If you’ve worked locum tenens before, you know why locums work can sometimes be more fulfilling than running a practice. You’ve reaped the benefits of traveling the country, the added free time of heading home at the end of your shift, and the ability to create your own schedule.

Once you know a locum tenens is for you, there will be a tremendous number of physician staffing resources available, including staffing firms like Interim Physicians. Temporary and contract staffing sales totaled $115.5 billion in 2014, according to the quarterly ASA Staffing Employment and Sales Survey. Needless to say, there are a lot of physician staffing agencies out there to choose from, but how do you know which physician staffing company will be the right fit?

We’ve outlined a few pointers for finding the right physician staffing company for you.

Geographic Span

Some staffing companies will lure you in by advertising a few highly desirable cities or states like Los Angeles or Hawaii, but in reality majority of their jobs available are in less desirable towns.

A closer look at a staffing company’s website will show you if it has more than one position in a given city, for example, “the San Francisco area,” or “multiple specialties in New Mexico.” Although discovering if the company actually offers what it advertises is beneficial, don’t turn your back if the company doesn’t have a position in your desired city.

Do you love the great outdoors? Prefer the city life to mosquitoes and sunburn? While you may have a specific city in mind for your next assignment, your recruiter might have another equally great city in mind for you based on your interests (such as hiking or mountain biking). An open mind and the right assignment can take you places you never thought you’d go.

Specialty

A staffing company that places your specialty frequently is ideal and your best bet in landing the right job. Search the firm’s site within your specialty to get an idea of availability. However, don’t completely shy away if the company is not currently staffing your position. Most staffing companies get new jobs every day so check back often and get into contact with someone. The sooner you can build a relationship with a recruiter, the better. They can alert you when new jobs in your specialty open.

Reputation

Whether you own a practice or work only as a locum tenens physician or advanced practitioner, one facet of the job that never changes is the need for values and a vision. Find a staffing company with values and a mission statement that aligns with your beliefs. For example, here at Interim Physicians we have an oath, Staffing Quality Care,’ which we see as the pursuit of quality patient care.

A staffing company might have the values, but does its reputation back it up? Does the locums staffing company focus on quality? See if the staffing company you’re considering has any data to show its values in action every day. For example, here at Interim we have survey results showing that over 96% of our facilities would have our provider back, and over 94% of our physicians would return to a facility. We were also recently awarded with Inavero’s 2017 Best of Staffing Client and Talent.

Customer Service

Whether you’re a new physician or a seasoned veteran, starting out at a new facility or hospital has its challenges. Look for a staffing company whose employees can be easily reached when you need them. You should be able to talk to a recruiter about a position before committing, ask them licensing and credentialing questions, or even payroll mishaps. If you can’t find their telephone number or they don’t have a quick contact form, you may want to look for a more hands-on placement services firm.

Finding the right size staffing firm is essential as well. You want the company to be big enough to have the type, variety and number of assignments you want but small and nimble enough to provide personalized service from its recruiters, quality assurance and credentialing department, and its on-call-24/7 travel department.

Have questions about working with a staffing company or our process for finding locum tenens positions nationwide? Contact us today.

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