In this article we answer common questions about using Messly to find locum work.
Why does my profile go live in May 2023?
Foundation Year 2 doctors can work with agencies on Messly for their F3 year in August 2023.
Locum jobs for August are only released by the hospitals from May onwards. Speaking to agencies before then tends to result in vague conversations, as they don't have specific roles to submit you for.
You might also not be 100% sure of your F3 plans yet too. Waiting until May means you'll be able to have more meaningful conversations with agencies about what work they will have for you. We used this process to help nearly 2,000 F2s in the year above you (2020 grads) and it worked really well, so we think it will be great for you too.
What if I just want to see what jobs are available?
If you just want to browse what jobs are on offer on Messly, you can visit the Discover page in the app to browse locum jobs that match your profile. You won’t be able to apply for anything yet but it will give you an idea of what departments are hiring and the going rates.
Shall I just call up some locum agencies now?
Messly will be worth the wait, we promise. Here's a recent article we wrote explaining why we think the Messly service is far better than registering directly with an agency
Will I miss out by waiting?
No... As August jobs are only just starting to trickle out you won't miss out by waiting until nearer the time. There is usually much more locum work available than there are locums available to work, so there is plenty to go around.
I have 2 years experience and I’m not in my Foundation Programme - I think this is a mistake!
We run a check against your graduation date on the GMC database, so sometimes this means you get flagged as being in your Foundation Programme despite have more than 2 years experience. This is more common with doctors who completed training outside of the UK. If you think we’ve got this wrong, get in touch and we can look in to this for you!
Where can I learn more?
Check out our top resources for planning your F3 in our F3 Hub:
https://www.messly.com/f3-hub
You can read about locumming in your Foundation Years here: https://www.messly.com/blog/can-i-locum-in-my-f1-or-f2-year
We’ve written this great timeline for planning your F3 year here:
If you have any other questions, feel free to message us via Live Chat -->