and Jolene for joining us on this podcast discussion. We hope we have provided you with some useful insights and helpful information and tools that could be beneficial to you. If you enjoy our show, please get in touch with questions or feedback on LinkedIn or visit our website. Until next time, thank you all for joining.