In Travel Assignments

Building a CV with Locum Tenens Positions

Locums and travel nurse work has a mixed reputation. Often locums are doctors with an urge to travel, pay off student loans, or just experiment before finding the perfect job. Some employers can look askance at locum tenens roles on a CV, though; most locum physicians check the boxes above, but some don’t want to stay put for a reason.

To avoid prospective employers viewing your CV this way, it’s important to think through all of the opportunities moving around facilities give you that a doctor who stays at the same facility forever just doesn’t have.

A variety of career experience

A long tenure at one hospital or clinic gives you a thorough grounding in that institution, which can be invaluable. It does tend to put blinders on you, however. If you work at just one or two places, you may begin to think the way that facility does things is the standard (and best) way to do them. Inertia may set in, dulling your capacity to change and grow. From a tiny IHS clinic to the biggest metropolitan hospitals, every facility has something to teach you. Your experience as a locum will give you the perspective you need to find the best solutions.

Flexibility with your time

You may be a new parent or have other obligations that mean a full-time role isn’t feasible. Instead of being tied to a role where taking a week — or even an afternoon — off will require extricating yourself from a sticky mire of responsibilities, locums work gives you the chance to keep your skills sharp and also exercise some control over your schedule.  

Keeping work at work

Work for physicians tends to bleed into every aspect of your life. You might have to be on-call as a locum, but there is a finite amount of time that you’re expected to work. Doctors who stay in place often don’t have that luxury. Depending on your specialty, you might be on call a nightmarish amount of time if you’re a permanent physician. You’re providing a much-needed service as a locum tenens, but the chances that your work will creep into your personal life is much less than a permanent physician.

You’ll have a better idea of what works for you

Maybe you’ve always envisioned yourself in a private practice. But what if you find out it’s the fast pace of a hospital you crave? Maybe you have been in private practice and need something different as your career changes. You might land an assignment and loathe it or be pleasantly surprised by a role you didn’t think you’d like. Either way, you’re not stuck! And if you do eye a permanent role, you’ll have the experience to prove you know exactly why you’re the right person for it.

When we ask can locum tenens work enhance a physician’s career? The answer is YES!

Convinced being a locum is for you? Check out our open positions.

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