The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success: Negotiating the Offer

The last post in our 6 part series, “The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success” covers negotiating an offer.  Congratulations! You got the locum assignment offer you’ve been wanting. Now what? Just how much leeway is there in negotiating your rate? Well, that all depends. Locum pay rates are determined by old fashioned supply and demand.  Specialties where there are shortages, may find that they can command a higher hourly rate. Geography also plays into it, as does practice setting.  All that aside, is there room to negotiate? The short answer is yes. You have the ability to negotiate your rate and then accept or decline an assignment based on what you hear back. If you worked with an agency that placed you in this assignment, they will work with you to negotiate your rate with the hiring facility. Remember though that the agency works for the facility and your hourly rate is usually negotiated lower to compensate for all the services the agency provides. If you worked with the facility directly and did not go through an agency, there may be more leeway in the negotiating process and you may end up with a higher rate.  No matter what, it doesn’t hurt to ask for higher compensation when an offer is extended. The worst that can happen is that they tell you no. The up side is that you just might get it!

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The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success: Mastering the Phone Interview

Part 5 in our blog series, “The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success” covers mastering the phone interview…something every locum needs to conquer!  No matter how you find your locum assignment, you will probably need to do a series of phone interviews. Your first interview might be with a staffing agency recruiter who thinks you could be a fit for a position they are trying to fill. If you have the skills and experience they are looking for, your next phone interview will most likely be with the hiring facility. Locum tenens physicians rarely have to do in-person interviews, but the secrets of interview success apply whether you are on the phone or in-person.

• Prepare in advance – whether you are “meeting” with an agency recruiter or with a hiring facility, prepare in advance for the interview.  No matter who you talk to, they will want to know about your clinical experience so make sure you can confidently explain how your skills meet the requirements of the position.  If possible research the hiring facility on the internet and have a list of questions to ask.
• Clear your calendar – At the time of the interview, make sure you do not need to attend to other things. It’s only polite to give your interviewer your undivided attention.
• Establish rapport – Do your best to establish rapport right away. This is harder to do in a phone interview since the interviewer can’t see your facial expressions (and vice-versa), but smile and show some enthusiasm. It will come across!
• Listen – Use those great physician listening skills to get a feel for the personality of your interviewer and details about the facility and assignment requirements. Take notes so you can review them later.
• Not all interviewers will come right out and ask you, but all of them want to know two things: 1. Can you do the job well? 2.  Are you going to be easy to work with?  Keep this information in mind as you formulate the answers to any question the interviewer throws at you.
• Ask questions – Having a list of questions lets the interviewer know that you are both prepared and interested. Plus, you also want to assess whether this opportunity is the right one for YOU!
• Relax– remember that interviewing is a two-way street. Both you and the interviewer want to make the best impression and are looking for the best fit possible.

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The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success: Finding Locum Assignments

Part four of our blog series, “The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success” covers searching for new locum assignments.  Today there are two major choices for finding assignments.  1) You can find assignments on your own or 2) you can work with a locum staffing agency to help you find one. Both have their pros and cons.

Taking Control and Finding Assignments on Your Own

Many locum physicians prefer to find assignments on their own so they can take control of the job selection, facility, location, schedule, pay rate, and duration of the assignment. When you are more involved in the selection of each job, you are more able to truly decide what locum assignments best fit your skills and overall goals.  Probably the biggest advantage of finding an assignment on your own or working directly with a hiring facility is that you can negotiate a higher rate of pay. Working in this way makes hiring facilities happier too because contracting directly with you for an assignment results in a significant savings for them. It’s a win-win for everyone.

There are several locum job sites where you can choose from assignments all over the country. Some assignments are posted by locum staffing agencies, but others are posted by facilities where you can contract and work directly.

Some sites to consider:

www.mdsearch.com

www.locumspractice.com

Working with a Locum Staffing Agency

Some physicians enjoy working with a full service locum staffing agency. Agencies help you find assignments that meet your experience, skills, and desired location. They expedite licensing and credentialing, handle malpractice insurance and arrange your travel. When you work with an agency, you are usually paid directly by the agency rather than the hiring facility, and as a result, your daily pay is negotiated at a lower rate to help cover the cost of the services offered.  There are over 45 major locum agencies nationwide, so you’ll have several from which to choose.

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The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success: Polishing your CV

Part three of our blog series, “The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success” covers the creation of your CV. If you’ve done your homework to determine your strengths and accomplishments, and have given some serious thought to your elevator pitch (see part one and two in this blog series), then shining up your CV will be relatively easy.  The most important thing to remember when putting your CV together is that locum agency recruiters and employers have a short attention span! Your CV needs to capture their attention in less than 30 seconds. That means that your education, skills, and experience need to be clearly positioned so you are not overlooked. Simply cover the who, what, when, where, and how, and your CV will rise to the top!

The Who

Remember your audience and prepare your CV for each opportunity – I know it’s a lot of work but hear me out. It’s a great idea to tailor your CV for each opportunity you are looking at. Why? Because a lot of recruiters today use technology to screen resumes and unless you have the same keywords in your resume that are used in the job description, your resume will not be pulled from the database for them to view. It’s all about targeting and while a one-CV-fits-all approach might work, it’ll take you longer to find the right assignment in the long run.

The What

Employers and agency recruiters are crazy busy. They get lots of resumes for each opening, so you’ve got to make your CV stand out. But how? First of all, list your contact info at the top. Make sure you include both an email address and a phone number.  Next, make sure you incorporate the info they are looking for in a format that makes it easy to find. When recruiters take those 30 seconds to look at your CV, make certain they can find exactly what they need to fill that assignment…YOU!  Follow the outline below for an easy way to present your education, skills, and experience.

• Education – List your education at the top so they can see where you went to school and that you have the training required for the position.  Include fellowships in this section too.
• Licensure and Certifications – Your licenses and certifications come next. Include dates and license numbers and if you’ve been recertified, include this information as well. Also include whether the certification/license is currently active or expired, along with any future expiration dates. Putting this info at the top helps recruiters and employers quickly determine if you meet the basic criteria.
• Professional Experience – Your work history comes next on your CV. Include name and location of the facility, the dates you worked there, and your position/title. This is a great place to target your content to your audience. Highlight specific skills and responsibilities you had at your former job that are also required in the job you are applying for. Include details on facility size/specialty, patient load, procedures you completed, EMR used, and any other relevant details.
• Hospital Affiliations – The next section of your CV is for hospital affiliations. If you’ve worked at several hospitals, it’s a good idea to list each one along with the dates you held privileges, what your title was, the type of privileges you had, and the city the hospital is located in.
• The Extras – Depending on your experience and background, you might also want to include the following information to help a future employer get a clearer picture of your skills. You don’t have to include all of these categories…pick and choose the ones that make sense for you:
  • Honors and awards – Add any pertinent awards and honors that might pique the interest of potential employers.
  • Professional affiliations – If you are active in professional medical organizations or hold leadership positions, include them.
  • Volunteer experience – Clinical volunteer experience can say a lot about you. Include medical mission trips and relevant work in other volunteer medical settings.
  • Publication and Research Summary – If you are looking for an academic position, it’s imperative to list all your publications and relevant details of each. If not, then presenting a short summary of your publications and research is just fine.

The When

When applying for a new position, dates you’ve worked in each job are really important. Because it’s difficult to credential physicians who have not worked on a consistent basis, employers want to know that the physicians they hire do not have major gaps in their work experience, and if so, they want the gaps accounted for. Since work gaps will be one of the things your CV will be screened for, go ahead and put the dates you worked for each employer next to each position in the Professional Experience section. List the dates in month/year format so hiring entities can easily see where the gaps might lie. And when you’ve worked locum tenens assignments, be sure to identify the position as such.

But what if you do have a gap or two? The best way to handle a gap in your employment is to prepare documentation to present when asked about it. You should EXPECT that all gaps will be inquired about, so go ahead and be proactive and prepare documents that address the gap when you have been away from medicine from 30-60 days or more.

The Where

Because physicians often need more space to include information pertinent to a particular job, it’s a good idea to include a CV addendum. The addendum is a great place to account for any gaps in employment or to go into more detail about any aspect of your CV.  You can also use the addendum to include more detailed information about research projects, publications, committee experience, etc. Provide the addendum upon request to interested employers or agencies.

The How

The nuts and bolts of putting your CV together can sometimes be the hardest part of the process. Right or wrong, appearance counts.  Put yourself in a recruiter’s shoes! When you get lots of resumes to weed through, your eye is going to land on the one that is visually appealing and is easy to read. AND it goes without saying that you need to be sure your spelling and grammar are both flawless! Remember, your CV is a representation of you. If your CV is disorganized, the perception is that you are too!

• How long – There are no hard and fast rules for how many pages your CV needs to be. It depends on the amount of experience you have and the level and extent of your skills. Physicians who work locum tenens on a regular basis will have a long list of assignments to put on a CV so the rule of thumb is to make whatever you put on your CV count, and tailor it to demonstrate relevance to the job you are applying for.
• Formatting and consistency – Your format is important because it drives the look and feel of your CV. Decide on a format you like, but insist on consistency throughout. For example, put your employment dates on the left side of the document, put the organization name in bold, include the city and state without formatting, and put your position/title in italics. This type of format is fairly standard and is easy to read.
• Fonts – Make sure you use only one or two fonts on your CV and stick to fonts that are commonly used such as Arial or Times New Roman.  Keep the point size readable too!
• Proof and proof again – Proof your CV several times, tweak it and then proof it again. Before you send it to an agency or employer, have someone else look at it with a critical eye to ensure you didn’t miss anything.

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The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success: Crafting Your Elevator Pitch

The second installment in our blog series “The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success” covers creating and delivering your elevator pitch. Putting together an effective elevator pitch is often one of the most difficult aspects of a job search, but it’s vitally important to get it right. As a locum physician, you will be asked over and over for a short synopsis of your background and what you’re looking for in your next assignment. It makes sense then to have an elevator pitch you feel comfortable delivering when people ask, but the truth is that most people don’t take the time to get it right and when they do, the pitch comes out as an awkward, unnatural mess.

So how do you create an effective elevator pitch that is right for you? AND how do you deliver it so it doesn’t sound boastful, conceited, and uncomfortable? The best way to craft your elevator pitch is to stay away from touting your accomplishments and achievements. YES, that’s right, avoid going on and on about everything you’ve done in your career. Why? Because in an elevator pitch  - when someone really doesn’t know you well yet –  listing your accomplishments can come off as bragging and might make others question your character and level of honesty.  So what should you do instead? Your elevator pitch should be short, sweet and speak to the things that inspire you.  Tell your listener why you like being a physician and why in particular you’ve decided to work locums. Talk about why you’ve been a physician for the past (insert number here) years and what you find interesting about your work. Talk about the medical challenges you enjoy taking on and how you’ve been successful. If you can take these elements and put them together in a conversational pitch, you’ll convey that you are not only an accomplished physician, but also a real human being with feelings, motivations, and inspirations. Now doesn’t that sound like someone you’d like to work with?

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The Essentials for Locum Job Search Success

Are you starting off the new year with a job search? Almost 40% of physicians are currently looking for new jobs and January is often one of the busiest months on physician job boards. So today we’re starting a 6 part series on the essentials of locum job search success.   As a locum you’re probably on the lookout for new assignments all the time, so you’ve got to hone your skills so that you can reach out and get a new assignment as soon as you’re ready for the next one. This blog series will cover the requisites for success:

• Determining your strengths so you can sell yourself
• Crafting your elevator pitch
• Polishing your CV
• Finding locum assignments
• Mastering the phone interview
• Negotiating the offer

Determining Your Strengths So You Can Sell Yourself

You’d be surprised how many physicians are unsure how to communicate their abilities to others.  When it comes to a locum career, you need to be able to succinctly tell recruiters and colleagues the things that make you stand out. The first step in any job search process is to determine your strengths so you can speak about what makes you a good physician.  It only takes a few minutes to sit down and come up with a list of your accomplishments – anything you’ve done well so far in your career.

When you think about your accomplishments, what comes to mind? Awards, accolades, training….certainly those things are important. But what’s more important to think about are the things your potential employer considers essential to getting the job done.  When coming up with your list of accomplishments, think about the following:

• What special skills and abilities can you bring to your next prospective employer?  What are the pain points of the practice or healthcare facility that your skills and experience can help with?
• What about your specific medical experience is special? Do you have experience working with a particular patient population or have you worked with patients from cradle to grave?  Have you done medical research or published on a topic that shows a unique medical perspective?
• What do your colleagues say about you? What praise or accolades have you earned over and over? Have patients told you that they appreciate something special in your bedside manner?
• What do you do that’s beyond the call? Have you participated in special committees or held leadership positions over the years? Have you taught or trained others?  Have you presented professional information at conferences?
• What are your personal motivations? What do you like about being a physician? Why are you interested in a particular job or assignment? What about working locums excites you? What type of challenges do you like to take on?

Once you have a list of accomplishments and motivations in mind, the rest of the job search process is easier because you can speak to these accomplishments when networking with colleagues and during phone interviews with recruiters and facilities.  The list of accomplishments will also make putting your CV together a lot easier too. More on that later in this blog series.

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Rural Areas are “Where it’s at” for Locums

To steal a phrase from the 60’s, rural areas are “where it’s at” today.  If you are a locum tenens physician in search of new assignments, consider a more rural environment and your job search gets a lot easier. Approximately 25% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, but only 10% of our country’s physicians live in these areas. So how do you get your hands on one of these rural jobs? Start by checking physician job boards like MDsearch or LocumsPractice. You can also get in touch with your locum recruiter and let them know you’d like to try a rural assignment. Either way, rural assignments are waiting for you!

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Rethinking Private Practice? You’re not Alone!

A recent survey by The Physicians Foundation found that a growing percentage of physicians are considering making changes in how they practice. With concerns about healthcare reform and Medicare reimbursements, many physicians are looking at other options for their futures. The survey found that only 26% of respondents planned to continue practicing as they have been for the last 3 years. Fourteen percent plan to switch to locum tenens work, and 11% said they will take hospital jobs.  Approximately 16% said they will move towards concierge practices and 16% planned to retire. What’s really interesting to look at is how things have changed since 2008 which was the last time the foundation asked doctors about their plans. Take a look:

                                                                              2010                                                                       2008

No change planned                                          26%                                                                        51%

Move to locums                                                 14%                                                                        8%

Concierge/cash practice                                16%                                                                        7%

Retire                                                                      16%                                                                        11%

Take hospital job                                                11%                                                                        N/A

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Physician Job Search Strategies for 2011

As the new year approaches, you might have a new job on your mind. A recent survey of healthcare professionals found that 37% of physicians are currently looking for a new employment opportunity, with 15% seeking contract or temporary work.  Interestingly, 74% of those physicians report that it’s taking between one and six months to find that position.  So just how are all these physicians finding their jobs? In general, it looks like referrals, recruiters, and search engines are the top 3 ways to get a job offer so if you are in the market for a new opportunity, keep networking and use these job search strategies:

• Referrals                             59%
• Recruiter found me        32%
• Search engines                 20%
• Direct contact                   17%
• Online job boards            15%

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Managing Your CMEs Just Got Easier

Many of the physicians I’ve talked to lately keep track of their CME credits the old fashioned way….by putting their certificates in a folder. It’s easy to do at the time, but when it comes time to gather all the CME certificates up and tally all your hours it can be a big headache. There’s a new solution though and it’s a lot easier than putting all your certificates away for a “rainy day.”  The LocumsPractice CME Keeper helps you keep track of all your CMEs electronically and creates a report for you to send to your licensing board or potential employers.  Once you complete your CME, you simply take a few seconds to enter the course name, credit hours, and category. You can even upload the course certificate! Then with just a few clicks you can generate a report documenting your entire CME history and email it to your staffing agency, potential employer, or state licensing board.  And right now you can win an Apple iPad when you become a Premium Member of LocumsPractice and enter your CMEs by the end of January. Give it a try!

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