I guess we’ll start a little bit on why we decided to do particularly temp to perm. So the reason why we chose to do this specific topic is because a lot of the times when our recruiters have been speaking to potential candidates or even those that are interested, you know, one of the biggest questions that comes up is they’ve already, they already have a perm job. So they might not necessarily know if it’s the right choice for them or what that cost is or even how to appropriate evaluate that decision. So we went back, talked to our recruitment team, got some feedback, you know, from our contractors and our recruiters on what that looks like. And hopefully today we’ll, you know, walk you through that, answer some questions. So we always leave the webinar with like a live question and answer period where you can just feel free to ask us anything that, you know, that burning question that you’ve had for a while. But yeah, okay, so Matt, as per usual, I’m going to be interviewing you. So do you first want to introduce yourself?

Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Matthew Tadele. I am a manager of strategic and health Healthcare partnerships here at Magnus, but I am formally a recruiter. So I’ve seen both sides of the spectrum, whether that be communicating directly with candidates and contractors, as well as communicating with the clients. So I know what each side values and that’s what I hope to share today.

Perfect. And I’m Jen. So I’m here as a business developer at Magnus. And what I do is work more on the client side, trying to get those contracts for you guys. And yeah, if you ever want to speak to Matt, I say he’s the best person to chat to because he’s a wealth of knowledge, as you’ll see as we go through the webinar. So Matt, do you want to tell me a little bit about what is the difference between, you know, contracting and let’s say a perm job in from the years that you’ve been here?

Absolutely. The main difference is transitioning your mindset from a permanent job, which is something more concrete that you have some tenure or some expected tenure with, versus contracting, which is the exact same job, but there’s no expectation of that same tenure. So with a perm job, you’re joining an organization, and the objective is to stay with that organization as long as possible. You’ll grow within that organization. You’re looking for promotions. You’re really settling your roots in that geographic area, as opposed to contracting where there’s no guarantee of forward momentum in terms of career progression with a single organization. You’re trading that for freedom to and the ability to work with whoever so desires your services.

Okay, so, I mean, if you’re in a perm job, sometimes I think one of the biggest things that comes up is, you know, why should I go into contracting? Why should I make that switch? Do you want to go into maybe some of the main reasons that people would, or, you know, a healthcare worker would make that switch, where it would make sense for them?

Yeah, absolutely. First and foremost, why a lot of people do end up transitioning into contracting work is financially, it is very, very lucrative. So if you are not looking for a specific career progression in terms of like building towards a specific job title, it’s very hard to compete compensation wise with a perm job comparatively to a contracting opportunity. So that’s one of the main reasons, but it’s not the only reason, and that’s not necessarily the reason that we encourage people to look at temporary opportunities. Another reason is to relocate. This is a great try before you buy opportunity.

K.

So if you are, for example, living in the GTA, cost of living is very much higher here, and you want to consider living on the East Coast, the West Coast, maybe potentially up north, contracting is a great opportunity to work there for a specific amount of time, really get a taste for the environment there, the culture, the team you’ll be potentially working with before you could transition into a perm role in that same location. That way, if you don’t like something, you always have that ability to return back home.

Yeah, so I want to add a little bit to that. So I know that most of the time, the main thing that people do the switch for is the pay. And of course, there’s incredible stories. Like I was talking to one of our recruiters last week about this. And she had mentioned that we actually had two nurses that had a lot of debt. You know, they had student loans to pay as well as just like life debt. And so what ended up happening was, you know, they were nervous about contracting, but the thing is, with the perm job and that salary that they were making, they could never really pay off that debt that they had. So, you know, taking a bet on themselves and taking that chance, they started actually doing contracting work together. And they actually ended up in six months being debt free. So these are real like stories of real people that have had real opportunities to make a difference in their life. And I’m not here trying to say that, you know, pay is the main reason why, but it does make a significant difference to those that, you know, are thinking about that or thinking like, how can I, you know, what is it that I’m working towards? Maybe a wedding, whatever it is. So it’s something just to take into consideration. But outside of pay, I know you mentioned a little bit about career advancing not being a major one, but would you agree that’s in all situations? Or is that just dependent? Because I have heard stories where people accelerate their career actually through contracting.

Absolutely. Specifically individuals who are looking to leave kind of these dense populated areas like Toronto, you’re very much siloed when working in major city hubs. You usually work in a very specific niche or expertise. And so your abilities as a professional are quite limited as opposed to when you travel to more remote communities, your exposure and conduct in the job are usually so much more vast. So a good example is ER nursing. Usually ER nursing is a very sought after role, which is very much needed here as well as elsewhere across the country. But when you travel and work in a more remote region, like far up north, you can’t simply just be an ER nurse. You’re going to be put in experience being an OBS nurse, med surge, work with geriatric communities. So the scope of work is so much larger, and this goes for every different, all these sorts of professions, so that when you do come back to potentially the city hub, you’re more sought after as an individual because you have all of this experience and wealth of knowledge. So if you are looking for some new skill sets, contracting is a great opportunity for you to kind of have that exposure.

And I think one of my like helpful tips here would be, if you are thinking about this, reach out to one of the recruiters, not just to talk to them, but actually know, you know, ask them questions about what you’re looking for. Is it career advancement? Is it that you’re looking for pay? Tell them your life goals, because ultimately, you know, this is the job, but it also affects your life. This is what you’re doing. So, and our recruiters are incredibly experienced. They’ve been here for 15 years or more. And they can give you that advice, help you plan out your next steps. So it doesn’t have to just be one contract job. You know, if you’re a mom, for example, I know a lot of people in the industry that have made that switch into contracting because they’ll work for, you know, those eight months, take four months off for their kids, things like that, depending on what their needs are. So it allows a lot of flexibility to kind of create the lifestyle that you want. Whereas with a perm role, as you know, you’re kind of tied, handcuffed to whatever, you know, those policies you have at work. So that is something else to kind of consider. Okay, so knowing that, Matt, I know, like, I don’t always want to stick to financial stuff because I know that we can talk about that with a recruiter, get rates there, talk about what it could potentially look like. What do you think, like, a real, what would make you ready for that? And is it like a contract job, I guess? Like, do you need to have a lot of experience to do that? Like, where can you start?

You don’t need very much experience. I would say one to two years out of school is more than enough to work as a contractor, specifically with Magnus. I know some organizations do take new grads. It really is about willingness to be a little bit uncomfortable and being amendable to working outside of any given scope that you currently are working in. So the ideal candidate is somebody who’s adventurous, someone who is empathetic, looking to kind of serve a greater community. And if you beat those qualifications, contracting is a fantastic opportunity.

Yes. Okay, so now let’s say I’ve done a contract somewhere. Let’s, I’ll give an example of Elliot Lake. Okay. And I’m thinking to myself, you know what, I really like this place. Is there an opportunity to convert into Perm? Like, how does that look like? What are my, I guess, like, what could my career look like potentially?

Absolutely. Specifically with Magnus, I can’t speak for very many other agencies. We highly, highly encourage our contractors finding their forever home, so to speak. So it’s all very much just like I mentioned earlier, try before you buy. If you have a great relationship with your managers, with the community, Magnus will work tooth and nail to ensure that we facilitate a transition for you to get that permanent position if you don’t want to end up returning and you want to stay in that given community that you were serving. That’s been very, very popular with our contractors. Many of our contractors have since transitioned into current roles. And we love to consider contracting as a way to facilitate you, exposing yourself to all of these different communities who would love to have your services. This way you don’t feel that pressure of making a decision before you try it.

Okay, so going back to, I guess, just contract work in general, is there a specific group of healthcare workers that, you know, we that we take in? Is there somebody that or could it be for anybody? Like, what does that look like?

Absolutely anybody. Anybody in the healthcare space, including administration, is always considered for contracting. So I wouldn’t knock your profession if you don’t necessarily see it quite often on job boards or postings. Always talk with the recruiter first, because there is such a large need for individuals across Canada in the healthcare space that we would never turn a profession away.

And I would want to actually add and emphasize that as well. Like, I think where we’re seeing a lot of our clients asking for work is in those spaces. Allied health, it’s been growing significantly. Anything, you know, x-ray technologists, MLT, MDRD tech, just very niche roles that you can think of, and as well as your nursing as well. Everything’s available. But if you, again, I would like to repeat that. If you are in a role where you don’t normally see that, trust me, there is absolutely an opportunity because it’s been growing and it’s being asked for and it’s just going to get more and more in demand. So you know, if that’s the flexibility that you’re looking for, if you’re looking for, you know, some kind of career advancement, definitely consider contracting. So I actually, I love the fact that we’re very, very transparent here. And I want to ask you questions about the contracts themselves, because this really, it helps to determine what kind of lifestyle and support that we offer, right, to the contractor. So can you tell me a little bit more about maybe the type of contract work that we typically, you know, sought, recruit for?

Definitely. So the average contract that you’re most likely going to be presented with is servicing a more northern or more remote community. So I wouldn’t come in with the expectations that there’s going to be job offers in Vancouver or Calgary or Edmonton. You’re usually going to go maybe further up north, whether that be in Ontario, BC, Nova Scotia, and you’re going to service communities with, I would say, populations of 20,000 or less. That should be the expectation of what you’re going to be presented with. And again, as mentioned previously, it’s going to be for all professions. There’s not going to really be a profession that sticks out as unhireable in a contracting capacity. One other thing to prepare yourself for is accommodations for the most part are usually provided. Travel is sometimes subjective to you having your own personal vehicle. We like to ask that for comfortability wise that you drive your own vehicles to these assignments and then we compensate you based on your mileage.

Okay, so I want to talk about that part that you mentioned. So the accommodations, mileage, things like that. How much how much negotiation power does a contractor have when, you know, they initially get presented like, you know, an opportunity? Let’s say they’ve signed up with us. They’re part of our roster now. You know, what is their, like, what can they ask for? What kind of things?

Well, we empower all of our contractors to say no. If there’s something that you’re not comfortable with, or if you’re looking for a specific sort of role or type of experience, all we do is present you with the opportunities, and then it’s up to you at the end of the day whether you agree or disagree with the role, and if you want to move forward. We’d never, ever strong arm our candidates to say, hey, you have to go service this community. You have to take on this job. All we do is facilitate the opportunities. We present them to you as we feel like if they would meet your requirements. And you could take that back to your families, your friends, talk about it, and then make the decision on whether or not you want to move forward.

Nice. Okay. So now I’m going to ask you, and I, again, be honest with me, Matt. I was going to say, what makes Magnus really, really good outside of, let’s say I’ve looked at all my agencies, why Magnus?

Because Magnus is looking to support transitioning contractors into perm roles, we really look at cultural fit more than anything else. So unlike with other agencies who are going to talk to you briefly, maybe 5 minutes or less, if not just simply through e-mail, and just ship you off to a contract or a site you’re not familiar with, Magnus will always give you all the information beforehand and make sure that where we’re sending you is someplace you’re going to want to be long-term. Whether or not you stay is completely up to you, but our goal is to make sure every contract you go on is an enjoyable experience.

And we’ve had a lot of people enter without any contracting experience. And now they’re part of the roster for more than five years. So they’re happy with what they’re doing, where they’re going. Sometimes they have really long contracts for a year or two years, depending on, you know, the nature of what the need is in the area. But you know, I think it can just vary so different across the board that, you know, ultimately, it really is a conversation with one of the recruiters, asking them questions, interviewing them as well, why not? And just getting all the information that you need. And so with that, I kind of want to bring it back to the checklist and say like, you know, we’re going to be sending this out. It’s A relatively, you know, decent checklist. We created it with our recruiters as well. And it just takes you through some of the decisions that you would have to make in order to make sure that this is the right move for you. So like the financial pictures, you know, you go through the questions there, career security, what does that look like? Lifestyle and support.

Yeah.

And then if you’re ready to go and move. And last but not least, having, you know, if you feel like, yes, this is the right step for me, you know, having that resume prepared, talking to one of the recruiters, and you can again check out the webinar that we did last time, last month on resume building. But yeah, we’re always here to help as well. So what I want to do now is there’s just a couple of minutes left, but I do want to ask anybody if you have any questions, this is the time to do it. Just feel free to chat, put it in the chat and we’ll actually take the time to answer them. So yeah, we’ll give you a couple of minutes there to type out any questions that you have.

If nobody else has any questions, to Barbara specifically, very, very glad to have you on board again. Just to re-emphasize what Jen said, please reach out if you have any sort of questions. I think the most relevant information you’re going to get is from a recruiter, and there’s never any harm in just having a conversation. A 10-minute conversation with a recruiter could be a life-changing event for anybody. So have that conversation. No need to shy away.

Actually, you know what, because we do have some time, I want to know, like, do you have a story? Because it was actually mind-blowing to me when I was speaking to our lead recruiter, Svetlana, and she was just telling me so much about how contracting has changed people’s lives. And, you know, sometimes you get in the grind of things and you just think a job is a job, but like, there were some very, very, like, just, I almost, to be honest, I thought to myself, like, why didn’t I go into healthcare like that? But do you have any, like, stories like that that you could share with us?

Yeah. One of my favorites is I worked directly with an occupational therapist that we were working with in the East Coast. So they were located somewhere in New Brunswick up north. And they enjoyed their time there so much that they immigrated their whole family. They husband, wife, children. They enrolled them in the school system there. It was just so much of a better quality of life than what they were currently seeing in Toronto. And they couldn’t be happier for it. I still catch up with that individual every few months and they cannot be happier for the move. And although they’re no longer on the Magnus roster, they have nothing but kind words to share because we provided them that opportunity to see the rest of Canada and envision a better life for themselves.

Yeah, and I think that’s the main thing. I’ve seen a lot of just contractors move to Newfoundland, find out that the cost of living is a lot more affordable, that the people are friendly. You know, we’ve even had some of our own people move to that area, right? So you don’t know unless you try. Sometimes the risk is absolutely worth it. Sometimes it’s in the grays, but that’s where you have that conversation for whatever doubt you have. And it’s just about having that open, honest conversation on both sides. So super much, like you said, encourage everyone to just contact us, have that combo.

Okay, well, I’m going to cut it short. I really want to get to this checklist so that they can kind of take some time and do that. But yeah, let us know if you have any questions. And then if there are any topics that you want to have us cover, also, you know, feel free to give us that feedback. And yeah, we’ll see you next month. Thanks everybody for coming.

Thanks for having us.