We’re in the midst of spring and lots of us are now looking to the summer months to plan holidays in the sun. Locum; you might even be one of these people craving some Vitamin D.
What we would like to do is try and explain why your role as a locum should give you cause to consider a different approach to holiday planning.
When am I most in demand?
‘Supply and Demand’ is probably something you’ll hear a lot in your career as a locum. It’s particularly relevant to what we’re discussing here as summer is when you’re most in demand and when the supply of locums can get limited. This means there is a great opportunity for work that you can make the most of.
During summer months we always see a peak in the demand of locums. Our customers have staff who want and need to take time off. People want to make the most of the nice weather and a lot of people don’t have much choice but to take time off during the summer as they have to accommodate school holidays. Bear in mind that this doesn’t just effect demand for pharmacists but also all dispensary roles. So dispensers, technicians and ACTs, you’ll be in demand too!
Why should I work most of the summer?
There are a number of benefits to working through summer:
Large Amount of Available Work: You should be able to stock your diary with a great amount of work between May and September. You can use this time to counteract the somewhat quieter periods we sometimes see during the preceding and following months. Bulk up your diary in the summer and worry less for the rest of the year.
Variety of Work: As the reasons for the surge in demand affect all types of pharmacies, we also see an increase in the variety of work that comes in. We get to work with a greater variety of independent pharmacies, practice based dispensaries and even industrial settings, as well as our varied large multiple customers. This can make work during the summer months a really interesting time to meet new people and have great, lasting experiences that will benefit your future practice.
Personal Travel: People really complain about the cost of travel during summer, it’s traditionally the most costly time of year due to school holidays and people wanting to experience very high temperatures (ouch!). You could opt to avoid this particular time of year and choose another period that will cost less, won’t be as busy and will still have great weather. If you have children then consider trying to minimise the impact on your working summer by taking the time off that is most necessary and choosing another, less popular school holiday during the year to travel. Take our team member Katie for example, in 2016 she completely avoided taking any breaks during the summer and went to Hawaii in October. The price was fantastic and it was still so hot that she got sunburn regardless of using a quality factor 50!
What would we like you to consider?
We’d propose that as a locum who is in complete control of their own diary and working schedule, you can dictate when you take your breaks and this can be at a time that suits you as a business as well as a consumer. Summer is a great opportunity to take advantage of in the locum world, make the most of it and make it work for you.