The process to apply for PIN can be very long. For me, it started in June 2011 and was not resolved until October 2012. First NMC returned my application because I omitted to sign one page. Then NMC kept sending letters that they didn’t received the payment. When I had made the payment, I arranged it with my bank in order to have a cheaper commission on the currency exchange. I transferred euros from my account to the NMC account. My bank gave me the confirmation that the money have been sent, but NMC insisted that they did not have it. Finally, I make a second payment over the phone with NMC by giving them my card details. I was very skeptical about this method at the beginning, and in the end I paid the fee twice. However, it was the price for getting what I needed, and I was so happy when I finally received my PIN.

Next, I had to find a job as a nurse. I attended 2 face to face interviews but I was not successful due to my lack of experience, and my English was not strong either. The agency gave me a list of questions to prepare myself for the interview, but I found it quite difficult to find the answers to the questions. I tried searching the internet (as there was no book on the matter… so “Be a great nurse” idea come up). For example, I had no idea what a hoist is as we don’t use them in Romania. I also started doing some voluntary work in a nursing home in Bucharest over the weekends in addition to my job in order to gain some experience, and also see if I could work with elderly.

All of this hard work finally paid off. My third interview was over the phone and that was the lucky one. I was headed for the UK!