Sharon Harvey, Michigan Language Assessment

“Describe yourself in three words or phrases. Outgoing. Frenetic. Inquisitive. What do you like most about your job? I love the international aspect of it. I love the fact that we do actually help people change their lives. There’s a project we’re working on in Mexico with some local partners and a US healthcare recruiter, and we’re helping to train nursing graduates in Mexico to get their English level up to the right requirement for nursing in the US. And then on a path through the professional qualifications and into a placement and a job in the US. These are young people who may have dreamt of coming here, and we’re giving them a legal pathway into the US and giving them the opportunity to change their lives and potentially change the lives of their families back home. That seems like a good thing to be able to wake up in the morning and do. Describe a project or initiative you’re currently working on that excites you. That one. Because when you’re bigger it can be about numbers on a spreadsheet and trends, but because we’re a smaller company you have more chances to connect with the individuals whose lives you’re changing with what you do. It’s so special and it’s why we exist but it’s very easy to get swept away with the business dynamics, so it’s really nice to put the put the people and the individuals back into what we do. What’s a small daily habit that helps you in your work? I love swimming. I wake up in the morning and I do some kind of workout to clear my mind. I always say I have all my best ideas when swimming. My team probably hate the days when I swim, because I tend to have an idea and come in with lots of actions for people. But I think it’s really important to look after yourself physically in order to look after yourself mentally, and I’m very much of the thinking that you have to put your own oxygen mask on first, so I have to be okay to then create an environment in which everybody else is okay. What’s one change you’d like to see in our sector over the next few years? I’d love to see policy changes. I’d love to see a realisation, a realisation of the contribution that the international community makes in any country. I’m an immigrant in the US myself, and I was given the right to come and work in this country because I brought a specialised skill set that that was needed, and I was welcomed on that basis. We held a symposium two weeks ago talking about nursing shortages in the, in the US and it highlighted that if you don’t enable people to come here or to the UK, we have aging populations and there are not enough people to look after us so you can’t take a blanket approach. And in education, you want to bring the best minds and the most inquisitive minds, irrespective of where that person was born. So I’d like there to stop being these sweeping generalisations that have such a negative effect on everybody, whether it’s an institution not being able to bring in the right faculty or the best students not being able to come. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone starting out in this field? Make connections. Make friends. Be kind to people. It doesn’t matter where they’re from, it doesn’t matter who they work for, but get your network. Because when you get to a role like mine, your your your knowledge and your skills obviously gets you up to a certain point, but I always say business is with people. And if you don’t have the right personal connections and you don’t have good relationships and goodwill, you’re going to struggle, whereas if you do, then somebody will put their hand out and they will help you if you need it. The post Sharon Harvey, Michigan Language Assessment appeared first on The PIE News .

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