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Whether you’re finishing up with residency or have practiced medicine for years, locum tenens can be a flexible, rewarding way to shape your career. In a recent webinar for residents and fellows—hosted by senior marketing specialist Rachel Gendi from CareerMD—Global Medical Staffing (GMS) sales managers Lindsey Schoenberg and Emily McLaughlin talk with family medicine physician Dr. Michael Jones about how locums works, why it appeals to early-career physicians, and what to know before getting started. Here’s a summary of the topics they discussed or you can watch the webinar below.
View webinar:
Why physicians choose locum tenens
Locum tenens physicians work temporary assignments across the United States and internationally. Assignments range from a few days to over a year, depending on your goals and the facility’s needs.
There are a variety of reasons physicians choose to work locum tenens, including:
- Increasing your income: Earn competitive compensation to pay down loans faster, save for a home, or supplement your earnings
- Spending more time with patients: Step away from excess administrative work and focus on patient care
- Controlling your schedule: Choose part-time, full-time, or seasonal work that fits your lifestyle
- Gaining variety: Work in different settings, specialties, and patient populations
- Test-driving opportunities: Try a facility before committing to a permanent role
- Traveling: Experience new communities or take assignments abroad
Benefits and considerations
Understanding its advantages and potential challenges can help you decide if locum tenens is right for you.
Benefits:
- Create a schedule that fits your life
- Treat diverse patient populations
- Build a strong professional network
- Avoid long-term contracts until you’re ready
Considerations:
- Adapt quickly to new workplaces and workflows
- Manage your own taxes, insurance, and retirement as a 1099 contractor
- Remember that assignments don’t count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
- Allow time for licensing and credentialing (though a skilled recruiter can handle most of it for you)
Understanding the financial side of locum tenens work
Locum physicians typically receive pay by the hour, day, or shift—sometimes with sign-on or completion bonuses. In the U.S., rates vary based on:
- Specialty and specific skills
- Location and demand
- Patient volume and complexity
- Shift type (nights, weekends, holidays often pay more)
International pay usually stays fixed but remains competitive for the host country. While you may earn less than in the U.S., the value often comes from the experience itself.
No matter where you decide to work, it’s important to be ready for the financial and administrative responsibilities that come with being a 1099 contractor.
- Set aside funds for quarterly estimated taxes
- Arrange your own health, disability, and life insurance
- Contribute to a retirement plan
- Track eligible deductions such as travel, CME, and supplies
Why work with an agency
While you can find assignments on your own, most physicians partner with a reputable agency like Global Medical Staffing that can:
- Give you access to a wide network of assignments
- Negotiate pay and terms on your behalf
- Manage licensing, credentialing, travel, and housing
- Provide malpractice coverage, including tail coverage
- Offer ongoing support before, during, and after assignments
Look for agencies with a proven reputation, specialty expertise, and clear communication. And remember—never pay an agency to represent you.
Locum tenens abroad: Dr. Jones in New Zealand
After finishing his family medicine residency in 2023, Dr. Michael Jones was ready for something different—an adventure that combined practicing medicine with seeing more of the world. Working with Global Medical Staffing, he found an international locum tenens role in a clinic on New Zealand’s North Island.
From day one, GMS took care of the details, including flights, housing, a car, internet, and other essentials, so Dr. Jones could focus on his patients and travel. The credentialing process took about six months and required meeting New Zealand’s registration requirements. But with his recruiter guiding him through every step, Dr. Jones navigated the process smoothly.
In the end, the assignment gave him everything he was looking for—meaningful work, a new cultural perspective, and an unforgettable adventure.
Steps to get started as a locum tenens
If locums sounds like it could be a fit for you, here’s how to get started:
- Clarify your goals: income, flexibility, travel, skill-building, or a mix
- Talk to other physicians who work locums to understand their experience
- Connect with a recruiter early: 90 days ahead for U.S. assignments, six months for international
- Organize your documents: icenses, certifications, board credentials, references, and ID
- Prepare for interviews: research the facility and location, and come prepared with a few questions to ask
Locum tenens offers physicians at every career stage the chance to shape their work and lifestyle on their terms. With the right preparation and support, it’s a practical, rewarding option.
Want to learn if locum tenens would work for you? Give us a call at 1.800.760.3174 or view today’s locum tenens job opportunities
Read full transcript here:
Rachel Gendi:
Five on the dot. So, I want to get started. I think we have around 40 people here right now. So, thank you guys all for joining today. We’re so excited to talk to you about locum tenens, international and stateside. So we’re just really excited to jump into it.
Before we get into it. I wanted to introduce ourselves. So I’m Rachel Gendhi. I’m the GME outreach manager at CareerMD, and my main focus and mission really is to educate residents and fellows on the non-clinical parts of their career, so that you all feel ready and prepared once you transition into practice and joining me today we have Lindsey Schoenberg and Emily McLaughlin. They’re both recruiters at GMS. Lindsey specializes in international locum tenens and Emily specializes in stateside. And then we’re going to have Dr. Jones joining us. He is a family medicine physician. He actually worked locums right out of training and worked in New Zealand, which was pretty cool. But I’ll let him tell his whole story and everything later on in the presentation.
And just a little bit more about who we are. So Global Medical staffing is a locum tenens agency that pioneered international locums. And they’ve been helping physicians find opportunities worldwide. And across the US for over 25 years. GMS also specializes really in connecting doctors with unique positions that offer that sense of flexibility and adventure. So that’s kind of like what they’re known for. And then CareerMD is a platform that provides free career resources to residents and fellows really helping them build successful careers in medicine. So everything from in person to virtual career fairs to lunch and learn didactic sessions. CareerMd. Really just tries to help you every step of the way.
So that’s about us, and now we can jump into the content. So today we’re going to cover everything from the very basics of locum tenens to the financial considerations, and then, finally, how to secure your first locums position, if that’s something you’re interested in doing. Plus, you’re going to have the opportunity to hear from a real locums physician, Dr. Jones, hear his story, how he got into it, what he liked, what he didn’t like, and then we will have a Q&A session at the very end, where we’ll be able to answer any questions that you guys have.
So before we dive into everything I’d love if you all could join the Slido that we have here. Essentially, you just scan the QR code with your phone. You could also go on the Slido website and type in that code locums 101. It is easier if you just scan the code, transparently. But once you scan it on your phone, you’ll see two different tabs.
So the tab on the left that is going to be the Q&A tab. So as we go through the presentation, if different questions pop up in your head. And you’re like, “Oh, I really want to know the answer to that,” just submit your question into the Q&A, and then at the very end, we’ll go through all the questions. It’ll populate on a slide, and everything will be anonymous. So if you feel silly asking a question. Don’t feel silly because we won’t know that it’s you. And then also the tab on the right, we put polls throughout the presentation just to kind of break things up. And so, we’re not just talking at you the entire time. So look out for those, and the QR code will be on multiple slides, so you’ll be able to, if you lose the page. For some reason you could always scan back in so you guys have probably already scanned it by now.
So let’s get into the 1st one. So first, I’d like to get to know you all a little bit more. Where are you in your medical education journey? And I’ll give you guys a few seconds to answer.
It’s so cool how it live populates. So we have some fellows here, PGY 3 PGY 4, some attendings, like a majority fellows. That’s awesome, guys. I’m so excited to kind of see a mix here of different people from different stages. Awesome.
Alright. And then the next question here is, how familiar are you with locum tenens? I know that— I’ve talked to a lot of residents and fellows, and I know some know a lot, some don’t, so I just want to kind of gauge your familiarity.
That’s a moderately, slightly, not at all.
Yeah. Very rarely do I see the very familiar or extremely familiar. Otherwise, why would you guys, like you wouldn’t be here if you knew about it? But okay, so it looks like the majority, at least half of you, are moderately and then some are slightly, and then we have a few that are not at all, and very so good. Mix and hopefully. By the end of this you find yourself more in that moderately familiar, or even very familiar bucket. And yeah, you find that you know a little bit more.
Okay, this is the last of this poll series. So, what do you think about when you think locum tenens? This could be the first word that comes to mind, the first couple of words, what do you think of when you hear locums?
Travel, money, short-term contracts, travel—a lot of you are agreeing—travel, 1099 international, money, short-term contracts, backup. These are good guys.
Okay, so as we kind of go through this, you’ll come to learn, like, are these things that you believe about locums true? Or maybe they’re myths, or misconceptions. But I love seeing all of this and the participation.
Okay, so let’s begin by giving you just a quick intro into locum tenens. So in case you don’t speak Latin, which I don’t, but locum tenens means to hold. The place of locum tenens originally began in 1979 as a way to provide physician coverage to facilities that really needed the help to those underserved populations in modern healthcare. Today these are just simply physicians that work temporary assignments across the country and across the world.
So, for example, if a physician goes out on leave, such as maternity leave, or maybe they’re going on an extended vacation, or maybe a facility is just short, and they could use the extra help. This is where a locums physician would be able to step in. They are considered to be 1099 independent contractors. And we’ll get into what that really means. A little bit later. And around 7% of us physicians, which is around 52,000 work locums every single year.
Locums has become more popular over the past few decades, just for a few reasons, one being the increase in physician burnout rates, which I’m sure none of you are… That’s not a surprise to any of you on the call. Locums gives physicians the opportunity to, sort of, work more flexibly, have more of that work-life balance, which really makes it appealing.
Struggling rural communities continue to be in need, and locums really gives you the opportunity to flex in and help those areas that really need it the most. And then there are a lot of benefits to working locums, and I will get into those in the next few slides.
And Lindsey or Emily, if you have anything when I am talking, feel free to jump in, because I know I’m talking fast. So okay, so you might be wondering who can practice locums and physicians can really make locums work in any stage of their career. So there’s a lot of reasons why you can work locums. So for new physicians, it’s appealing to sort of work it as a new grad, because you can pay off your student loans pretty quick, or if you’re saving and you’re trying to, maybe you’re trying to buy your first house, or you’re having your first baby. It’s a way to kind of make money pretty quick.
It’s also a way to—we call it, like, “try before you buy.” So it allows you to sort of try practice settings out and see what you like. See what you don’t like, and then you can make that commitment later, versus committing two to three years to somewhere and having no idea if you’re gonna like it. And then it also allows you to travel and really build your network, build those connections early on for mid career physicians. It allows you to increase your income or supplement your current salary, and then it also is a great way to help reduce that burnout kind of like what I mentioned before with the work life balance.
And then for those later career physicians. It’s a great way to sort of transition into retirement. I know that, it might be—I’ve heard that I’m not a retired physician—but I’ve heard that it’s hard to kind of just like quit, cold turkey after you get sort of older. But it allows you to sort of, wean off and work at your own pace work. How you want versus just one day quitting and yeah, so that’s pretty much why, you would work locums at every stage of your career. And then, if you look to the right in that chart, you’ll see that we see most physicians around 56% work locum tenens early in their career with around 13% working locums directly out of training.
And when it comes to how physicians incorporate locums into their life, we see that more physicians work locums full time versus part time, but the difference there is pretty slight, and about a quarter of physicians have worked both full- and part-time gigs.
And then, while 39% only work locums exclusively, we actually see that most physicians, like 61%, work locum tenens assignments in addition to an employed position or private practice. So it’s kind of like that dual—they have that employed job, and they fit locums in where it makes sense and how it fits into their life.
And here is just a quick comparison of stateside versus international locums. So Global Medical Staffing or GMS, for short, specializes in both of these. So for stateside locums, the assignment length can vary, so assignments can range from a weekend to several months. It really depends on what you want and what the facility needs, but it’s pretty flexible in that you can do part time or full time. So yeah, it has that flexibility factor. And then, for when it comes to pay, you have that potential for higher pay. So, depending on the demand of your specialty and the region that you’re in, you could actually make a great amount of money working locums. And this tends to pay higher than those international roles. And then obviously stateside locums. These are assignments in the US.
And for international, these tend to be more longer term assignments, so they usually require a longer commitment, and on the next slide we’ll go through the different locations with the time commitment. But they’re usually a few months to a year. But that said, there are shorter assignments, like in places in the Caribbean. The assignments are much shorter, so we’ll go through that. But these roles are typically full time. And they they could involve, like regular clinic work or hospital based care just depending on the destination that you’re in. So just keep that in mind. The part-time stuff isn’t as common in international, and for international work it’s more about the experience. So if you’re in it for the money, maybe international might not be for you. The rates in international locations are competitive for where they are. But people go international for the whole experience of it for giving back, for being in a new country and a new environment. And the whole experience of it all. So that’s a big draw to why, you would want to go international. And of course these assignments are across the world. So we will. And Lindsey, do you have anything to touch, or did I kind of? I covered the big stuff right.
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yes, you did, absolutely.
Rachel Gendi
And here are just some of the international assignment locations. So, there is the Caribbean. That’s the US. Virgin Islands and Bermuda. These assignments typically are one week to six months long. We have New Zealand. That’s usually a 6-month to a year assignment length. Then you have the Pacific islands that includes Guam and Saipan. That’s around three to six months. And then you have Canada and Australia, and that’s more of a longer term assignment, like a one to two year assignment length commitment.
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yeah, I would say internationally, it’s really more of a long term locum. You know, the exception is really just the USBI. Those assignments can be a week or two. But when it comes to international, a 3 month minimum is probably best to plan on for those assignments.
Rachel Gendi
All right. So now let’s dive into. Why do physicians even want to work locums; what makes it so appealing? So one of the big ones, and I think I kind of touched on it before. But one of the big ones is that it gives you the opportunity to make a lot of money, and very quickly, so definitely, the increased income is very attractive. It gives you more time with your patients. So you kind of skip over, I know that a lot of physicians complain about the paperwork and the admin, and all the extra little things that go into your day to day. But when you work, locums really don’t have to deal with any of that, you just get to kind of spend time with your patients.
Another benefit is the flexibility which I also touched on. You can work part time, you can work full time, you can work where. When, however, you want to work, you kind of fit it into your life rather than doing vice versa. So that’s why a lot of physicians do like this way of working, because you can kind of just create your own schedule, and it also gives you the opportunity to travel and experience new practice settings, different patient populations, really get to enjoy a change of pace and try new things.
And then because you are experiencing different settings and different places, you’re going to interact with new people. So you’re going to get to grow your network, build those connections and take that into your next stage. And then finally, locums does offer that. I mentioned this the “try before you buy.” So getting to try new places and new settings before you’re committing. I know a lot of physicians are like, “I don’t know, so I don’t know what I want to do. I don’t know if I want to stay here two to three years,” so it allows you to kind of take maybe a shorter term assignment. See if you like it, and if you don’t, you’re not committed to it. You can try something else. So that’s that other positive about it.
So now, on thinking about locums as a career option, there are also there’s always cons with the pros. So these are some considerations just to keep in mind. This is a practice type where you’re going to see change working locums requires you to be adaptable, since you’re going to be working in different settings in different locations, and while a lot of people might enjoy the flexibility and variety that it brings into their career, those that don’t like constant change are not going to like it. So you just have to be someone that is flexible, nimble, and prepared for change.
Also, there are no standard benefits packages when it comes to locum tenens. So as a locum, you are a 1099 independent contractor. You don’t get the standard benefits package that you would get as an employed physician from your employer. So you don’t get the health care, the retirement benefits any of that, so you will be responsible for securing these on your own.
And the tax responsibilities are different as well. So because you’d be a 1099, independent contractor, you have different, and I’ll go into this in another slide, but the tax responsibilities are just slightly different, and many locums. Doctors will actually seek counsel from tax professionals, so they don’t have to handle any of it or deal with it. And they could just focus on practicing medicine. And then locums does not count towards public student loan forgiveness. So you’ll want to consider all your loan repayment options before deciding to work locums. If you were really banking on doing PSLF, locums might not be the move that you want to make right out of training, but doesn’t mean it’s not a move you can make later.
And then as a locum, the paperwork can be a little bit time consuming. The application and credentialing process in specific. But the caveat to that is when you work with an agency. And, more importantly, you work with a good recruiter. They really make this process seamless for you, and almost painless. So that’s kind of the key to sort of avoiding all the legwork is to work with a really good partner.
All right. So now, everyone, please get your phones out again, because it’s time for a quick game of trivia to debunk 5 of the most common misconceptions about, or not 5; there’s a few, I don’t even know. I think there are 4 misconceptions about locums. So these are going to be true or false questions. And just a reminder. This is all anonymous, so don’t be afraid to answer. And I think the QR code is on all of the slides. Yeah. So if you Xed out, you can scan back in. But the first one is true or false. It’s hard to find consistent work as a locums physician.
I’ll give you guys a few more seconds. It looks like you’re still voting.
Okay? So it’s a little mixed. But the majority of you did get it right, it is false. So while locum tenens assignments may involve more frequent changes in location and schedule than a more permanent employed position, you can still create a predictable schedule, and the key to all of this is kind of, like I alluded to before, partnering with a good agency a good recruiter. They’ll be able to kind of schedule, your assignments out in advance. So you don’t run into those weird gaps and you can kind of keep on working consistently
Alright. Next one, true or false, you can only work short-term assignments as a locums physician.
Good job, guys; it is false. So locums offers physicians a variety of assignment types to fit pretty much any lifestyle, and although there are a lot of short-term assignments to choose from that last from a few days to a few weeks, there are also those longer-term assignments that last from weeks to a few months. And you saw for the international assignments. They’re typically those longer ones, and in addition to flexible options and length of the contracts that you’d be in, there’s also sometimes opportunities for recurring assignments as well.
Okay, true or false: You can’t work locums full time.
Good job, guys; it’s false. So although locums assignments aren’t permanent. A lot of physicians embrace the local—they call it the locums life or the locums lifestyle—and it’s because they really have the flexibility of it and the work life balance. I know. I keep saying that. But that’s,one of the biggest draws to working locums. So people kind of make it, they make it work for their life, and they make it so that they’ll stack assignments. Maybe they’ll work multiple assignments at the same time.
So they make it work for what they want to do rather than working an employed traditional job.
Emily McLaughlin
And Rachel something to add to that, too, is just, really the flexibility piece. The more flexibility you have, and you know, the more open you are to different adventures, different types of locations, different types of settings. The more options there will be available.
Rachel Gendi
Yeah. All right. And I think this is, I think there’s a couple more so, true or false, you might need more work experience, or you need more work experience to work international locum tenens.
Okay, so it is false, but it it kind of depends. So I know, for the Pacific Islands in the Caribbean you can work pretty much right out of residency. But then there’s some assignments that require more work, experience depending on the specialty, and where it is. So I know that for New Zealand and, Lindsey, you can correct me if I’m wrong, but for New Zealand they tend to want more experience versus less experienced physicians. But you can speak more to that.
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yeah, that’s with New Zealand. It really depends on the specialty. So we find there are some specialties we can place right out of training, and then others. More experience is required. It’s less so dictated by the facility and more so a registration requirement.
Rachel Gendi
Okay, makes sense. Thank you. All right. So now we can talk more a little, a little bit more about the financial considerations about locums. I know this is probably not the most fun part of the presentation, but it’s it’s still necessary to know. So locums physicians are independent contractors. They’re considered to be 1099 employees, and they’re paid per hour, day, or shift. And some locums contracts also include sign on or completion bonuses, and similar to permanent positions or employed positions, several key factors influence how much money you will get paid as a locum. And these factors are more relevant, I would say to stateside locums. It’s so hard to say fast. Stateside locums where international, the rates tend to kind of be more fixed ,like in New Zealand—is that right, Lindsey? The rates kind of tend to be less dependent on these different factors?
Lindsey Schoenberg
Exactly. Yeah. In New Zealand. The rates are more fixed across the board. Not too many variations.
Rachel Gendi
Okay. But when it comes to, I guess more applicable to the stateside, locums, things that kind of determine your pay are your relevant skills. So having expertise with certain procedures or patient populations can often lead to higher pay, especially if there’s a high demand for your skill set when it comes to location areas experiencing severe shortages of healthcare professionals, or those areas that have a higher cost of living also tend to pay more to attract those skilled physicians.
Another important factor is your specialty. So physicians working in those harder-to-fill specialties can often command higher rates and then high workload assignments. So where you’re seeing more patients, or you’re dealing with more complex cases, you tend to make more there as well. And then, finally, the type of shift that you’re working can impact your pay. So if you’re working those weekends, holidays, you’re working overnight on call; these shifts are not desirable so they’re going to pay you more typically for these kinds of shifts.
And now let’s talk a little bit about taxes and benefits. So as a locums physician, you’re responsible for paying your own taxes and coordinating your own benefits, such as health care and retirement, coverage or retirement planning. So when it comes to taxes, it’s essential to set aside a portion of your income, since income tax isn’t withheld from your paychecks, you’re going to have to make estimated estimated payments throughout the year, and you’ll also need to pay taxes in each state for stateside locums, each state that you’re working. And this includes both self-employment and the state taxes. Sorry, I think I just repeated myself. And for health insurance as a locums physician you need to enroll yourself in your own health insurance plan. So it’s a good idea to kind of secure also supplemental life and disability insurance to ensure you and your family are protected there.
And then there’s also retirement. So since you’re not going to have employer-sponsored retirement, you will have to kind of set this up on your own, like the IRA plans the SEP plans, and just make sure you’re making regular contributions to these accounts. And although managing taxes and benefits—it sounds daunting, it sounds probably annoying—it does open the door to a lot of different opportunities for you. So for taxes as an independent contractor, you have the ability to claim various different expenses, such as travel, your meals, your work supplies, CME, all these different things, and this can significantly reduce your taxable income.
Also for health insurance, when it comes to your health insurance coverage, you have the flexibility to choose the coverage that’s ideal for you and your family, and you can also maximize on tax advantages by enrolling in an HSA plan.
And then for retirement, By taking control of your retirement planning, you can maximize on tax advantages as well. You have the freedom to kind of choose which investment strategies kind of fit into your financial goals, fit into your life. And you could even set up a business entity. A lot of physicians will do this that are in locums. They’ll set up a business entity to further maximize on those benefits, like through an LLC.
Alright. So now let’s dive into the essential steps that you need to take in order to get started with locum tenens.
So, first, just click that. It’s important to first do your own research, and ask yourself a few questions, to see if locums even make sense for you. So do you want more flexibility and control over your workload? Do you enjoy travel? Does your situation even allow for travel? Do you want to expand your skill set, your professional experience, and do you thrive in changing environments? Or are you someone that likes the sense routine? This is also a time to talk to other physicians that have gone the locums route, pick their brains, see what they like, see what they don’t like. See why they’re in it and what drove them to do locums. You really want to make sure you ask a lot of questions to kind of, to make sure this is something that you actually want to do versus kind of going in blind. But I feel like you being in this presentation is a good first step. Okay?
And then, once you’ve decided that locums is the path for you. You’re going to just need to decide how you want to go about seeking out opportunities. So while it is possible to work locums on your own. It can get complicated really quickly. You’ll be responsible for making business connections, negotiating contracts, and coordinating all of the logistics, which can get overwhelming pretty quickly. But the other route is partnering with an agency which can offer a lot of different benefits to you and streamline a lot of the things that I just mentioned, making the process a little bit easier on you.
And there are several benefits that come with working with an agency. So first off, agencies do provide you a lot of access to a large network. It allows you to kind of have multiple job opportunities at your fingertips, and easily apply to whatever you want. They also hold negotiating power, and will help negotiate on your behalf, ensuring that you receive contract terms and competitive compensation. That’s fair to you and what you’re looking for.
Agencies also offer legal protections. They ensure that contracts are legally sound. Your interests are getting protected, and you’re not getting screwed over. They they are looking out for you. They have your best interests in mind. They also manage licensing and credentialing requirements. So this helps you to save time, really, and ensure that you’re compliant with the different states that you’re working in.
They also there’s lots of benefits. They also handle and cover all of your travel and all the logistics, so that you don’t kind of have to worry about that part of it. They set everything up for you. Cover all of that, so you just show up and do your thing, and then, when it comes to malpractice, agencies will typically cover physicians while they’re on assignment and most reputable agencies will even cover you in perpetuity and provide that tail coverage.
And then, lastly, agencies offer ongoing support throughout the locum tenens journey. They’re there with you from when you get placed up until your next assignment. They’re not just gonna place you on an assignment and leave you. They’re your support, and they’re there for you throughout the entire journey. Did I miss anything Lindsey or Emily?
Lindsey Schoenberg
No, I think that you really have covered the benefits. I don’t think you’ve missed any.
Rachel Gendi
Awesome. Awesome. Okay. I think this is our last round of trivia. But this is debunking a few of the most common myths about locums agencies. Okay, so true or false. Locums. Agencies make you sign binding contracts with them.
Okay, a little mixed. It is false. So you don’t have to sign an exclusivity contract. If an agency ever makes you sign an exclusivity contract, run away; that’s a red flag. They should not be doing that you do sign an agreement that defines how you’re going to work together, but it’s not binding, and you can—there’s ways to get out of it if the situation is unsafe or different. I don’t know all the different scenarios. Lindsey and Emily probably could speak to that more. But there are ways to get out of it, and you’re never bound to an agency. So that is something to know.
And then the next one is true or false. There’s no cost to doctors to work with an agency.
Okay, so this is actually true. A lot of you said false. So the reality is that locum tenens agencies only get paid when you show up to work for an assignment, and these are transparent fees that are paid by the employers to the locums agency. You never have to pay an agency to work with them. Again, Red Flag; if someone’s trying to charge you leave. That’s not what it’s supposed to be.
Okay. True or false. Doctors earn industry, standard rates, if not more.
Alright, so this is true. The majority of you got it right. While rights tend to vary by region or by specialty, many locums actually report earning more than their peers, who work in similar permanent placements. But, and for international, I know I said they do make less than stateside, but, as I mentioned before, it is competitive. So it’s competitive against other doctors working in that country. So it’s not like they’re making way below what an employed physician in New Zealand would make, or something like that.
Okay, true or false locums. Agencies don’t cover any of your out of pocket costs.
The answer is false. Locums. Agencies will pay for your travel. They’ll pay for your housing, they pay for malpractice. So there’s a handful of things that they cover. Ultimately, a good agency wants to make this as easy and seamless for you as possible, so they do these things to help make it make it that way for you.
Okay, so when it comes to picking your agency, it’s important to realize that not all agencies are equal. Some excel with specific specific specialties, or they excel in specific regions, while others have more of a broader industry reach. So, listed below there are a few considerations to keep in mind. As you kind of look for your agency you’re going to work with, first off, reputation is important. Check out an agency’s reviews. I’m sure all of you probably already do this with everything else—I know I’m an average review checker—but check the reviews, and also talk to colleagues that maybe have worked for some of these places, or a friend of a friend. Just try to get more insight into how the agency operates if people like working with them, all of that.
You also want to consider the agency’s specializations, and that they understand what you do. You don’t necessarily need to work with an agency that specializes in your specific specialty to get that support that you want. But, for instance, some of the larger agencies, will have different departments that have, an anesthesiology department, and a family medicine, and that department or that team will really know your specialty, inside and out: what opportunities there are, what opportunities make sense for you, all of that.
Size and reach also matter. So larger agencies typically have more of that bigger network, more connections, and more job opportunities that you would be able to kind of apply to and seek out. And then, also make sure that you’re joining an agency that has a good system to support you throughout the process.
So a reputable agency should handle everything from your travel arrangements to your credentialing, and they should provide support from the very beginning of your assignment to the next one. This really helps alleviate stress for you and helps make the process just very easy. You also want to make sure that the agencies are fair and transparent when it comes to compensation you want to be aware of those bait-and-switch offers or things that sound too good to be true. A good trustworthy agency will provide competitive compensation packages, and they will be transparent from the very beginning, and then flexibility and communication are also very important for a positive experience. Choose an agency and choose a recruiter that respects how you want to communicate, respects your preferences, and maintains that regular communication with you.
And then, just double-check the agency’s malpractice insurance coverage to ensure that they protect you even after you leave. And they really provide that tail coverage.
Emily McLaughlin
And I wanted to add to this, too. You want to go back to that last slide, Rachel. It’s very, very common for physicians who are working locums or or looking into positions to be working with a few agencies, and that’s expected and and probably beneficial to you, because every agency has different opportunities at different times. Sometimes you’ll see crossover. They’ll have the same position. But the best thing you can do if you go that route is to just make sure you are keeping track of the positions that you are speaking with, with which agency and staying organized, and, you know, being open and transparent in your communication. But yeah, absolutely. It is very normal to work with multiple agencies.
Rachel Gendi
The good note. Thanks, Emily.
Alright, so this is just kind of like how the typical agency process works. So first, you’re matched with a specialty trained recruiter who gets to know you and what you’re looking for. Then, once you kind of get matched up with your recruiter, your recruiter will search for assignments for you based on what you want and what you need. And once they find those opportunities, they’ll present them to you for you to kind of go through and decide, “Oh, yeah, I want to be submitted to this. I don’t want to be submitted to that.”
And then, after you choose an assignment or multiple assignments that you want to be submitted to, your recruiter will walk you through the online application process for that role, and then gather the required documents that are needed for that. And then, if the facility sees that you are a strong candidate, they will typically set up an interview with you, and see if you are a good fit for their role.
If everything goes as planned and you have a good interview, they like you, and you’re selected, the facility will extend the offer to you through the agency, and the recruiter will let you know. And then, after you accept the offer, the agency’s credentialing team will get to work compiling all of the necessary credentials that you’ll need, and also helping you get that state license. If you don’t already have it, the agency will also take care of all of the logistical details. So, arranging transportation, making sure you have a place to stay all of those details, so that you don’t have to worry about a thing.
And then that’s pretty much the gist of it, and something that I also always like to throw in there is just to remember your recruiter provides ongoing support throughout the entire time. So if you are having issues with, If you can’t get or if there’s an issue with your accommodations, or you’re having issues at your assignment and something personal that’s happening, or whatever, your recruiter is essentially your best friend. They’re there for you. They have your back, especially a good recruiter. So just always remember that.
Oh, and then also sorry. One more note that I I meant to say for international the process, I think, Lindsey, you and I talked about the process tends to be a little bit longer at times, like some of this stuff isn’t as immediate but it just depends.
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yep, yep, it. It does depend on the area but New Zealand, generally speaking, that entire process is going to take, you know, anywhere from four to six months.
Rachel Gendi
Okay, so once you’re matched up with a recruiter, you’re gonna begin sending over, or they’ll be sending over assignments that they think you would like when you review assignments. There are a few things that you want to keep in mind. So the location and accessibility is very important. You might be presented with a job in a really attractive location. But maybe it’s really hard to access, like, maybe it’s far away from the airport. So make sure you just do your research on accessibility kind of when you’re reviewing different assignments.
Also case mix and patient population or patient volume actually are duly important considerations. Sometimes they’re overlooked when you’re considering assignments. So you just want to make sure you keep those top of mind, and then also the time commitment. The requested time commitment might range from a single block of time. For example, when a physician is planning on going on vacation or maternity leave, and you have to just fill in for maybe a few months.
To ongoing, or nearly full time coverage. So, just make sure you kind of understand that as well. And then, after you sort of weigh all those variables, you can kind of decide what you think your desired compensation should be. What’s fair for that assignment after evaluating your assignment options, it’s time to get all your paperwork in order. So first, you want to gather all of your education documents. This includes any information related to your undergraduate, your medical school, your residency, your fellowship. You want to compile all of the licenses that you have. So this includes all states, CSPs, DEA, life support cards. All of that certifications are also important. So gather all of your board certifications, your past and present credentials, references, any specialty, specific certifications. Get that all together. That’ll make the process a lot easier if you have that already gathered.
And then identification is another key requirement. So agencies will verify your identity to ensure that you’re compliant, and if you are on an H1B visa or a J1 visa you could potentially work locums in other countries, but you wouldn’t be able to practice locums in the U.S. To practice in the U.S., you would need to be a citizen or have a green card.
And then one other thing that is key, especially internationally. Practicing locums, is references. You want to have at least, like, three good references, preferably in your specialty, and have those on hand, for when you need them, because they are quite, they are quite requested. Right, Lindsey?
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yep, they are a regular part of the international requirements. Even by the medical boards there.
Emily McLaughlin
Yeah, and that’s something that we would require for all of our assignments in order to get you credentialed for our malpractice insurance, as we check all of these things, and references are part of that process. So.
Rachel Gendi
All right. So this is really about interviewing. So once you kind of get through that stage, it’s time to interview, and I know that interviewing can sometimes be scary. You don’t, especially if you’re coming right out of residency or right at a fellowship. Maybe you haven’t done a ton of interviews. Aside from the medical school and the residency interviews. So to prepare for your interview, just make sure you research the organization.
Really understand their leadership, their mission, their values. If you can talk to people that have worked there, that’s great. Just look at their overall reputation and make sure you research the location as well, especially if it’s a longer term assignment. You want to make sure you’re going to be happy living there and then you also want to practice answering commonly asked questions. Make sure you just feel well versed and prepared for that.
And then also come with your own questions. You’re interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing you. So make sure you bring along some questions that you can ask them to make sure you really understand the role and what you’re getting into when it comes to receiving the job offer, you should expect a call or an email from your recruiter with the good news. Be sure to read the offer thoroughly. Make sure you understand all of the details. If you have any sort of changes or something that doesn’t sit well with you. Make sure you get all changes in writing. I always say that. And if you have any questions with legal language or anything legality related, typically your recruiter can guide you through it. But if it’s very legal specific, you can always get a contract lawyer involved, or someone involved to sort of look at it for you even just get another set of eyes. Maybe someone in your family or another friend that’s a physician to look at it for you.
And then, once you get that final agreement drawn up for the assignment, you’ll just want to communicate your timeline to the recruiter on when you want to proceed with that.
And then let’s take a closer look at contracts. So, when you’re working in the locum tenens world. These are not really contracts. They’re more like agreements between physicians and staffing agencies who have their own contracts with healthcare facilities. And when negotiating these contracts, there are certain terms that your recruiter can negotiate on your behalf, and then there’s certain terms that they can’t really affect so compensation rate is the most frequently a negotiated term. When looking at compensation, you want to ensure that your rate is in line with the demand for your specialty, and just a note that international pay tends to not be as negotiable as the stateside pay.
And then contract buyouts are another one. So if you accept a permanent position, your locums contract might mandate a buyout. But hiring organizations typically will cover these costs. So you don’t really need to worry about it.
Then expense limits can also be negotiated, especially concerning reimbursements for housing, transportation and those other costs, and then a few of the non-negotiable terms include cancellation terms. This really outlines the conditions under which either party can terminate the agreement for malpractice amounts. Agencies usually have a policy already in place. So this isn’t really a negotiable term.
You do want to make sure they cover tail coverage, though, so just make sure that is covered. And then indemnification policies, and your independent contractor status is another one. These provide legal protections for all the parties involved, and are generally standard from agreement to agreement.
So, for—this is about compiling credentials and obtaining your state licenses. So for physicians wanting to work locum tenens, the idea of getting your medical licenses and getting all your credentialing. It can kind of seem daunting. However, like I said, when you partner with an agency, they can really help you through the process and make it just easier on you. So first, you want to make sure you understand your state requirements.
Every state has their own licensing requirements and processes. So you want to just make sure you’re familiar with those, and you know what to expect. For documentation, boards require copies of certificates, university transcripts, and all other records. It’s helpful to have these on hand already, or copied or scanned, so they’re easily accessible.
And then, if you’re eligible, you’ll want to apply for expedited licensure through IMLC or the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. It’s a mouthful. There are 40 States and one U.S. territory that accept applications for expedited licensure through IMLC. And this basically just simplifies the process, the licensing process for you. It just makes things easier.
You can also apply for the it’s called the FCVS or the Federation Credentials Verification Service. This is a fast and convenient service that is offered by the Federation of State Medical Boards. It essentially stores your education information that you can send to multiple medical boards, which again makes life easier. And then most locum tenens providers can expect to need a new DEA license to go with their new state license. And once you get that, it’s typically easy to transfer that for future assignments.
Also, start early and be patient. This process can sometimes take a while. I know, for stateside, they say, to start 90 days in advance of your assignment. I don’t know, Lindsey, you start even earlier for international right?
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yeah, I would say, probably six months prior to when you’re looking to start is a good time to connect with a recruiter and just make sure that you’re on track for the timeframe that you’re looking to start an assignment.
Rachel Gendi
Okay, awesome. And these are just some of the accommodations that you can expect that your agency will arrange and cover for you while on assignment. So airfare, rental, car, mileage, housing, all the good stuff.
Here are some additional tips. This is similar to what I’ve already covered before. So I’m not going to go through all of this because I want to make sure we have time for Dr. Jones to tell his story. So I’m just going to flip through these, and we’ll try to share this recording. But these are some resources from GMS. On locum tenens. And then here are some resources from CareerMD. On just career resources.
And then, now we’re at the part of the presentation that I’m so excited for. We’re moving into our talk with Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones is a family medicine physician. His focus is training in sports medicine. He completed residency in 2023, and he worked in New Zealand as his first assignment. So I’m not going to steal the thunder from you, Dr. Jones. I want you to be able to share your whole experience, so take it away.
Dr. Michael Jones
All right. Thank you. Can you hear me?
Rachel Gendi
Yes.
Dr. Michael Jones
All right. Hello, everybody. Yeah, like, she said, I’m Michael Jones. I finished residency a couple of years ago, and I guess I was one of those rare cases of being able to go over to New Zealand right out of residency. I had heard about the opportunity years prior. A buddy of mine had said, “Hey, have you ever been to New Zealand? Did you know you could do locum there?” And New Zealand was a place that I had wanted to go to. And my experience with locums, you know, Rachel talked about a couple of different reasons why you would. Mine was I wanted world travel and experience. So if you’re thinking about New Zealand, it’s not for the money. It does not pay what you would make here in the States by any means. It does pay more than you know the general population out there for sure, and more than enough to live on, but my experience was pretty smooth, I would say, I guess.
Starting from the beginning, I had applied for it, and then I had an interview with the clinic up in the far north of New Zealand, which is on the North Island, and interviewed with a couple of the doctors that were out in that region already working, and actually one of the things that drew me out there was that a couple of the doctors had been, I think through GMS, they had been locums, doctors who decided to stay there. There was at least two. One had stayed there for 17 years, and then the other one was there for about five years; he had met a New Zealander and got married and had kids. So then they stayed there.
So I interviewed with them, and they talked about the difference. You know, I was looking specifically for four days a week. I didn’t want to work more than that, because I also wanted to travel. And again experienced New Zealand, and then we went through about. It took about six months to get all the paperwork done, and it was a pretty smooth ride there, I would say the toughest part was filling out my credentials as far as my experiences.
And that may be where I don’t know what specialties we have here, but I’m family medicine, and with the sports medicine, like Rachel said. It was tough for me to make sure that I had all the right hours and months of experience, because New Zealand wanted some specific numbers as far as—I did moonlighting at a psych facility with overnight shifts for the last 2 years of residency as well as urgent care—for the last 2 years they did not count urgent care as family medicine, so it didn’t count as continuity for them in New Zealand. So that was something that I had to kind of work around. And then yeah, was was offered the position and went through that process, and then GMS covered all of my flights and my all the travel, and then the housing, when I was there covered. My car, covered the cell phone, covered the Internet. Every all of my daily expenses, aside from food and gas, was taken care of, which was awesome.
And you know the opportunity was right for me at the time. I was single at the time, and if I had been married, or had, you know somebody to come out with me they had offered that they would take. They would also pay for travel to and from for a significant other, which was awesome. And so I’ve told everybody about that. If you’re married you can still do it, and your spouse can go out there with you and or your girlfriend boyfriend, whatever.
I don’t know. It’s I had such a dreamy experience. Honestly, I was put in a house that was on the water at the back of the house faced the sunset every night, and it was just, you know, subtropical New Zealand, which I think is a pretty thought after position. You guys, Rachel, you’ve talked about it a handful of times already. I don’t know why it’s standing out, but when I got there like I said it was 4 days a week at this clinic.
The reason I chose the location that I did was because it was in the far North, where a higher percentage of Maori population was, which is their indigenous population there and I wanted to help with that. It was more rural. So I wanted to get more experience. The nearest hospital that had other subspecialties like ophthalmology, was three hour drive or an hour long life flight. So I was doing things like digging things out of people’s eyes with 18-gauge needles. Or, you know, I did a lot of skin cancer care out there. I was kind of the skin guy. I was also the sports guy, used a butterfly ultrasound. So it’s cool rural medicine experience for me, and I would absolutely do it again.
As far as the other aspects, I had days off, I think, in my contract it was something like 10 days off that I was allowed to have, 10 travel or 10 paid days off.
I was paid per day. It was neither a salary nor an hourly rate. It was a per day, and I always knew what I was going to make, and again I didn’t do it for the money. I didn’t. I came away with a little bit of extra, but I used a lot of it to travel and to have those experiences. The tax portion of it was important, because, as she said, 1099. So what I did is I put away with every paycheck I would put away about like 15 to 20% of my money, so that I had something, because when I came home, I think from that, specifically, I I owed, I think it was over $10,000 in taxes. It was like $11,000, which was a huge thing if you weren’t expecting it or ready for it.
And I guess a little bit of advice, as far as making things smoother would be. Make sure that you have your contract really finalized or your agreement finalized. One hiccup that I had was, you know, during my interview I had stated that I only wanted 4 days a week, and when I got out there they were saying, Oh, you can actually work 5 days a week. That was a huge surprise to me. And so I was in contact with my representative, and we were able to eventually work it out. But at first it was. It was kind of a shock, and they were able to hold to their word on how the schedule was presented and expected. So that was good in the end, and I would say.
I think New Zealand, specifically, the shortest you could do was six months. I was originally looking for three months because I just wanted something quick, and like I said, a travel experience. But having done it, I would not recommend anything less than six months for a place like New Zealand, and maybe other international places, because it took me probably two months, just to get used to it. I did go out there alone, so it was. It was quite lonely at first, and I had to make new friends, and I was very rural. So I found a community in a tennis club that I would go to three times a week.
I was kind of in a dark zone where my house was as far as communication. I didn’t have self service, and the Internet kept cutting out. So it’s hard to keep in touch with people back at home, plus the time difference. Then, by the end of six months I was I didn’t want to leave, and since I’ve been back, so I’ve been back for a year now, working in a private clinic here in Salt Lake City, I talk to people about it all the time. I put it on my profile online. And so patients come in and say, I chose you because, you know, you had this experience in New Zealand, and I thought that was cool, or you know, people ask me about it all the time, and it’s something that’s fun to be able to say for the rest of my life that I lived in New Zealand for a while, if you’re looking for international stuff.
Another piece of advice. We were talking about different agencies. You get out there, and I would talk to different locums, physicians, and they would go through different agencies. And you kind of find out, “Oh, you’re paid a little bit more. You have a little bit different,” and so it is good to compare, and maybe see if you can find some matching agreements, or see if you can, you know do some of that.
One of the docs out there that I worked with was a sports med doc like me, and she did six months in Hawaii and six months in New Zealand. So she spent the summer in each place, and she was doing that for a couple of years which was really cool. So she was full-time locums, like we talked about in this lecture that it doesn’t have to just be part time, and that would be a really awesome opportunity if you can do it.
Yeah, I think, is there anything that I missed as far as the subjects, Rachel, that you want me to touch on?
Rachel Gendi
I’ve had like a lot of these talks, and I feel like you gave a very good, comprehensive what you liked, what you didn’t like, what went well, I feel like you covered a lot of it. I wanna see if anyone has questions for you or for any of us before we run out of time. There’s a few questions. Oh, there’s actually a lot of questions. Maybe I’ll email out the answers because there’s a lot of questions here. Or you guys can stay on longer.
Okay, let’s see. So what is the housing typically like for locums, hotels, actual homes? And if so, how nice are they? Typically like square footage, updated dwellings, appliances? I don’t know. Lindsey, if you want to take that or…?
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yeah, I can jump in there. I would say that for the most part, it’s going to be all of the above. I think the length of assignment is going to dictate that a little bit, if it’s a short-term assignment that’s just a week or two that might be a hotel, whereas if it’s a six month assignment, like Dr. Jones, as he mentioned it, was a standalone home with the beautiful view, and would be fully furnished with all the basic utilities.
Michael Jones
Yeah. My house was—it had a it was like five bedrooms. I was the only person in it. I had a sauna in my garage, a hot tub in my backyard, an avocado tree, raspberries, lemon trees, and limes, and it was just awesome.
Lindsey Schoenberg
That sounds amazing.
Michael Jones
Yes. Honestly, yeah, they they do a good job out there because they know that they create a good experience. They want people. They need people, so.
Emily McLaughlin
For the United States locums. It’s the same. You know. We’re—what we call it is reasonable housing. And I like to tell people, “I’m not going to put you up in a place that I would not be willing to stay in myself.” So sometimes we’re limited with if we’re sending you to a really rural area. We might just be limited with options. We’ll always present these options to you, and you’ll be able to say, “Yes, that looks good.” The standard arrangement is to give you like enough space that would fit the person who’s working. But a lot of times the the units will end up putting you up in would have room for other people, too, but sometimes you might have to, if you want a bigger place, you might have to pay extra on your own if it’s something that’s outside of, like the allowable budget for housing. But reasonable housing will make sure you have a kitchen, Internet cable, everything furnished, and that it’s close and in a safe location, for sure.
Rachel Gendi
Awesome. Okay, the next one, when one goes for an international locums, is the pay based on U.S. rates or the local rates, which would be lower for most of the countries on that list? So I think it’s those. It’s the local rate to the the country you’re in, right, Lindsey? It’s not gonna be U.S.
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yep, exactly. You’re paid in the currency of the country that you’re working. So yes. With the international positions they are going to be less than what you can make here.
Rachel Gendi
Okay.
I see psychiatry positions, but I only ever see New Zealand advertised. What are the options for psychiatry with Global Medical Staffing? I don’t know, Lindsey, if you know that, or off the top of your head.
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yes, oh, yes, I can build that one. So New Zealand has a huge demand for psychiatry. It’s ongoing, never, never goes away. So that’s why we consistently have the jobs there, as well as you know, family medicine and a few other specialties in New Zealand are very consistent as far as other opportunities. We have seen psychiatry come up in the US. Virgin Islands. I think even in Saipan we’ve seen it come available, but those are more of a true locum where it’s a month here, or, you know, to cover their permanent doctor and less of an ongoing need. So that’s why you don’t see it as consistently on the website.
Emily McLaughlin
And if you’re looking for something specific or interested in options that you’re not seeing on the website definitely contact us because a lot of times. We can speak to opportunities that may not be open right now, but we know they will be opening soon, or we could work on identifying some opportunities on your behalf. So there’s tons of options. Definitely contact us, if it’s something you’re not seeing online. But you’re curious about.
Rachel Gendi
This might be for you, Emily, what are the benefits for working with your company versus others for local assignment?
Emily McLaughlin
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, there’s tons of locums agencies out there. And it can vary from, you know, somebody who’s basically one person running their company versus, you know, all the way to larger organizations. Global medical staffing is unique because we do have the domestic United States opportunities and the international opportunities. And we’re part of the larger organization of CHG, which that includes our sister brands, Weatherby and CompHealth locum tenens. And if you become credentialed with any of those agencies, it’s transferable. So if you get credentialed with Global Medical, you can go and work in assignment with CompHealth and vice versa. So it really opens up a lot more options for you. And like, I said before, really, it’s good idea to get in touch with a couple agencies and have that really strong relationship with your representative.
So, I love Global Medical. I’ve been with the company for almost 14 years. Lindsey has also almost, actually just had your 20-year anniversary, right? Or you’re almost going to be 20 years.
Lindsey Schoenberg
19.
Emily McLaughlin
So, yeah. I mean, this is an amazing company. We have just the best doctors, too. So we hope that you can explore some options with us.
Rachel Gendi
Okay. For New Zealand, what specialties require more time after residency, and how many or how much is generally expected, required?
Lindsey Schoenberg
So this is hard to answer without knowing, you know, all the specialties on this call. But Dr. Jones touched on it, of how, when he was going through the process, the Medical Council was very particular about what they would recognize as comparable. So that’s the biggest thing that we have to overcome is the Medical Council of New Zealand requirements. I’ll stick with family medicine, because that’s a specialty I know quite well. While you’re in residency for family medicine, you’re rotating through all the different specialties. Well, the Medical Council doesn’t view that as family medicine they’re looking for how many hours you work in an outpatient family medicine clinic.
So that’s why it can be hard, right out of residency. Because if they don’t consider the hours you did in residency as comparable, that’s why, maybe at times, you would have to work a little bit longer to meet that requirement. The only two specialties that by Medical Council standards require a certain timeframe, are internal medicine and pediatrics. Those two specialties they require two years post board certification before you’ll qualify. All other specialties, you’re just subject to: Do you meet their requirement?
Rachel Gendi
Good insight. Okay. When filing taxes. Is it for the state that you work at for the locum shift, or at the place of your original residence?
Emily McLaughlin
So for this one I would definitely recommend you consulting with a tax professional. You definitely have to pay taxes for the state in which you’re working. And I’m not a hundred percent sure, there might be places where you would have to pay in the state that you live to if anyone else knows.
Dr. Michael Jones
Can I speak on this one?
Emily McLaughlin
Yeah.
Dr. Michael Jones
For New Zealand. Specifically, I ran my taxes in Utah, because that’s where GMS was and where I was getting paid through them. In New Zealand, specifically, if you work less than 181 days in the country, you do not have to file taxes in New Zealand. And so that’s where, if you’re working more than that, you would want to talk to a tax professional. I did it all on my own because I got my 1099s. from GMS. And I just told taxes that I had an international bank account at one point, and then I had to do some transferring and whatnot. But I was not taxed on the New Zealand side because it was less than 181 days, and that’s that’s working days. I think you can stay in the country a little bit longer. There might be a little bit of nuance to that, but that’s what New Zealand was.
Rachel Gendi
That’s good insight. Okay. I attempted locums out of residency and was lowballed pretty consistently outside of very rural places. What is the best way to negotiate pay?
I don’t know Lindsey or Emily, if you’ve seen, if you’ve kind of dealt with, I’ve heard of like agencies that lowball, but GMS is not known to do that.
Emily McLaughlin
Yeah, we’re we’re competitive with pay, I mean, for the for the domestic assignments. If you’re curious what the going rates are, that’s something that your recruiter should be able to share with you. But the best way would just to be upfront with your recruiter on what your expectations are before you are presented for the opportunity, so that we can have a chance to negotiate that on your behalf with our clients. So the best way to negotiate would be to be upfront with your expectations in the beginning, and then, just, you know, be realistic about it, and just kind of compare what you’re hearing from from the different companies is what I would say.
Rachel Gendi
Yeah, yeah, you you had mentioned, like, you can work with a few different agencies and kind of see and compare kind of what one’s offering you versus another and sort of get an idea. And if you know anyone who’s practiced locums in your specialty in an area like the one you’re trying to go into, I would say that’s also a really good resource as well.
Okay, I think we’re almost through these, there’s a lot sorry. How common are sign on and completion bonuses are completion bonuses typically decided prior to starting or production based? Emily, do you see sign on bonuses or completion bonuses?
Emily McLaughlin
Well, so for locums, the way that our the way that you’re paid it’s usually it’s based on the hours or the days you’re working, not on a production basis. That’s the difference between locums and some other types of contracts. So I have seen, sometimes we’ll do bonuses like completion bonuses for sure. I would say, it really just depends. And again, it’s something that you would wanna discuss upfront with your recruiter. But usually it’s more on a time basis. It’s really, you know, anything is possible.
Rachel Gendi
I want to be respectful of our time because we’re like 11 min over. So like, maybe we could do one more of these. I wanted to answer all of them, but I feel bad. So let’s see.
I mean this one. Do you have roommates in the housing for international or state? You don’t, right? You get your own place. That was an easy answer. And I don’t know. Can family medicine work as a hospitalist or EM in New Zealand?
I don’t. Is that? Yes?
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yes, it it again is going to be determined more so by what you’re doing now. And does that compare to the position you’re applying for in New Zealand. So the answer to that is, yes, we can connect you with a recruiter who can give you more specifics after reviewing your CV. As to what the options would be.
Rachel Gendi
That these are both like the same.
Emily McLaughlin
I’d love to speak to the Licensure question.
Rachel Gendi
Yeah.
Emily McLaughlin
So are the expenses for state licensure application covered by the agency, or is it out of pocket? So the cool thing is yes, the agency will cover this, the expenses for state licensure. So that’s something that really opens up options and gives you more flexibility to be able to work more places and gives us the option to be able to place you more places. So if you’re interested in licensing I know for sure, with Global Medical Staffing. That’s something that we do offer.
Rachel Gendi
We might as well, just finish two. What’s the best way to figure out the average rate for your specialty in the area? Most sites I’ve seen are only salary-based, not hourly rate.
Rachel Gendi
I don’t know Lindsey or Emily, if you have a good answer for this one.
Emily McLaughlin
I think. Just consult with the recruiter. They should be able to give you that information. Lindsey, do. Do you have anything else?
Lindsey Schoenberg
Yeah, no, that’s what I was gonna say. And then also, you know to back into an hourly rate. If you’re seeing an annual salary. You could take that annual salary and divide it by the 2,080 hours, and that would give you an hourly rate. That’s what we do on our our side sometimes. So that’s a way you could back into it that way as well.
Emily McLaughlin
Yeah. And I am seeing more and more companies posting hourly rates. Actually, we were just talking about that today. So that’s something you may see more. In the future.
Rachel Gendi
Cool, and then the finale, in terms of tax in New Zealand, if someone is not a U.S. tax resident, then there shouldn’t be tax for the U.S., right? How is the tax rate, etc., in New Zealand?
Lindsey Schoenberg
So that’s correct. If you’re not a U.S. resident and not required to file taxes here and you’re traveling on your passport from your home country, then that’s what would determine whether or not we submit a 1099 to the U.S. Reporting the income earned while in New Zealand, and then the tax rate in New Zealand is about the same. Generally speaking, we advise that anytime you’re taxable in New Zealand. You can plan on paying about 30% in taxes.
Rachel Gendi
You made it, sorry we’re so over, everyone that’s still on the call. All 88 of you. Thank you guys so much for staying on the call, hearing all that we had to share about locums, as mentioned in the emails, we are running a raffle for those of you that stayed through the entire presentation. We’re gonna raffle off three, $100 gift cards. I think you should be getting an email tomorrow, and then we’ll be drawing those tomorrow, and you should be receiving an email from Tango. If you got the gift card, ff you won, you’ll get an email from them. So make sure you just check out your spam folder just in case, because sometimes it likes to go there. And yeah, thank you so much. There also be a survey in the email that you get tomorrow.
Stefanie Schulz
We’ll also be sending out a recording of this webinar in the email tomorrow. So if you have questions, you can go back and reference this.
Rachel Gendi
Yes, thanks, Stef, awesome. Well, thank you guys all so much. Our contact information is on the screen, and we appreciate your time. Have a great night.
Lindsey Schoenberg
Thank you.
Lindsey Schoenberg
Everyone.
Stefanie Schulz
Bye.