Recommend a friend
We love nothing more than rewarding our community of imaging professionals. So, if you recommend a friend to Sanctuary (they could work in health or social care), and they complete 100 hours of work with us, we’ll pay you £250 as a ‘thank you’!
Upload your timesheet
Recording your hours with us is easy. You simply log the time you’ve worked on our portal and we take care of the rest!
About Sanctuary Imaging
Since 2006, we’ve grown to become one of the largest health and social care recruiters in the UK.
Safety first
Patient and worker safety is important to us, which is why our compliance process is the very best.
Paying you
Paying you correctly (in line with IR35), and on time, is one less thing for you to worry about.
I’ve been locuming with Sanctuary for nearly 3 years now. I feel happy with the service I receive from them, I have been in work consistently. My main contact is always helpful and available to handle any enquiries I have.
Denise
Band 7 Mammographer
"Been with Sanctuary for over 4 years and they have made the journey of transitioning from permanent to locum work easy. I always feel like a priority and any of my concerns are always reassured or solved by my consultant."
Vimbai
Placing wellbeing at the centre of candidate care
As a recruitment agency, we never lose sight of one of our core values, which is to place people first. We may be a recruiter but we’re also a compassionate and dutiful employer. We understand that caring for vulnerable people is not without its pressures and its impact on staff wellbeing. That’s why, in 2016, we took the decision to appoint Clinical Safeguarding Lead, Junaid Dowool. As a highly-skilled Clinical Senior Manager and Forensic Mental Health Nurse, Junaid has created a clinical governance pathway that we’re exceptionally proud of. One that supports our candidate community in navigating challenging work and personal issues so that they are safe to practise. We thought we’d catch up with Junaid to find out more about his role and why it’s so important. Junaid, could you summarise the service that you offer?“My role is to make sure that the professionals we place deliver excellent care to patients and clients. This is not just part of our clinical governance commitment as a framework provider and health and social care employer, we provide this level of support and guidance because we care. “Our support ranges from listening to someone who has had a really tough day at work to providing clinical support to those who’ve experienced a trauma or death in service. Our focus is on making sure that these things do not impact an individual’s practice and that they can access the right support at the right time. We do not only value our workforce CPD (Continuous Professional Development) but also their wellbeing in doing their role effective and safely.”Could you walk us through the clinical support provided?“Our support to candidates starts at their clinical interview before being placed. Either myself or another clinician assesses whether a person is right for a role and that there are no clinical reasons why they should not take the position. “Once in post, we’ll follow up with the candidate at either the six or nine-month mark (depending on the framework they are appointed through) where a clinical appraisal (a performance development review) is undertaken. This is not just a tick-box exercise. We make the time to fully understand how the person is feeling within their role - professionally, mentally and physically - and explore their future objectives in their ongoing development. For example, we may chat about their career goals and where they want to be in three to five years, which can prompt a move into a new post if they’re ready. “We also deliver informal and formal supervision to support staff wellbeing, which can be extended to become more regular if a candidate is struggling with their mental health or needs help processing and recovering from a traumatic event. “We do not just signpost candidates to services. We deliver most of the mental health and wellbeing support ourselves. We put clinical personalised care plans in place that cover a wide range of therapies tailored to the individual’s needs. Our aim is to help the person get to a place where they are happy and safe to practise.” How do you make candidates feel valued?“Our involvement is not all about supporting candidates through challenging times. It’s about helping them to grow in confidence and develop their careers. “We even go as far as to support nurses and other health and social care professionals through the revalidation process, which can be quite a relief. “Recognising when a candidate has gone above and beyond or had an excellent performance review is also something that’s important. It’s not unusual for us to send chocolates or flowers to say congratulations. Likewise, I’ll also put candidates forward for certain training if I think that it will benefit them and their practice. We promote a reflective and learning approach to review incidents.”What support do you offer Sanctuary’s recruitment consultants?“One of the first things I do when a new recruitment consultant joins Sanctuary is to train them on what it’s like in the day of a working life as a nurse, social worker and so forth. I explain what it feels like to have that amount of clinical responsibility and what a typical day looks like. “This helps them to understand why candidates may sometimes feel frustrated and to always approach matters with compassion, which makes them even better at their job. At Christmas time, for example, I ask consultants to let me know if anyone they know could benefit from support, and I reach out to them. “Of course, wellbeing support is extended to all of Sanctuary’s staff. After all, it’s important that we take good care of ourselves and exercise the same levels of care to one another that we do to our health and social care community.” How do you manage complaints?“Thankfully, complaints do not happen very often, but when they do, we have a clear process in place for handling them. “As the Clinical Safeguarding Lead, my role is to seek to understand and not to judge as I am there to reduce clinical risk and look after the wellbeing of the candidate. A client may, for example, call Sanctuary to complain about a member of staff being late to work several times. The first thing I do is speak to the person concerned and explore whether anything is going on within their life, either at work or home, that could make them late. If there is, we talk through the challenges they are experiencing and possible solutions, and then I report back to the client. We also explore the clinical risks associated with such concerns and the impact on the service. “In this situation, the candidate feels supported and understood and the client is reassured that Sanctuary is resolving the problem. “If a situation with a candidate is considered a serious incident, we have a specific procedure we follow that’s in line with framework and professional body guidance. Again, we’ll always approach a situation without personal judgment. “If there are clinical concerns about a particular candidate, which is rare, we’ll never just move them on to a new position in another setting. Part of our clinical responsibility is ensuring we are accountable for the people we place. We place emphasis on patients'/service users' safety and the continuity of safe care.”
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How well do you know the job application process?
When you’re in the middle of it, the job application process can seem a little overwhelming and there are quite a few steps between you seeing a job you love and being offered the position. Before you even apply, you may have a few questions.What should I include in my application? How long should my CV be? Will I need a covering letter? How many interviews should I expect to participate in—and will testing be involved? How will the employer assess my application? And finally, how do I know if I am likely to receive a job offer?Knowing how the process works can help to ease the nerves. So, we’ve put together a quick guide that tells you everything you need to know about the job application process.Get your CV readyAll employers ask for a CV as part of your job application, so it’s essential that it’s well-organised and polished.At Sanctuary, we carefully review every CV that is sent to us, but not all recruiters or employers have the time. According to research, recruiters spend up to 7 seconds looking at a CV, which means they’re quickly scanning to see if you’re a good fit for a role.In order to pass the ‘7-second test’, you need to make sure that your CV is concise and clearly laid out so that an employer can pick out your key skills and experience quickly. Remember, some recruiters will sift through roughly 250 CVs for every job they advertise, so you want to be sure that yours matches the job description as closely as possible.In an age where personal branding is more important than ever, you may be tempted to add a photo of yourself to your CV. But this can be more harmful than you think; on average, there’s an 88% job rejection rate if you include a self-portrait. Plus, the inclusion of a photograph can sometimes alter the template of your CV when opened by the employer.Read more about what your CV should include.Write a cover letterWhen applying for a role directly, you will usually have to send in a covering letter each time you apply for a job as 53% of employers prefer candidates who have cover letters with their CVs. This can differ if you’re applying for a locum position through Sanctuary as these rarely require a covering letter. For permanent positions, your consultant will provide the employer with a detailed summary of your capabilities. It's still helpful to have a good covering letter ready, though.Your cover letter should be roughly three paragraphs long and include examples from your past experience to demonstrate why you are qualified for the role. Even if it's optional, including a cover letter is the best way to pitch your case for an interview.However, keep in mind that, on average, it takes just one or two errors for your application to be rejected. You must check to make sure that you’ve referred to practice models correctly, that your dates match up and you have no spelling or grammar mistakes. Once you’ve checked it, check it again (and then get a friend to look over it once more, just in case!)Apply for jobsYou can apply for jobs online, via email, or even in person. No matter what position you are applying for, be sure to follow the recruiter's specific directions for filling out the application.At Sanctuary, we’ve made the application process really easy. You can either apply for a job you’ve seen on our website or through a job board (e.g. Indeed). Once we have a copy of your CV and contact details, and have identified you as a strong candidate, we’ll put you forward for interview. Meanwhile, we also look for similar roles that we think you’ll be interested in, which can take a lot of the weight out of the application process.It is worth being mindful of is your online presence during this process, as some employers may have a look at your social media profile as part of their selection process. Of those that do, almost 4 in 5 say they rejected an applicant based on something they discovered online.Screening your applicationSince 250 CVs are typically submitted for each job position, with the first applications coming in on average just 200 seconds after the job is posted, employers often use applicant tracking software to recruit, screen, hire, track, and manage applicants for employment. Therefore, your application will likely be screened to determine if you are a match for the job. The software will match the information in the job applications submitted with the position requirements, so be sure to include the full titles of your job roles and qualifications rather than acronyms.ScreeningScreening can take many different forms. When applying for a frontline health or social care job, your professional registration, experience and references should sufficiently demonstrate your capabilities. Beyond this, identity and compliance checks will be carried out by the employer or recruiter to confirm your qualifications/registration and check for any criminal convictions.For non-clinical roles though, you may be expected to take a pre-employment test. These can include talent assessment tests, cognitive and personality tests, and background checks. Some tests are conducted as part of the job application process, and others will take place further along in the hiring process, after the interview and before a job offer.Interview processOn average, employers interview up to 6 candidates for each role, although this largely depends how they are choosing to recruit. If Sanctuary is recruiting exclusively for a position, you may be one of three people who have been put forward.If you have been selected for an interview, the employer can already see you being a good fit. During the interview, you will be invited to talk to the line manager, hiring manager, or employer – and sometimes all three.No matter how much interview experience you have, it’s good to be as prepared as possible. Do your research on the organisation and have a read through our interview guide, which is packed full of helpful tips. We have also prepared information on the STAR interview technique and a phone interview guide. Job offersEmployers will usually let you know within 24-48 hours, and often sooner, whether you’ve got the job. It’s a great moment when you receive the call you’ve been waiting for. All that’s left is for you to accept the position, agree a start date, review and sign your contract and hand your notice in to your current employer and prepare for your first day.Now it’s time to put your knowledge to the test…Find more careers advice here.
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