How to successfully develop your own GP locum personal brand
Marketing skills are not normally part of medical training but if you are anxious to increase the number of bookings you secure or find different work opportunities it is important to market yourself effectively. There are many aspects involved in marketing and you can follow the example set by many successful businesses. This includes advertising and creating an easily recognisable brand identity.
Developing your GP locum brand
You do not necessarily have total control over your brand as it can depend very much on how you are viewed by your customers. As a self-employed GP locum, your customers include both the practices you work for and the patients you see. You need to consider how you would like to be known, and work towards portraying the relevant characteristics such as friendliness, reliability or flexibility to them.
According to the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund, a locum’s approach needs to be different from a regular GPs because they do not normally see patients often enough to build up a relationship with them. The majority of patients that a locum sees are people he or she has not seen before. If you work for many different practices it could be possible for you to see 10,000 different patients in a year.
Business cards
If you still use business cards you could use them to portray your brand. A phrase about your interests or career aspirations can be included as can a striking image that says something about you.
Emails
This will be your major method of communicating with practices so it is worth ensuring that you have a professional email signature on all the devices you use rather than the default setting.
CV
A well-presented CV with perfect grammar and spelling is essential. It should be just one page and include a photograph. Taking a well-printed CV round to practices you are interested in is an excellent way of discovering GP locum jobs.
Using an agency
Jobs are often advertised by agencies such as http://www.thegplocumagency.co.uk/ and this can be a simpler way of finding employment opportunities. A good agency will keep you informed of vacancies that will fit with the brand you are developing.
Working with different practices can be interesting and can mean that you avoid many of the stresses that GP partners often experience.
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