Temp to perm
An interview where both of you are telling the truth
Offices are sold this as a way to avoid a bad hire. That is true and it is the smaller half. You are the one who would have to work there every day for two years, which makes you the person with more to find out.
Add days and watch both columns fill
This is the part that makes it worth doing. Not that they get to assess you, but that the assessment runs both ways at the same speed.
Days worked at the same practice
What you now know about them
- Whether the schedule they advertise is the schedule they run
- Whether the team actually likes each other
- How they treat somebody who is not staying
What they now know about you
- Whether you turn up early
- How you handle a chart you have never seen
- Whether patients ask for you again
Where it starts becoming real
Long enough for a bad day to happen in front of you. This is usually the point where somebody says something, and it is as often the professional as the practice.
Your half of it
Most bad jobs were obvious from inside on day three
Almost nobody takes a permanent role that turns out badly because they missed something subtle. They take it because an interview is two hours in a tidy room with the two most presentable people in the building, and that is simply not enough information to commit two years to.
A handful of days fixes that, and it costs you nothing, because you were being paid the whole time you were finding out.
Before you sign anything, you will know
- You will have seen a bad day there before you signed anything
- You will know whether the schedule they advertise is the one they run
- You will have met the person you would be replacing, or found out why they left
- You will know whether you like being there at four on a Friday
How it actually comes up
There is no button for this and there does not need to be. It is a conversation between people who have already worked together.
- Usually somebody just says it
- At the end of a day, in the sterilization room, in the tone of somebody being careful not to make it awkward. There is no formal process and there does not need to be one.
- Sometimes it comes through us
- A practice asks whether you would consider staying, and we ask you rather than telling them what we think you would say. If the answer is no, they are told there is no interest and not why.
- Sometimes you say it first
- Which is allowed, and works. If you have worked somewhere four times and would like to stay, tell us and we will find out whether they are in a position to. That conversation is much easier from us than from you.
What changes on the day you say yes
Four things, and it is worth knowing all of them before the conversation rather than during it.
They become your employer
Payroll, contract, notice and terms move to the practice. Up to that point we were your employer and the day rate was set by the city card. After it, your pay is whatever you and they agree, and it is negotiated rather than published.
A placement fee applies, and it is theirs
Converting a temp into a permanent hire carries a fee charged to the practice. It is quoted to them before anything is agreed. Nothing is taken from you, from your salary, or from a signing figure.
Their checks replace ours
We verify registration and insurance while you are our employee. When you become theirs, they run their own onboarding, which is normal and expected rather than a sign of distrust.
Nothing happens until you agree to it
There is no arrangement where a number of shifts obliges you to take a job, and no practice can convert you by booking you often enough. It is a decision and it is yours.
And if the answer is no, that is a complete answer
Plenty of people work at the same practice for a year and have no interest in staying, and it does not cost them the booking. You are not obliged to explain a no, we do not pass on a reason, and you can carry on temping there afterwards if you both want to.
Start with a day somewhere
You do not have to decide anything about it in advance. Book a shift, see what the place is like, and go from there.