The spirit of contribution

Back in 2006 when I started MedRecruit, we were an ‘organisation’ of two people; Claire and myself. Our ‘pool’ of doctors consisted of my friends from medical school, and our clients came from us driving from Cairns to Wollongong and all the way round New Zealand.

There were a number of established recruitment companies providing locum jobs, many of which I’d worked through and none of which I rated highly, so we needed a way to differentiate ourselves and add more value.

In 2009 we were the fastest growing service business in the country in the Deloitte Fast 50, and we now have offices in five locations across Australia and New Zealand with a team of over 100 people. We are now the largest medical recruitment agency in Australasia, providing both permanent and locum doctor jobs.

As we turned 10 this week I have reflected on what was the difference that made the difference, why did we grow so rapidly.

I think it comes back to adding in a spirit of genuine contribution.

In the first year of MedRecruit I was renowned amongst hospital recruiters for making bold promises to supply them the doctors they needed. “You will have a doctor for tomorrow,” I’d promise them when the call came in on Friday morning. I’d then scramble to call every possible doctor I knew, and if no one would do it I’d jump on a late afternoon flight and would do the job myself.

As the company grew, then as our family grew, this lifestyle of working all hours every day had to change, it just wasn’t sustainable, but I look back on those days with great fondness as I traversed the worlds of medicine as a locum doctor.

So what was that difference that made the difference?

When you give everything you can, you get back more than you can ever give.