002 Veterinary Locums - is being a veterinary locum for you?

Transcript

Are you wondering if locuming’s for you?

If you’re thinking of chucking in your day job to pick up the Instagram-glamorous lifestyle of the footloose and fancy free, high rolling life of the locum, then this episode is for you!

Here are 11 considerations I recommend you take into account before you rush to hand in your resignation.

#1 – unpredictability

If your personality type needs to have everything planned and organised, then maybe, just maybe, locuming isn’t for you.

Because unless you’re lucky enough to land long-ish assignments, there will be times when you don’t know where your next gig is going to be, or how long it’ll last for.

However, if you don’t mind the roller coaster ride of constant change and flux, then you can tick off that box as being okay for you.

One question I’m asked often is “what’s the average length of an assignment”?

This is something I’ve never tracked so I’m unable to answer that question for you.

However, I can tell you that VetStaff assignments run from one day (to cover unplanned sickness) through to a months and months.

I’ve had one assignment start off originally for 10 weeks and then they loved our locum so much it was extended out to 23 weeks.

The clinic nabbed our locum while they still had him, to give their own veterinarians the opportunity to take some time off and use up some of their annual leave.

So that was 10 full weeks extended to 23 full weeks of 40 hours each week.

Then another assignment started off at 12 weeks and, as at recording this, is sitting now at 27 weeks with more to run.

Both of those assignments are full time ones.

We also have veterinarians who wants to work just three days per week – we have a number of ongoing assignments spanning several months that perfectly match the locum lifestyle for these veterinarians.

Those are the longish assignments – that offer some sort of predictability.

On the flip side of that are the times when I get an SOS in the morning wanting a locum RIGHT. NOW. IMMEDIATELY.

The more amenable you are, the more work you’ll be offered, and the more understanding clinics will extend to you, when your life unexpectedly gets in the way.

But you have to earn your stripes first, for equal flexibility to come back from the clinic.

#2 – admin

If you’re DIYing your own locuming gigs – that is – you’re not using an agency like VetStaff to represent you and line up your work for you, then you gotta like admin.

Because there’s plenty of it.

If admin’s not really your thing, you can outsource some of it – but then it’s going to cost you and why would you spend money paying someone when VetStaff does it part of our regular service at no cost?

To me, that doesn’t make sense.

But if admin is your jam and you’re okay with it, then you’ll be able to handle this part of the locum lifestyle as well.

What type of admin am I particularly referring to?

First up you need some form of legal contract in place between you and each clinic you contract to.

You need to have a contract in place with every clinic – even if it’s just a one day gig.

If you don’t, you leave yourself wide open for all sorts of headaches.

Like not getting paid in a timely manner.

Your terms of trade will detail how and when you’ll be paid.

If you don’t have a contract in place with each clinic you’ve got nothing to fall back on.

Next, you’ll need an Assignment Schedule.

An assignment schedule is like an appendix to your main terms of trade.

You only need one terms of trade with each clinic, but each separate assignment will have its own unique Assignment Schedule.

The assignment schedule will cover the duration of the assignment, the dates, times, location and expectations (for example whether there’s any after hours requirement, on call or emergency requirements for you to meet).

You need to make sure these are all signed before you start work.

If not, you won’t have a leg to stand on.

The last thing you want is the time-sucky distraction of settling a dispute.

Those are horrible.

They’re emotionally draining and take your time away from organising other assignments.

Then you’ve got to make sure your financial paperwork is all nice and tidy.

As a self employed contractor, you’ll only get paid when you present your client clinics with invoices.

Which means you need to spend time writing them up.

Here at VetStaff I realise that’s not something most veterinarians enjoy, so I take care of that for them.

Again, it’s a free service and I do it because it makes both our lives easier!

It means I don’t have to nag for your invoices so I can our locums!

Oh! And talking of getting paid, you might have to add chasing up clinics that are a bit slow to pay your invoice to your list of admin tasks too.

I gotta say, that’s definitely NOT one of the favourite parts of the job but it’s gotta be done.

Because I dislike debt collecting so much I do it first thing in the morning.

I eat that frog fast so I can get on with the parts of my job I really enjoy.

Like matching great veterinary professionals into great clinics where they’ll be appreciated.

Onto #3 – follow up and follow through

What I mean by that is you’ll need to be prepared to stay on the case of very busy practice managers or HR managers about assignments.

Sometimes they’ll get too busy to get back to you confirming they need you, or don’t need you.

Because of that, it means you’ll have to spend time checking the status of pencilled in assignments.

If you don’t, things could get a bit stressful: a clinic expects you but you’re not there because no one had gotten back to you, so you thought it was all off.

The flip side of that is you turn up to a clinic ready to start work and everyone’s surprised because nothing was ever confirmed in writing.

So you need to stay on top of following up and following through.

Further, this follow up and follow through can usually only be done during normal clinic hours – which may mean while you’re locuming for another clinic.

Lots of telephone tag happens and it’s really easy to drop balls.

This is another really good reason to use an agency like VetStaff.

This is what we do!

It’s our job to follow up and follow through and then let veterinarians know.

#4 – have lots of referees

I mentioned this in another video (I’ll put the link in the show notes).

As a locum the last thing you want to do is get on the wrong side of your referees because they’re being hounded by all the clinics you’re possibly going to be locuming at.

The way around this – if you’re DIYing – is have lots and lots of referees.

That way you can rotate them and the same ones don’t get hassled all the time about providing a reference for you.

An alternative solution too – which, as a recruiter, I don’t place much credence in myself, is to get printed references.

When someone sends me a reference they’ve got themselves I pretty much disregard it.

Why do I do that?

Have you ever had someone ask you for a reference?

It’s a bit like writing a Google review – you don’t usually know where to start so you’ll say to the other person “sure I can do that for you – what do you want me to say or write?”

They might even say something like: “you write it up and I’ll sign it”.

THAT is why I disregard candidate-supplied references.

Because I’m not sure who actually wrote them.

Further, there are performance and personality questions I want answered that are rarely ever addressed in a candidate-supplied reference.

So, if you’re DIYing you need to respect your referees’ time.

This means protecting them from being repeatedly called by every HR or practice manager you might work for.

That’s another reason – in my book – hahaha – not that I’m biased or anything – for using an agency like VetStaff – we only need to ring your referees once each.

That’s it.

Once only.

We don’t need to call them each and every time we place you in a different locum assignment.

#5 - >3 years post grad experience

Here at VetStaff we generally won’t take on someone as a locum unless they’ve got at least 3 years post grad experience under their belt first.

And here’s why: as a locum you’re expected to be able to hit the deck running without asking for guidance.

The only questions you should be asking as a locum is “where do I find XYZ?” – not “how do I do this?”

Clinics pay good money for locums and they expect a return on their investment.

Because of that, they sometimes get worked really hard and most definitely without the requirement for hand-holding.

#6 – you need to be a people person

As a locum you’ll get to experience all sorts of team dynamics – some of which will be really fun and others will be an absolute nightmare.

Regardless, you’re there to do a job, to stay out of internal politics and, hopefully, feel that you’re making the difference you dreamed of making when you started studying veterinary medicine.

Sadly, some people will resent you being there.

This can happen if you’re there filling in a gap left between employees resigning and the new one starting and there aren’t any suitable prospects.

They’ll be resentful the clinic is prepared to pay you the big bucks but not give them a pay rise.

Calculating locum hourly rates is the topic of next week’s episode.

But – getting back to the resentment – if you’re the type of person who takes personally what people say about you – even when it’s not true – then you may struggle with situations like this.

Fortunately, you won’t find yourself in this situation often.

The flip side of that resentment is being on a team – albeit temporarily – where everyone is just sooo grateful you’re there helping them out!

Having people skills and highly developed emotional intelligence is really helpful as a locum.

#7 – travel & nights away

If you want to work your way around Godzone Aotearoa New Zealand then locuming is the perfect way to do that!

Absolutely! Irrefutably!

Some clinics have what they call “frat flats” attached to them for their locums and/or visiting veterinarians to use.

Other clinics are prepared to meet the reasonable costs of accommodation, some are prepared to contribute a fixed amount per night or per hour worked towards accommodation expenses while others won’t have a bar of any of that and regard it as the locum’s responsibility to pay for, and organise, themselves.

Sadly, locums don’t get the perks here that UK or other overseas locums may be used to.

In the UK you may get a vehicle, accommodation all paid for and a fantastic hourly rate.

That’s not always the way here though.

Some career locums, who don’t mind moving around for different gigs, have their own campervan – their own home away from home.

It means they get to sleep in their own bed at night but in different parts of New Zealand.

Have a chat to your accountant because maybe, just maybe, you might be able to offset your campervan costs as an expense of running your locum business.

#8 – you need to be able to say “no”

If you’re choosing the #locumlifestyle then part and parcel of that is having enough downtime to be able to do what you want to do, balanced with earning enough income so you don’t have to work every hour under the sun each day.

If lifestyle is really important to you, then learning how to say ‘no’ is a skill that’s good to develop!

As you’re already aware, locum veterinarians are in short supply in New Zealand.

That means – if you’re prepared to travel – you could probably have the option of working close to 365 days of the year if you wanted.

However, agreeing to work every assignment offered to you, won’t give you the work life balance you dreamed of having when you first started locuming.

If you can’t say no, you’re going to run yourself ragged and burn out.

That’s not the object of the game.

#9 – money in the bank – Rainy Day Funds

Notwithstanding I’ve just said that if you wanted, you could work 365 days of the year, it’s also a very good idea to have around 3 months of living expenses up your sleeve.

Just in case.

Just in case NZ goes into another Alert Level 4 Lockdown situation.

If history repeats itself with the first national lockdown and then the Auckland regional lockdown, some locum assignments will be cancelled.

When NZ went into AL 4, even assignments where the locum had been working for years at clinics were cancelled.

All you’ll have to rely on – if it happens again – is whatever the wage subsidy might be.

Because you’re self-employed it’ll be YOU who’s expected to top up your earnings to 80% - or whatever it might be – God forbid – that it happens again.

Another scenario where you might be unexpectedly out of work could be if you found yourself suddenly sick.

Or injured.

Or you need to care for a spouse or a child who’s very sick and you can’t work.

Even income replacement insurance doesn’t kick in straight away.

Which means having money in the bank is a very good idea.

Financial pressure is awful – don’t put yourself there if you don’t need to.

If you don’t have a Rainy Day account with three months’ living expenses in the bank, then consider defering working as a locum until you do.

You can guarantee that if you have a Rainy Day account, it’ll be safe – you won’t have to dip into it.

But if you haven’t got it, you’ll wish you had.

10 – nowhere to call home

As a locum you’ll need to be able to handle having nowhere to call “home”.

No one locker is yours.

You’ll be transient.

You’ll have to work harder to maintain any professional relationships you form because you won’t be seeing the same colleagues day in, day out.

If you’re the sort of person who breaks out in hives at the thought of commitment, then working as a locum will be perfect for you!

But if you like regularity and knowing you belong somewhere and that you play an integral part of a team, then maybe locuming won’t suit you.

#11 – test drive a new job

Have you been offered a job but not sure whether you think you’ll enjoy working there?

A consideration is for you and the clinic to take each other for a test drive first.

The clinic has nothing to lose.

In fact, they’ll probably jump at the idea because they’d rather find out you’re not for them as a locum – or under a fixed term contract – than to fully hire you only to have you resign in a few weeks.

Fixed term contracts have an absolute end date.

At the end you either both call it quits or you enter into an Individual Employment Contract both knowing the professional relationship is respectful and enjoyable.

The only reason a clinic mightn’t go for this is if you are level pegging with another candidate and that candidate knows the fit is right.

I’ve seen locums offered permanent jobs from clinics where they’re working, before.

These are great outcomes because both parties know the fit is right.

That culture and values match up on both sides.

Earlier this year I negotiated a contract with a locum who was offered a permanent position at a clinic she’d been locuming at on and off, for months and months.

However, the reason she was a locum was because she wanted the ability to travel overseas each year for a few months at a time.

Neither did she want to work a 40 or 50 hour week that’s expected of full time employees.

So, I negotiated a real win / win package for both the clinic and the locum.

It involved doing a bit of an entire roster re-jig with the other veterinarians to make it happen.

The lead vet and I started afresh with all the veterinarians’ rosters and designed something that worked for everyone.

It was a great outcome.

Oh! I also negotiated a considerable period of unpaid leave as well so she could still take her overseas trips.

The only requirement was she gave the clinic 12 weeks notice of that intention so the clinic had time to organise a locum to cover her.

So let’s quickly recap things for you to consider whether the #LocumLifestyle is for you or not: