Anyone have experience with locums with Weatherby?

[tsbqb]

Hey everyone,

Iam trying to figure out what to do next year. One of the options I am considering is going full time locums. Has anyone used Weatherby as their agency? I have spoken a couple times with their recruiter and he seems like a nice guy.

Anyone have anything to share?

Thank you in advance for any insights.

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[OccupyTheED]

I've done a few assignments with Weatherby. So far so good. Their turnaround times for pay are pretty good, the guy I work with presents me with decent opportunities consistently. I always ask for 40-60 more than whatever he comes to me with. Sometimes I get it, sometimes i don't. I find that the less pressed you seem for work, the easier it is to squeeze a few extra dollars out of whatever hospital needs help. Having said all that they're the only locums agency I've used so I don't have a basis for comparison.

 

[shookwell]

I've worked for them and never had a problem. They pay quickly. Ask for more than whatever they offer, especially if you are willing to walk away.

 

[Groove]

They can be aggressive negotiators. If you are arriving at a number with a very pleasant and eager agent then chances are you are getting ripped off. That being said, I worked for them 2 years during residency and everything was painless and smooth. Sure, they made money off me but I wasn't in a position to argue. Schedule, flights, car rentals, hotel, everything was perfectly organized and I rarely had to do anything other than show up to the airport and ED to work. I've known some docs who work for them and seem very happy. If you are going to test the waters out on locums, it would be reasonable to use them but over the long term you will likely lose out on significant income. GeneralVeers can probably give you the low down on how to optimize locums income at the cost of more leg work. I wouldn't go that route if you're just trying to get a feel for locums though.

 

[Eric L]

I found this thread while googling to see what kind of feedback there was on line regarding Weatherby's honesty.

I worked with a couple of locum agencies about ten years ago, and have recently been in touch (a lot) with several, trying to line up the right job.
I seem to have a good commitment from Weatherby, and am working with them pretty much exclusively toward this position which begins in a few weeks, and here is my experience so far:

I have found Weatherby's agent to be exceptionally friendly and talkative (about his family, his vacation, my family, etc.), to the point where he seems to waste a lot of his and my time on unnecessary communication, and where he's got a bit of a "used car salesman" feel. There have been days where he's called me four or five times, and during a period of almost a month, there was almost no day when he did not call me. So, he's a nice guy... I guess...

As our discussions progressed, I realized that, unlike most of the other recruiters I dealt with, the Weatherby guy seemed to conduct almost all of his business by phone, with almost nothing by e-mail, ie: nothing in writing. At various times, details that he had explicitly told me would be one way ("Yeah, we'll definitely pay for that"), when it came down to brass tacks became, "Oh, we can't pay for that." In each case, when I pushed back hard, suddenly, the next day, he had permission to give me what he had already promised me. At times, he appeared to make a mistake because he didn't know how something was done, but when I asked, he said he'd been working for them for "many years." The mistakes tended to be things that, if they went the "mistaken" way, would have benefited his company.

I have not yet gotten to this job and been paid for it, so I cannot give a full rating of my experience, but I will report back.
In the meantime, my advice would be that when dealing with Weatherby, or with any recruiter, you send an e-mail back to the recruiter after every phone conversation, recapping what was agreed to ("Did I say I would rent you a car no matter what? No, no. I said I would rent you a car if the client agreed to it after later discussion."), so that if there are any "misunderstandings," they can be corrected before you have built any plans on them.

 

[Alvarez13]

I found this thread while googling to see what kind of feedback there was on line regarding Weatherby's honesty.

I worked with a couple of locum agencies about ten years ago, and have recently been in touch (a lot) with several, trying to line up the right job.
I seem to have a good commitment from Weatherby, and am working with them pretty much exclusively toward this position which begins in a few weeks, and here is my experience so far:

I have found Weatherby's agent to be exceptionally friendly and talkative (about his family, his vacation, my family, etc.), to the point where he seems to waste a lot of his and my time on unnecessary communication, and where he's got a bit of a "used car salesman" feel. There have been days where he's called me four or five times, and during a period of almost a month, there was almost no day when he did not call me. So, he's a nice guy... I guess...

As our discussions progressed, I realized that, unlike most of the other recruiters I dealt with, the Weatherby guy seemed to conduct almost all of his business by phone, with almost nothing by e-mail, ie: nothing in writing. At various times, details that he had explicitly told me would be one way ("Yeah, we'll definitely pay for that"), when it came down to brass tacks became, "Oh, we can't pay for that." In each case, when I pushed back hard, suddenly, the next day, he had permission to give me what he had already promised me. At times, he appeared to make a mistake because he didn't know how something was done, but when I asked, he said he'd been working for them for "many years." The mistakes tended to be things that, if they went the "mistaken" way, would have benefited his company.

I have not yet gotten to this job and been paid for it, so I cannot give a full rating of my experience, but I will report back.
In the meantime, my advice would be that when dealing with Weatherby, or with any recruiter, you send an e-mail back to the recruiter after every phone conversation, recapping what was agreed to ("Did I say I would rent you a car no matter what? No, no. I said I would rent you a car if the client agreed to it after later discussion."), so that if there are any "misunderstandings," they can be corrected before you have built any plans on them.

Thanks for replying. Please keep us updated.

I'm planning on doing locums next year. Would like to know the best company to go with until I become a badass like Veers.

 

[Old_Mil]

Hey everyone,

Iam trying to figure out what to do next year. One of the options I am considering is going full time locums. Has anyone used Weatherby as their agency? I have spoken a couple times with their recruiter and he seems like a nice guy.

Anyone have anything to share?

Thank you in advance for any insights.

Never worked with them. Worked with Hayes for a bit, that was an OK experience.

 

[Alvarez13]

Going thru the process with Weathby right now. After uploading all these documents, it looks like they credential you at all their sites which is really nice. Once you grab a couple of state licenses, sounds like it's pretty easy to start working. She mentioned a lot of the sites will also reimburse you for licensing after so many shifts (sometimes 20+).

Would it be a good idea to also do the same thing with like Vista or Comphealth? That way I again get credentialed in a bunch of places and have an easier time picking up opportunities. I understand that I can't work at the same facility for 24 months if I were to go with a different agency, but I imagine these agencies have access to different hospitals.

 

[heroesinahalfshell]

Going thru the process with Weathby right now. After uploading all these documents, it looks like they credential you at all their sites which is really nice. Once you grab a couple of state licenses, sounds like it's pretty easy to start working. She mentioned a lot of the sites will also reimburse you for licensing after so many shifts (sometimes 20+).

Would it be a good idea to also do the same thing with like Vista or Comphealth? That way I again get credentialed in a bunch of places and have an easier time picking up opportunities. I understand that I can't work at the same facility for 24 months if I were to go with a different agency, but I imagine these agencies have access to different hospitals.

Has anyone had success in changing this? Either getting rid of it altogether (I imagine that might be very difficult) or reducing it to a shorter time period with any of the locums groups?

 

[tsbqb]

I was wondering that too. There is a provision which states you cant work at the same facility for 24 months which seems fair to me, but there is another provision which states you cant "directly compete with Client’s practice" for that period as well. Does that mean you cant work for a hospital in the same town as one you did locums work at?

 

[GeneralVeers]

I was wondering that too. There is a provision which states you cant work at the same facility for 24 months which seems fair to me, but there is another provision which states you cant "directly compete with Client’s practice" for that period as well. Does that mean you cant work for a hospital in the same town as one you did locums work at?

I've never heard of this being enforced. The locums company would have to find out about it, and then they would have to initiate legal action. I can't imagine them spending time or money doing it.

It's definitely one of the main reasons I negotiate with the hospital/group directly. I can usually make sure there is no non-compete in any part-time or PRN contract I get.

 

[shookwell]

Has anyone had success in changing this? Either getting rid of it altogether (I imagine that might be very difficult) or reducing it to a shorter time period with any of the locums groups?

Yes, I signed up through locums at a hospital that I knew was changing management in a few months so I asked the locums company to strike that paragraph from the contract and they did without any issues.