Professional Connections

What Professional Connections does

Professional Connections (Profco) is a private international healthcare recruitment agency founded in 1994 and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with branch offices in London and Torrevieja, Spain. The company places nurses, midwives, and Western-trained consultant physicians into tertiary hospitals in three primary corridors: Saudi Arabia, Australia, and the United Kingdom, sourcing candidates primarily from the UK, Ireland, continental Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Its client roster includes the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centers across Riyadh, Jeddah, and Madinah, the Saudi Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs hospital system across multiple cities, and West Herts NHS Trust in the UK.

Profco's core offerings are end-to-end placement services covering candidate sourcing, credential verification, licensing support (SCFHS in Saudi Arabia, AHPRA in Australia, NMC in the UK), Dataflow verification, visa processing, and relocation logistics including flights, accommodation, and pastoral care. The company operates an online job portal on profco.com with filtering by country and category, and supplements it with in-person recruitment events, webinars, and a multi-platform social media presence (Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp). There is no proprietary software product or AI tooling; the platform is a marketing and lead-generation layer atop a human-driven recruitment workflow that takes 8-10 months per permanent contract placement.

The business model is a commission-based professional services model: candidates pay nothing, and Profco is paid by client hospitals upon successful placement and start of employment. Candidate-side costs may apply for translation, licensing exams, and document attestation, sometimes reimbursed by the client offer. The company has no disclosed external funding, no parent company, and operates as a standalone private firm with 11-50 employees. Customer concentration on Saudi government-affiliated hospital systems (KFSH&RC, MNG-HA) is evident, with Australia and the UK as secondary markets showing active but smaller-scale expansion activity.

Name

Professional Connections

Legal name

Professional Connections

Website

https://profco.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Professional Connections (Profco) is a private international healthcare recruitment agency, founded 1994, placing nurses and Western-trained doctors from the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand into hospitals in Saudi Arabia, Australia, and the UK on a commission-paid-by-hospital model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Staffing & Recruitment

NAICS

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (54)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPACADAJ

Healthcare Clinical & Allied Health Staffing

Business & Public Services/HR, Staffing & Recruitment Services/Professional & Technical Staffing (IT/Engineering/Healthcare/Finance)

SECONDARYBPACAFAH

Healthcare Clinical Direct Hire (Nursing/Allied/Physicians)

Business & Public Services/HR, Staffing & Recruitment Services/Permanent Placement & Direct Hire

Keywords

• International healthcare recruitment
• Nurse placement agency
• Doctor recruitment services
• Healthcare staffing solutions
• International nurse migration

Headquarters

HQ city

Dublin

HQ country

Ireland

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Recruitment Commission: Profco is paid directly by client hospitals once a candidate starts work. The service is free for healthcare professionals - candidates incur no fees. The company handles the full recruitment cycle including screening, licensing, visa processing, and onboarding support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Professional Connections (Profco) is an international healthcare recruitment agency that places nurses and doctors from the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand into hospitals in Saudi Arabia, Australia, and the UK. The agency provides end-to-end services including candidate screening, licensing support (SCFHS, AHPRA, NMC), visa processing, and relocation assistance, and is paid by client hospitals upon successful placement.

Product overview

Professional Connections (Profco) operates as an international healthcare recruitment agency with over 30 years of experience. The company's service portfolio centers on two core offerings: international nursing recruitment services and consultant doctor recruitment services for the Middle East. Supporting these core services, Profco provides an online job portal for position browsing and applications, licensing and compliance support (including SCFHS licensing and Dataflow verification for Saudi Arabia), and comprehensive relocation and onboarding services. The company also engages candidates through live webinar events. Profco does not offer a software-as-a-service product but rather provides human-capital services connecting healthcare professionals with hospitals in Saudi Arabia, Australia, and the UK.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• International Nursing Recruitment Services Full-service international nursing recruitment placing nurses from the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand into hospitals in Saudi Arabia, Australia, and the UK. Covers job placement, licensing assistance, visa processing, and relocation support for Western-trained nurses.
• Consultant Doctor Recruitment Services Specialist recruitment service for Western-trained consultant physicians across multiple specialties including Internal Medicine, Anaesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, Radiology, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and Paediatrics for Middle East healthcare facilities.
• Online Job Portal and Search Web-based job search functionality allowing candidates to browse and apply for nursing and healthcare positions across multiple countries with filtering by country (Australia, Saudi Arabia, UK) and category (Nursing, Medical Doctor, Allied Health, etc.).
• Licensing and Compliance Support Assistance with SCFHS licensing, Dataflow verification, Prometric exam preparation, and nursing registration requirements (AHPRA for Australia, NMC for UK) for international healthcare professionals.
• Relocation and Onboarding Services Comprehensive relocation support including accommodation arrangements, flight bookings, orientation programs, and pastoral care for nurses and healthcare professionals moving internationally.

Quantifiable outcome

• Candidates recruited from UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand for positions in Saudi Arabia, Australia, and UK
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center (KFSH&RC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary client partner for over 30 years. KFSH&RC operates tertiary referral hospitals in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Madinah. Profco recruits nurses and healthcare staff for these facilities which meet international quality standards and are JCI and Magnet accredited.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Acacium Group (CCM Recruitment): Large UK-headquartered healthcare staffing group that includes international healthcare recruitment (formerly CCM Recruitment International). Overlaps with Profco on placing nurses into the UK and Middle East but operates a much broader portfolio across the NHS and private healthcare.
• Medacs Healthcare: Global healthcare staffing provider offering international nurse and doctor placement alongside broader locum and permanent staffing services. Overlaps with Profco on international healthcare recruitment but operates at significantly larger scale and broader service scope.

Direct peers

• O'Grady Peyton International: Part of AMN Healthcare, O'Grady Peyton places international nurses and allied health professionals in the UK, Ireland, and Middle East. Comparable international nurse migration focus with enterprise-scale hospital contracts.
• Global Medical Recruiting: International healthcare recruiter specializing in placing Western-trained nurses and doctors into hospitals in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and other Gulf states. Direct overlap in candidate source countries, destination markets, and hospital-system clients.
• Helen Ziegler & Associates: Toronto-based international healthcare recruitment agency placing nurses and allied health professionals in the Middle East (notably Saudi Arabia and UAE) and other destinations. Comparable candidate geography, destination markets, and free-to-candidate model make it the closest direct peer to Profco.
• Cpl Healthcare: Ireland-based healthcare recruitment firm placing nurses, doctors, and allied health professionals internationally, including in the Middle East and UK. Similar candidate geography (Irish/UK/EU) and international destination focus.

Others

• Alliance Recruitment Agency: Global recruitment firm with a dedicated healthcare vertical covering international nurse, doctor, and allied health placement. Adjacent peer with international healthcare staffing capability but broader industry coverage and less Middle East specialization.

Emerging players

• EGV Recruiting: International healthcare recruiter sourcing Eastern European nurses for placements in the UK, Germany, and the Middle East. Comparable international placement model but draws from a different candidate geography than Profco's UK/EU/AU/NZ base.
• Worldwide HealthStaff Solutions: US-based international nurse recruitment firm placing American and Canadian nurses into Saudi Arabia, UAE, and other Gulf hospitals. Direct overlap on the Saudi destination market and free-to-candidate model.

Regional players

• HCL Permanent (HealthCare Locums): International division of HCL focused on permanent international nurse and doctor recruitment into the UK and Ireland. Comparable on the UK destination market and licensing (NMC) support, though with less Middle East focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/profcotv
• Facebookfacebook.com/Profco
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/professional-connections-oy
• Instagraminstagram.com/profcojobs
• TikToktiktok.com/@profco
• Xx.com/profcojobs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Professional Connections