As a busy period of conferences and events draws to a close, we are able to look back at a highly successful few weeks of meeting Doctors and spreading news about the Head Medical service. Last week several of our team attended the BMJ Careers Fair down in London, an event which Senior Consultant, Caroline O'Hagan, now describes:
As usual, the BMJ was a fun event, lots of hustle and bustle and an array of exhibitors from all over the world.
Attending for Head Medical over the two days were: Jim, Business Development; Sharon, GP New Zealand & Careflight (Aero-Medical Retrieval); Emma, GP Australia; Annie, Consultants for the Gulf Region; Yan, GP UK locums & remote/rural GP roles across the ‘Rest of the World’; and Caroline, Consultants for Australia & New Zealand.
We had our usual spot at Stands 29 and 35 and it was busy from the get go – as a team, we always love this particular event as we get to meet so many different Doctors, some from within the UK and some visiting London especially for the event. Because we cater for Consultants of all specialties and GPs, ranging from such far flung places as Tajikistan, Tanzania, St Helena, as well as the UK (for GP locums), Australia, New Zealand and the Gulf - and now more recently Singapore and Canada - we were able to advise and discuss a lot of different options with visitors to our stand.
Jim, our Business Development Director, had a really successful two days speaking with new clients, particularly from Singapore and Canada, and taking the opportunity to speak with Doctors interested in working overseas. Its often so busy for us, we as recruiters don’t have much of a chance to see who else is exhibiting or to meet our clients who may also be attending, so having Jim along was a great asset for us as a company.
For myself, I spoke with a lot of GPs, Paediatricians and Psychiatrists, which was fantastic, as we have so many places we can talk about, for example, the Women's and Children's Hospital in Sidra (Qatar), to locations throughout Australia and New Zealand as well as our new foray into Canada and Singapore, to name just a few. I think that’s what the Doctors love most, having a range of options and advice of how we can help, all on one stand, which seemed to be really appreciated.
Some Doctors were aware of the jobs we recruit to as they are already registered on our website and receive our regular job alerts; some were just exploring the possibilities and taking away some of our brochures; some had already started the registration process themselves and wanted some advice on actual jobs; and some had no previous knowledge at all and after speaking with us went home to mull over the information we gave out and to chat with their families.
We particularly enjoyed meeting Doctors who we are already working with - its so nice to meet people in person after speaking on the phone and exchanging emails. As well as meeting a couple of Jonathan’s Consultant doctors who are looking at Australia, Emma who recruits to GP positions in Australia was hugely in demand over both days, many of her GPs were queuing up to speak to "The Famous Emma" and she was absolutely delighted.
We also had a champagne prize draw on the go and our winner on Saturday was especially pleased with his win, having never won anything before, he felt winning the bottle of Moet was just as good as getting his medical degree! After a quick Kodak moment with Jim, he went home to celebrate his win.
After two days, it was a tiring but thoroughly enjoyable event and we were pleased to head back up the road to Edinburgh, having met some great people and spread the “Head Medical” word.
Post-BMJ, my feet are sore and I've lost my voice.
True signs of a successful recruitment event.
Caroline O' Hagan
Senior Recruitment Consultant