We spoke to Busola Adekoya, a Psychiatrist at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, based in Southampton.
She shared her experiences of relocating to the UK for work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the support she received.
"For me, it was mainly about advancing my career as a Psychiatrist. I had already completed my training and was a consultant, a peak in my working life. Then, I heard about the opportunities in the UK, and being able to gain more specialised skills in psychiatry and mental health; something not really possible back in Nigeria. So, I decided to take the relevant exams and training needed to start my relocation journey to the UK."
"I heard about Migrate through a friend of mine, who’d used the service before and is currently working in the UK. They described the entire process – the job search and relocating – as ‘stress-free’ and said that they really enjoyed working with the consultants. The UK sounded like a nice change of environment, and so along with the positive words from my friend, I felt really motivated to kick things off with Migrate."
"The main challenge was of course COVID-19. It caused a lot of blockers and completely altered my calendar for the whole of 2020. Ideally, I wanted to relocate to the UK during the summer months, but due to the virus I had to wait a while before the relocation process could begin. I’m so excited to get started at my new job; I am still currently in quarantine. Another reason why I wanted to come earlier in the year was because of the weather; it’s so different weather-wise in the UK compared to the Nigerian climate!
"Ha-ha, I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to get used to the British winter. I’m really looking forward to going out and exploring my new local area of Southampton. My consultant at Migrate has been really helpful at every stage of the process. I do feel very settled here; there are still the challenges of setting up a bank account and direct debits etc., but I know the team are on-hand to help me with things like this, should I need it."
"Not really! Overall, I was very happy with the support I received. I had regular telephone communication with my Migrate consultant throughout the entire process - which I appreciated greatly - however because of the unprecedented situation we find ourselves in due to COVID-19, I think a few video calls would’ve helped during my quarantine period. It can be a bit of an isolating experience, especially when you don’t know many people here, so a virtual ‘face-to-face’ with my consultant would’ve been lovely."
Migrate’s mission is to support healthcare professionals at every step as they take the decision to journey to the UK for work. Through our English language resources, job opportunities matched top references, visa information and relocation support, we’re evolving the job market to make international recruitment far smoother and easier than before.
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