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Four Ways to Become a World Champion of Locum Jobs

How can YOU stand out in your locum applications and get the shifts and rates that you deserve?

Did you know that there are almost 12,000 pharmacies in the UK, while around 60,000 pharmacists are on the General Pharmaceutical Council register (according to 2020 figures from The Pharmacist Cooperative). So if 70% of all pharmacists work in community, that’s around 42,000 professionals – almost 4 pharmacists per store. 

It’s hard to speak of shortage of pharmacists so how can YOU stand out in your locum applications and get the shifts and rates that you deserve? Keep reading for tips on becoming a world champion of locum jobs.

 

Be Prepared

Being a star locum takes preparation. As a minimum, make sure you have all the required documents that allow pharmacies to check your credentials – passport or other form of ID, an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, and valid insurance.

For your own record and accounting purposes, you also need to be prepared for proper invoicing, tax matters and other HMRC requirements for your specific business setup – a necessary prerequisite for successful locuming. Need help with your finances and not sure where to start? Check out The Pharmacist Cooperative (TPC) webinar on Money & Taxes for Locum Pharmacists here. 

Look for Locum Work in the Right Places

We live in a connected world where we’re never alone on our professional trajectory. There are many others like you, trying (and succeeding) to make decent earnings as locums. Reach out to them to exchange views and experiences regarding different employers, rates, platforms for finding shifts and so on. The locum community is tight-knit, not only in the pharmacy world but also when it comes to locum doctors, nurses and other practitioners. 

Nobody achieves anything alone so tap into the potential of your professional peer network – you might be surprised by its powers to help advance your own career. Wondering where to start – check out the Telegram community of TPC.

 

Keep Learning

After obtaining your diploma, the best way to become a locum champion is… surprise, surprise… by working your way up. Learning on the job is as important, if not more, as the theoretical foundations you acquired in school. The more shifts you take, the better you will become and the higher the rates you will be able to charge. 

As one example, check out these graphs that show what the average base pharmacist salary (permanent positions) in the UK (graph 1) for permanent positions and what pay looks like by level of experience (graph 2):

With more experience, you will also acquire skills using various systems and providing different services that will enhance your profile even further. Not sure which services are essential in pharmacies across England and Wales? Check out this guide from the TPC. 

Practice Makes Perfect (Rate Negotiation)

Negotiating rates can be daunting and uncomfortable but let’s face it – there’s no way around it if you want to make it as a locum in the UK. We’ve written about this in more detail in another blog post – check it out here.

It’s crucial that when negotiating, you take into account the region (there are significant variations in rates offered in different parts of the country), urgency of the shift and specific skills required. Flexibility and how comfortable you are with uncertainty are key to becoming a world champion of locuming.

 

Conclusion…

Acing locum work is all about practice and persistence. To make sure you get there, CuRisApp supports you to get there – you can book, manage and invoice shifts directly inside the app. No more opaque agencies that you need to fully rely on for proper work and proper pay – with CuRisApp you have direct access to up-to-date jobs and are in charge of your own locuming journey.

 

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