Are shifts guaranteed on Airlocum?
❌ Short answer: No Airlocum does not guarantee shifts. Booking volume depends on your location, profile quality, performance history, and the demand for locums in your area. The good news: most of the factors that influence your booking rate are directly within your control. |
Airlocum is an on-demand marketplace. Practices post shifts when they need cover, and the platform matches them with the best available locums based on location, reliability, rating, and skills. There is no allocation of guaranteed hours — your results reflect how well your profile and performance position you in that matching process.
What Influences Your Booking Rate
Factor | What it means and what you can do |
Location | Urban areas with more practices generate more shift volume. If you are in a rural area, expanding your travel radius is the most effective way to compensate. |
Travel radius | The single biggest lever you can pull. A wider radius means more practices can find you. Adjust in Professional Details. |
Hourly rate | Keep your rate competitive for your role, experience, and location. A rate significantly above the local market will reduce the number of practices who include you in their search results. |
Star rating | Aim for 4.5 stars or above. Your rating is visible to practices and affects your position in the matching algorithm. Consistent professionalism, punctuality, and initiative drives it up. |
Reliability score | Maintain 90% or above. Calculated from your last 10 shifts — late cancellations and no-shows reduce it. New locums start at 90%, so the priority is protecting that score from the outset. |
Profile completeness | A complete profile with a professional photo, verified documents, and a full skills section maximises how often you appear in practice searches. |
Check-In engagement | Using the Check-In feature before each shift signals reliability and positively affects your algorithm ranking. |
Building Long-Term Booking Consistency
The most consistent locums on Airlocum are not necessarily the closest or cheapest — they are the ones practices want back. A locum added to multiple Favourites lists fills their calendar through repeat direct bookings rather than competing in every wave.
• Every shift is an opportunity to earn a repeat booking. A ‘Yes’ on the post-shift review question ‘Would you have this locum back?’ adds you directly to that practice’s Favourites list.
• Reliability compounds. A strong reliability score and high rating keep you in early notification waves, which means you see shifts before locums with lower scores — and have more time to accept them.
• Review your settings regularly. Rates, travel distance, and availability all affect your booking volume. A quick review every few weeks keeps your profile competitive.
💬 Not sure why your bookings are low? The Airlocum support team can review your profile settings and identify specific improvements. If needed, they can also reach out to practices in your area on your behalf to help increase your visibility. Contact support via live chat at airlocum.co.uk — response time is under 2 minutes. |
