Displaced, isolated, lonely. They are not the typical words you would associate with someone that has made the decision to live in a different country from their origin. However the fact remains that this is how many expats and internationally educated nurses feel in their first six to twelve months of moving abroad.

I do believe that both employer and potential employees try to put their best foot forward with the very best of intentions and now that I have been on both sides as expat nurse and interviewer, I feel that this needs to change to allow for the realities of the expat journey and experience to be shared so that people can make truly informed decisions. If you are a nurse considering expat, I will share below questions I wish I had asked before I accepted my offer – after all, interviews should be mutually informative.