Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the State Department of Diaspora on Monday, January 15 announced the launch of a recruitment centre for Kenyan nurses seeking to work in the United States and Canada.
The Pearson VUE Test Centre will be the recruitment center for kenyan nurses seeking to work abroad as it will offer the National Council Licensure Examination- Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) examinations.
The NCLEX exam is used in the U.S and Canada to test the competency of nursing school graduates. The exam is developed by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN).
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Holding a meeting with the U. S delgates during the launch, Diaspora Principal Secretary (PS) Roseline Njogu said that the move will create more employment opportunities to kenyan nurses and will provide readily available tests as compared to travelling abroad.
“The Pearson VUE Test Centre will see Kenyan nurses seeking to work abroad examined in Kenya as opposed to travelling abroad for the test.”
The application process will now involve applying through the Centre which is working with Ready Care Staffing. This will help applicants secure licensure and employment in the United State and Canada.
“One of the mandates for us is to secure placement of Kenyans for jobs abroad and enhance employment opportunities for Kenyans abroad. As a department, this has been great news to us. We started this in August last year when there was a declaration of intent by Persons to open a second testing centre.”
Senior Director at Pearson Education, Erika Hughes has urged Kenyan nurses to apply through the programme as there are readily available jobs for them abroad upon successful application.
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“Every year they ask me to at least fill 250-260 nurses so what we do is we recruit from agencies. We go to agencies like Ready Care and we look for individuals and we interview them. If they want to come to the US then we help with immigration papers.”