Nurse Advisor and Business Development Lead

Job/Role Summary

I work as Nurse Advisor and Business Development Lead for a tech company focused on developing new recruitment systems. I advise on Nurse Recruitment and Nursing issues, and am also involved in developing systems, testing applications, digital marketing and promotion and business development.

Specific qualifications and experience required

This is quite difficult to quantify – there are no exact qualifications but I’d say experience in Nurse Recruitment, sales experience and a good knowledge of nursing issues, and confidence in talking to lots of new people everyday and being able to build relationships quickly are the main requirements, as well being able to work autonomously and to develop a plan of work to meet the needs of the company.

Career Milestones

I started my career in Forensic Learning Disabilities Nursing, firstly in-patients and then community. I moved up to a Band 8a Service Lead before relocating to Northern Ireland where various factors meant that I ended up in Nurse Recruitment and Training. I started my own training business and worked with a number of organisations meeting training needs. I enjoyed Recruitment, there were a number of different facets that appealed to me including compliance, occupational health, contracts and sales and marketing as well as the opportunities for business development, but I’m a people person and I got the most satisfaction from working with my nurses. I particularly wanted our team to feel that although they were agency nurses, they were not “just” an agency nurse and wanted to ensure they still felt they had a career. I put in place systems to ensure a comprehensive process of supervision and appraisal, to meet the needs of revalidation, to undertake CPD and to continue to develop a career. I encouraged attendance at conferences and events and to feel connected as a nursing professional. For this I was shortlisted by the Institute of Recruitment Professionals for the Best Candidate Experience award in 2017. I was looking for a new challenge when I was approached for the role with SureCert.

What attracted you to this job?

I wanted a new challenge and I was offered this post which used a number of my skills and experiences in a very different environment. If I thought the world of Recruitment was a million miles from my NHS experience, then Tech is a different galaxy.

Enjoyable aspects of the job/role

It’s very varied and I am learning every day. I get to use my experience across a number of different areas to be able to work well with clients and anticipate their needs in nurse recruitment. And to use this experience and knowledge to work with our team to develop our product to ultimately significantly improve processes in nurse recruitment. Like most nurses, it’s all about making a difference. If I can work to improve the process of nurse recruitment; to make it faster and more efficient, then I can make a difference to someone’s life. There may be a number of steps in between the start and the end goal, but ultimately that is what it’s all about, and always has been for me. From the beginning of my career when it was directly focused on improving the life of the patient and their family, to this role, where the immediate impact on an individual is more difficult to see, but in the long term, the end result will be a positive outcome – getting nurses in to work faster can only have a positive impact on the most vulnerable.

Challenging aspects of the job/role

My tech skills are pretty limited! I have a lot to learn in this area. And it’s a very different culture to where I’ve worked previously so that has taken some getting used to. And I miss clinical practice so I top this up with a day a week working with actual people.

Important success factors

We’ve had a lot of very positive press and it’s great that potential clients can really see the benefit of what we’re doing. But it’s not just about selling a product. We’re also working with various organisations involved in supporting the skilled migrant,immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker workforce in to the labour market, which is really exciting. To make a difference in this area would have such a positive impact globally. That’s the brilliant thing about this job. I have no idea where it’s going t take me next. Every day throws up something new.

Advice for those considering the type of job/role?

Go for it. You never know where it could lead and what you could end up doing next. I meet brilliant, interesting, talented people every day and I know I am still using my clinical nursing skill and experience in working to make a difference to lives of vulnerable people. What more could you ask for?

Key skills that can be gained within this job/role?

Networking and knowledge sharing
Sales and Marketing
Business Development
Knowledge of a variety of different markets and sectors
Some (very basic) tech skills – perhaps it is more accurate to say that I have learnt some new terminology

Career Profiles