Many doctors in our online physician communities are choosing to explore locum tenens work either as a side gig or a main gig. When it comes to getting locums gigs, physicians can choose to work directly with a group or hospital seeking a locums doctor, or they can go through a locum tenens company. There are pros and cons of each option, which we cover in our guide to locum tenens, but if you choose to go through a locums company, it is key to establish the rules under which you will work together when establishing an initial relationship with a recruiter. In this article, we’ll go over important things to discuss with and agree upon with your potential recruiter prior to even having them present you with opportunities. We have separately covered tips for Master Service Agreements and contracting with locums companies in another article.
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Determine the ideal relationship with your future locum tenens recruiter
Enjoying your career in locum tenens is about finding the right opportunities that match your preferences for location, rates, and practice environment, as well as having a smooth working experience. The specific recruiter that you work with that represents the locums agency can make all the difference. That recruiter is going to have to both understand and respect your preferences, and not waste your time by bringing you opportunities that don’t fit these. They also need to respect your boundaries in terms of how they communicate with you and not push you to take assignments or rates that don’t fit the criteria that you gave them. They should be your advocate and help you navigate the system smoothly. Â
Therefore, it’s critical to interview each locum tenens recruiter. Don’t assume that just because you’ve liked one recruiter within a company that you’ll enjoy working with another. Before you even take a phone call with a locum tenens company recruiter, you should know what you want from them. Some things to think about yourself include:
Are you a seasoned locum tenens doctor who just needs opportunities presented to them, or are you just exploring the space and need more guidance from them on how to get started with locum tenens?Â
How do you want them to contact you?
Do you know what your ideal assignment is and where you want to work?Â
Do you know how frequently you want to work?
Do you know your ideal hourly locum tenens rates?
What services do you need help with (travel arrangements, malpractice insurance, etc.)?
Not only will having an established idea of what your needs, wants, and preferences are help you decide if the recruiter is a good fit personally and professionally, but it will pave the way for a productive working relationship.
Interviewing a potential locum tenens recruiter to see if it’s a good fit
Once you’ve determined what you wanted, here are some questions that you should ask and things to discuss with the locums company’s recruiter to see if you’ll enjoy working with them:
Types of opportunities the recruiter has access to
Ask the recruiter for specific types of opportunities that their agency tends to work with. For example, some agencies tend to work more closely with hospital systems, some with private practices, and some with federal opportunities. Others tend to work with temporary staffing opportunities like potential strike or overflow situations or event medicine, whereas others tend to focus more on long term relationships with systems that have chronic needs. Many have geographic regions that they tend to have relationships in, so will predominantly offer opportunities in those regions.
Get a feel for what the typical assignments they offer in your specialty are and make sure they are ones that you’d be interested in.
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What specialties the recruiter tends to work with
Many of us have had discussions with recruiters where it’s obvious that they don’t know anything about our field or specialty. This leads to them bringing you opportunities that you may not even be a candidate for (‘yes, radiology is different from radiation oncology’), or opportunities that you’ve specifically said you don’t want. If they don’t understand what you do on a daily basis, they won’t be able to weed out opportunities that don’t fit your skillset or preferences. For example, if they don’t understand the types of cases you do, they may not understand why you’d be a good fit for a particular opportunity. They may also not understand typical rates and locums contracting arrangements specific to your field. For example, if you’re OB, you’ll be much more likely to go in on call than if you’re a radiologist, and your compensation structure for the locums assignment should address that.
How many assignments in my specialty have you placed in the last year?
This will give you some idea of the experience of the recruiter, the number of opportunities available to them, as well as how much people in your specialty like working with that recruiter. As above, they’ll also be more adept at navigating those assignments if they've done many.
How willing are you to go to bat for me to get the rates that I want?
This is obviously a harder question to get an honest answer for, as everyone will try and say what they know you want to hear when they’re trying to get your business, but try and read between the lines when they answer. Do they provide specific examples of people whose rates they’ve gotten higher? Do they seem like an advocate?Â
Ultimately, most locums companies get the difference between the rate that they negotiate with the client and the rate that you take, so they’re incentivized to get you to take the lowest rate, but what you want is to find somebody who understands the value of keeping you happy and who is willing to give you the rate you need to get things across the finish line.
How much help do you offer with logistics, and who will I be working with on those things?
You’ll want to know how much support you’ll get from the agency for things like:
Licensing
Credentialing
Malpractice Insurance
Travel arrangements
Reimbursed expenses
You’ll also want to know if the recruiter will be the primary point of contact for these things and if not, who you will be working with to get things done on time and paid for or reimbursed. These things can add significant stress to an assignment and you want to be familiar with how they are handled internally. Ideally, you minimize your time getting bounced around and the recruiter or someone else you trust is your point of contact that will then coordinate needs.
Give me an example of when you’ve had to advocate on behalf of a clinician in a dispute with a client
Ultimately, the locums companies are paid by the client, so they need to make the client happy. However, they also need to make you happy, or you won’t work with them again. You should get a spidey sense from the recruiter about how strongly they advocate for physicians. Examples you could ask about include how they’ve navigated a situation where the hospital cancelled last minute, how they’ve dealt with situations where a physician showed up to an assignment and the responsibilities were different than what had been stated (stated that there was no call but expected physician to come in for emergencies, asked them to supervise NPs or PAs, asked them to stay overtime without pay, etc.). If the recruiter has truly gone to bat for a clinician, chance are they’ll have a story.
Establishing boundaries with the locums recruiter
What methods will you use to contact me? Who will be allowed to contact me?
These days, there are many different ways to contact someone, and it can feel like recruiters use all of them simultaneously. We’ve all gotten phone calls, text messages, and emails almost simultaneously from recruiters. As this person is going to contact you regularly, let them know how you’d like to be contacted.
The other thing you want to know is who from their agency will contact you. Will it always be them or can anybody in their agency contact you? Having too many people contacting you may result in you having to voice your preferences over and over. If you only want to work with them, make it clear that you shouldn’t be contacted by anybody else.Â
Tell them what types of opportunities you want (locations, rates, types of employers, dealbreakers, etc.) and make sure they write it down in your profile
The more details you can give the recruiter about what you want, the less they will bother you (hopefully) about opportunities that don’t fit your criteria, and the more they will bring you your ideal opportunities. Let them know your dealbreakers and in which circumstances they should absolutely not contact you, as well as situations that you would love. This could include:
Dates you’re not available to work (for example, if you will not work holidays, let them know that
States or cities that you would prefer, and those that you won’t travel to
Work responsibilities on assignment (days only, days + call, overnight responsibilities, weekends and holidays, shift work only, clinic only, inpatient only, call only)
Your ideal rates and rates below which you won’t consider the opportunity, and rate structure (by shift, by day, by week, by hour, etc.)
Special rates for getting called in during call, for overtime hours, etc.
Maximum travel time to assignments from your home base
Whether you’re open to rural assignments
What specialties need to be available for consultation or what services need to be offered by the facility
What level trauma center you’re comfortable with
Make sure they understand the scope of your practice and what you do and do not do (procedures, specific subspecialties or areas of expertise, etc.)
In order to avoid both getting contacted about jobs that you wouldn’t qualify for and surprises when you show up, make sure they understand what you do and don’t do in terms of conditions you treat, procedures you are comfortable with and not comfortable with, and other things specific to your specialty. If you have dealbreakers about what level trauma center you’d be willing to work at or what consultative specialties or services must be available for you to be comfortable providing care at a facility, let them know those too.Â
If you’re not willing to supervise non-physician clinicians, let them know that
One of the biggest complaints we hear about when a physician shows up for a locums assignment is the expectation that they will have to supervise the work of others on the healthcare team and don’t feel comfortable doing so. Many physicians are uncomfortable with supervising NPs and PAs at baseline, but this can particularly be an issue when you don’t know the work or experience of the individual you are asked to supervise. Make sure you make it clear that you should know about any supervisory responsibilities or requirements ahead of time.
Establish expectations for services from the locums company
Although they may say that they provide housing and transportation, make sure that you voice what your preferences are, where you will and will not stay, and what you will and will not do. For example, you may only be comfortable staying in hotels of a certain caliber, need housing with a kitchen, only want to take direct flights or flights with one stopover, may have preferences about flying vs. driving or taking ride share services vs renting a car, etc., etc. Make sure you’re on the same page about what will be covered or reimbursed.
What if you don’t like the locum tenens recruiter you speak with?
Not every recruiter is going to be a good fit. Similar to the whole dating ‘you’ve gotta kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince’ theme, you may have to interview several recruiters before you find one that’s a good fit. Even if you like someone a lot personally, they may not be the best equipped to find you the types of jobs that you like. Ultimately, it’s business, and locums recruiters are used to being told no. Although it can be awkward, if you want to work with the locums agency because you’ve heard good things, but the specific recruiter isn’t one that you’ll enjoy working with, just ask if you can talk to someone else at the company. And of course, if the company isn’t right for you, find another locums company.
What are next steps once you find a locums recruiter that you want to work with?
Congrats! You’ve done the hard part. You’ll then want to move on to formalizing your relationship in a master services agreement (MSA) or contract with the locums company.Â
Hopefully, as you continue to work with your recruiter, they’ll get to know you better and better. Ideally, you both will have a better understanding of the gigs you want and enjoy, and they will bring more of those types of relationships or opportunities to you.Â
Of course, people grow apart as well. Your needs from a locums agency may change over the course of your locums career, and if your locums recruiter doesn’t evolve with you and is no longer bringing you opportunities or rates that are attractive to you, or if the relationship is otherwise not working, don’t be afraid to cut off ties and move on. There are hundreds (thousands?) of locums agencies out there, and you will find another one that’s a better fit if and when necessary.
Conclusion
Who you work with at a locum tenens agency can make or break your locums experience. You want a recruiter that will listen to you, respect your preferences and your rates, and not waste your time. You want them to bring you opportunities according to your preferences, learn from what you like and don’t like about your locums assignments, and work hard to find you more of those. Interviewing them carefully and setting the right boundaries prior to even entertaining potential assignments will pave the way for a productive working relationship.
Additional locums resources for physicians
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