We caught up with Gautam Passi, Managing Director of Locumotive, to talk all things from the importance of streamlining locum recruitment to expanding across the wider medical industry…
Tell us about Locumotive
Locumotive is an application that is specifically designed for optician locum recruitment.
Many optometrists work as self-employed contractors to either fill in for absent employees or provide extra manpower where it is needed most. Locuming is attractive as it provides a flexible working schedule and high day rates. This popular form of employment however is hindered by a poor and difficult recrement process and working with recruiters frustrating.
This is why we created Locumotive to help streamline the optical recruitment process.
From understanding the problems first hand, the Locumotive development team has designed a user experience that is efficient and easy to use. Locums are self-employed so we also help them manage their businesses by providing essential tools to manage their finances. Locums have everything they need within the palm of their hands.
We pride ourselves on understanding key problems and providing a quality solution, safeguarding locums and practices, whiles saving time and money!
There are several problems with the current recruitment process. Including managing locums, the process of hiring, and the professionalism and quality of staff provided.
Locumotive allows the Locum to have a bespoke, up to date job list in the palm of their hands. By removing the agencies and streamlining the process, everyone wins!
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
Whilst being a locum I struggled to find and organise my work. The main difficulty was communication with recruiters. I was constantly bombarded with emails, none that were ideal for me.
The process was slow and time-consuming, and I was desperate to remove the middle man between negotiations. Equally, when speaking to Opticians I found there were incredibly understaffed and frustrated when recruiting locums. they mentioned that using recruiters were too expensive and left them disconnected from locum selection. The whole recrement process was outdated and modernising was evident.
I wanted to create the solution and the Locumotive pilot was launched in London. With the success of the pilot, we developed new features to support locums, such an expense tracker, diary managers, and invoice generator to give locums everything they need in one app.
By using modern technology we have streamlined the locum recruitment within optics and now are providing a nationwide solution, looking to grow Into other industries like dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, and GP.
How has the need for Locumotive evolved during the pandemic?
During the pandemic, Opticians were forced to close and were restricted in the services they could provide. This meant self-employed work within the sector was heavily affected.
As practices look to re-open, Locumotive became the perfect solution to help. Traditional recruiters were also affected by COVID-19 and were unable to provide their full services.
What can we hope to see from Locumotive in the future?
I am hoping that Locumotive will branch into other health industries such as Dentistry, GP, and nursing. Staying close to healthcare is where my expertise lies. The technology we have created can provide streamlined recruitment solutions for industries looking for single day recruitment across a range of sectors – watch this space!
To find out more visit: https://www.locumotive.co.uk/
