Five tips for working with a locum tenens recruiter

Your relationship with your recruiter is a very important part of your locum tenens career. Your recruiter is your advocate, presenting you to clients and essentially selling you as a provider, as well as your eyes and ears in the marketplace. The best way to ensure you will land the best locum tenens jobs available is to develop your relationship with your recruiter. The following are some tips to make sure that happens. Create a great locum tenens CV One of the first things your recruiter will ask for is a copy of your CV. This is for your recruiter’s use only. After he or she has read your CV to get an idea of your skills and what kind of work you are looking for, your recruiter will call you back to do a comprehensive interview. Having a comprehensive, well-organized CV will ensure your recruiter has all the information needed to present you to clients. For tips on writing your CV, check out our post about The perfect CV for locum tenens providers. Be honest When your recruiter performs the interview, he or she will ask about your work experience, skills, licenses and credentials you hold, strengths, and preferences with regards to location, patient volume, and schedule. The interview is the recruiter’s best tool to market you to potential employers, so it will behoove you to be as honest and open as possible. This is also your opportunity to set your own limitations. Tell your recruiter about any locations or settings that you are not interested in. This will minimize the instances where your recruiter calls you on a job that isn’t a good fit. Finally, be honest about any disciplinary issues, malpractice history, criminal history or licensing problems. Everything comes out in credentialing, and it is best to be honest about any potential problems. Stay organized Speaking of credentialing, it is important for you to have all your documents (licenses, diplomas, certificates, etc.) accessible. It is also very important for you to maintain a clear and accurate work history including all past affiliations and account for any gaps in your work history with a written explanation. You must also have a list of all your malpractice carriers. After all of your pertinent paperwork is in, our experienced licensing and credentialing team will take care of the rest. You can learn more about what they do on our Licensing and Credentialing page. Keep in contact The locum tenens industry is fast paced where communication is vital. Locum tenens jobs, especially the highly coveted ones, come and go quickly. When your recruiter contacts you about a job, response time is key. Your recruiter will also check in with you periodically to see if your situation has changed or to ask how your current assignment is going. These conversations are important so your recruiter can make sure the information we have on file is still accurate. Don’t forget the phone works both ways. If you haven’t heard from your recruiter in a while and your situation has changed, please pick up the phone and give him or her a call. Trust in your recruiter Your recruiter has your best interest in mind. Barton Associates is unlike other locum tenens agencies because our recruiters proactively recruit physicians and nurse practitioners. Many other locum tenens agencies reactively recruit, meaning when they hear of a new job, they call every locum tenens provider they can. At Barton, we invest time in getting to know the providers we work with to build a network of quality locum tenens physicians and nurse practitioners. This allows us to more effectively match our locums with the position that works for them.