Our Production Blog series kicks off in 2025 with Rachel Pearl, VeloSource Recruiter. Rachel is a St. Louis native whose staffing career includes two years of experience in both the finance & accounting and healthcare verticals.
"I love my job, but my favorite part is the free healthcare advice. No, just kidding; but that is nice. My favorite part is meeting new people and personalities and working with them to find the best opportunity for them. I also really enjoy the process of learning how different people work, and what makes them tick. I am huge on emotional intelligence."
What Brought You to Choose a Healthcare Career?
My passion is helping people, and I have always been fascinated with healthcare. Physician recruiting is the best of both worlds. I get to talk to medical professionals all day long and learn about what they do while also helping them find a job that suits their lifestyle. Ask anyone; I love talking and meeting new people, so this is the perfect job for me, honestly.
Healthcare is ever-changing, which keeps things interesting and fresh. When I think about that one patient or the family that my locum provider was able to help, that impact alone makes this job worth it.
How Do You View Your Impact on Providing Healthcare Services to Our Communities?
Being a St. Louis local, and working so close with Missouri Baptist, we can feel the impact. I am a patient of this hospital myself. Our providers work a few miles from our office. They are the reason the hospital has been able to serve more of my community. Outside of my community, we also work in dozens of small towns nationwide to staff hospitals with locums that would otherwise have to transfer their patients elsewhere. When I first started, someone explained how far the impact goes. On the most minor scale, if you place one doctor that gives one life-saving diagnosis or surgery, you have positively affected the lives of that doctor, that patient, their family, and then all the other patients, and their families. It is impactful and important work that our providers and clients do, which makes me feel like we are doing important work as well.
Why Do Providers Choose VeloSource, and Stay with VeloSource? What Makes Us Different From Other Agencies?
I think the fact that we love our jobs makes us stand out. As recruiters, we feel like we were made for a job like this. We enjoy the opportunity to find our providers jobs they are excited about, and want to refer their friends to. We are excited to talk to our providers, to present our jobs to them, to create long-lasting partnerships, and to just get to know them as humans. I strive to get to know my providers personally so I can congratulate them when good things happen or send my well wishes when something bad happens. I mean, my providers were discussing my engagement at the hospital before I even got the chance to tell them myself!
The other cool thing about VeloSource is that we do many things that most agencies do after acceptance, on the front end, such as risk analysis and reference checks. Additionally, for anything that may cause concern on the client’s side, we try to come prepared with all necessary documents and explanations before they even ask.
Who Is The Perfect Candidate for Locums?
Anyone! However, we typically see three distinct types of candidates:
1. New Grads looking to pay off student loans quickly.
2. Established providers looking to pick up extra shifts, travel, or transition to full-time locums.
3. Semi-retired providers (often empty nesters) who are looking to keep their skills up, and their hands dirty.
Technically, anyone can fit into any of those categories at any given point of their career, which makes anyone the perfect candidate for locums. If you are not interested in office politics and staff meetings and responsibilities, locums could be a good fit.
What Are the Benefits of Practicing Locum Tenens vs. a Permanent/Employed Role? Why Are Locums Providers Becoming Increasingly More Popular?
1. Ability to choose your schedule, and change/cancel within 30 days of each shift.
2. Higher pay (hourly vs salary)
3. No benefits = no time off or health restrictions
4. Always have an agency for support and services (credentialing, travel, lodging, privileging, licensing, malpractice insurance, etc.)
5. The ability to travel and work away from home, right in your backyard, or even both at the same time if you choose.
6. Options for experience in many different settings with various patient populations
7. More time for patient care versus meetings and administration
What Advice Do You Have For Someone Looking to Get Into Physician Recruiting?
Learn how to communicate openly and honestly. Transparency is everything to these people. Things move slowly, and they can pick up fast, or everything is moving in the right direction and then suddenly take a turn or a halt. My point is that there are always hard conversations with the provider that need to occur ASAP. The best way to guarantee a smooth conversation is to be upfront right from the beginning rather than beating around the bush to try to keep them happy. They will always appreciate honesty in the end. They will trust you, and they will want to continue to collaborate with you as you have proved yourself to be dependable and credible. It does take a lot of work in the beginning to learn the lingo, build up your desk, and your book of business, but once you do, the referrals start rolling in, and your confidence grows. It really is such a rewarding job.
About VeloSource: VeloSource is a leading healthcare staffing and recruitment agency specializing in Locum Tenens services. By providing a vast network of highly qualified physicians, CRNAs, Physician Assistants, and Nurse Practitioners, VeloSource connects exceptional medical talent with healthcare facilities across the United States ensuring quality patient care and optimal workforce solutions.
(Posted by Mike Gianas, Senior Director of Marketing, VeloSource)
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