From Spain to Netherlands for nurses / 800 applicants

Nurse recruiting firm Roca-BHR drew more than 800 applicants in Spain last year when it offered guaranteed jobs in the Netherlands caring for the elderly to those who were willing to take an intensive course in Dutch.

Of the 20 young nurses accepted to the programme – financed by Dutch companies that need nurses – 11 completed the seven months of training and tests in the southern city of Seville and flew to The Hague, where they start work in July.

With full nursing degrees, they are all over-qualified for their nursing aide positions. But given that more than 18,000 nurses are out of work in Spain, the compromise is worth it.

Hiring is frozen in Spain’s national health system and almost at a standstill in private hospitals and clinics thanks to drastic spending cuts to trim the public deficit. Some 1,000 trained nurses have never found work in their field, according to Spanish nursing union Satse.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor

via NewsWires : euronews : the latest international news as video on demand.