The nurse turned recruiting entrepreneur who helped unlock the global nursing job market

The number of internationally trained nurses in the UK is increasing rapidly, according to figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). But it wasn’t always that way, and until recently, English proficiency was one of the biggest barriers for nurses from abroad.

When Febin Cyriac arrived in the UK from his native Cochin in South India to start his career as an immigrant nurse, he had no idea he would be involved in reducing the bureaucratic burden surrounding the international recruitment of nurses to the UK or that he started his own recruitment consultancy Envertiz.

Nursing has always been a popular profession in India with the particular province of Cyriac, Kerala producing large numbers of nurses, not least because of the region’s 100% literacy level. In 2007, he started working in a hospital in Mumbai and completed his nursing degree. Three years later, he enrolled at Britain’s University of East London to study nursing and began working in private sector nursing homes after graduating. He settled in Cambridgeshire where he was deeply involved in the expatriate community of Kerala state.

He says, “Many of my weekends were spent participating in community events and picking up friends from the airport, which required more disposable income than I had. I had to broaden my horizons.”

His next move was to Aberdeen and a new division of a London-based nursing agency, where he could be of greater value to the company’s new operation. He eventually moved into a business development role, and it was here that he saw the shortages of nursing supply in the UK and the problems surrounding English language proficiency.

It was 2013 and nurses from outside the EU were being restricted due to generally restricted immigration limits. However, the main barrier for foreign nurses from outside the EU was the IELTS, the rigorous English proficiency test for nurses in the UK. A pass required a seven out of nine in a single attempt.

“It made no sense that nurses needed the highest level of technical English skills only to struggle with the strong local dialect and get everyone involved lost in translation,” says Cyriac. “What was needed was a good degree of conversational English.”

In 2014, while working full-time, Cyriac launched his recruitment consultancy Envertiz to help fellow professionals have better careers in the UK, funding the startup with his savings. The same year, he started a petition and lobbied the NMC to allow for a more realistic English proficiency score, which was eventually reduced to 6.5.

With the relaxation of regulations, Cyriac was able to quickly scale up its recruiting operation. He also launched a ‘free nurse recruitment’ campaign. “The culture in the state of Kerala at the time was that companies hiring healthcare professionals for jobs abroad charged pre-recruitment fees for the service, so confidence among the candidates was low,” he explains. “However, with word of mouth from individuals, their families, friends and colleagues, we became a trusted go-to resource, grew our numbers organically and turned a profit in 2019 for Envertiz.”

He never imagined that the fledgling operation launched from his bedroom would become an international recruitment company with over 100 employees and an annual turnover of £20 million. Envertiz has recruited over 10,000 nurses across more than 100 NHS Trusts and opened an office in Cochin, which serves as a local base for events, training and visa processing.

However, Cyriac’s most notable achievement is not his business success, but his role in leveling the playing field to enable overseas nurses to work and build a life in the UK. problem that can only be solved by sharing knowledge, best practices and collaboration,” says Cyriac. “We will continue our efforts to reduce red tape and encourage the growth of a globally mobile healthcare workforce.”

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