Recruit occupational therapists
Jobs board
If you’re recruiting occupational therapists, you can reach our community of over 36,000 occupational therapists by advertising on our jobs board. Our jobs board attracts occupational therapy professionals from across the sector, both members and non-members, actively seeking career development opportunities.
International recruitment
There is a high demand for occupational therapists in the UK with a shortage of qualified staff to fill the available vacancies. The UK Government recognises this issue and has included occupational therapists on the Immigration Salary List (ISL). This means it's easier for people who have qualified or practiced as an occupational therapist outside of the UK to take up employment in the country.
Around 7% of the existing occupational therapy workforce across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are from overseas.
We’re here to support members involved in leading and delivering international recruitment in the NHS and social care. The materials and resources shared on this page will help you understand the essentials when you’re looking to recruit workers from international settings.
We want to encourage and enable good practices and processes for international recruitment of occupational therapists.
You’ll find resources, case studies and information to help if you're:
- a recruiting manager who is looking to recruit from overseas for the first time
- a health and care professional involved with recruitment and wants to gain an understanding of what's required
- an international applicant who wants to gain some understanding of what the process is like to apply and be recruited to the UK
- a health and care professional who wants to get a better understanding of recruiting occupational therapists from overseas specifically.
If you have a specific query, you may need input from official bodies, such as the Department for Health & Social Care, NHS England, Department for Education or the Home Office.
In creating these resources, we worked closely with members to get insights into the challenges and opportunities of recruiting occupational therapists specifically. Many of our resources have been co-produced with members and give some direct insight into the opportunities, challenges and general information about the process of recruiting occupational therapists from overseas.
Resources
Here we've outlined some of the essential go-to resources that are provided by NHS England, NHS Employers and other organisations which underpin many of the key questions you might have about international recruitment.
Quick guide to AHP international recruitment, NHS England (NHSE)
This guide aims to improve the understanding of organisations and recruiting managers in the recruitment of international Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) by highlighting the differences in process and registration, recognising the challenges faced by the 14 AHP professions and by providing case studies to illustrate good practice approaches.
International Recruitment Toolkit (NHS Employers)
This toolkit is for people working in the NHS involved in leading and delivering international recruitment. It aims to encourage and enable good practices and processes for the recruitment of international staff across a wide range of professions.
We also encourage you to read further and detailed information provided by NHS England.
Case studies
In our case studies you can read about occupational therapists' experiences of going through the international recruitment process and get some insight into their journeys from their homeland to working as an occupational therapist in the UK.
