How to write a locum posting that actually gets filled

If you run a clinic in Malaysia, you already know the drill: type the shift into the group, wait, chase, re-post when the first replier goes quiet. It works, mostly. It also wastes an afternoon a week.

We read ~150 real locum posts from a Selangor/KL Telegram group, 26–27 June 2026 to see what separates a posting that fills from one that gets scrolled past. The pattern is clearer than you'd expect.

Say the rate properly, not just the number

70% of posts bundle incentives into the rate, and "+ incentives" without detail reads as vague at best and evasive at worst. If it's RM5 a procedure, say RM5 a procedure. A doctor comparing two RM40 shifts will take the one whose arithmetic they can actually do.

Same for tiers. "1–15 pts RM40/h, 31+ RM50/h" is honest and specific, and it tells a doctor you've thought about their day. A bare RM45 with no load figure asks them to take busyness on trust — some will, the good ones ask first, and asking costs you both an hour.

Volunteer the patient load

About a third of postings mention it — "chill clinic", "average 20 patients/day", "load < 30" — and those are the ones doctors screenshot. It costs you one clause and removes the single biggest unknown in the offer. If your clinic is genuinely quiet, that's a selling point. If it's busy, say so and price it: the doctor who accepts anyway is the one who'll come back.

Say when you pay

60% of posts state payment terms, which tells you it's on doctors' minds. "Online transfer, within 3 working days" is a competitive advantage over silence — and a clinic with a reputation for paying quickly stops having to compete on rate at all.

Be careful with URGENT

Four in five postings shout it. It has stopped working. If everything in the group is urgent, urgency is just the background noise of the group — and a genuinely urgent slot of yours reads exactly like the routine one posted a minute earlier. Save it for when it's true and it might do something.

Post all your dates at once

Recurring and multi-date work is common — "every Thursday", twelve dates in July. Posting them one at a time is a dozen messages and a dozen chances to be scrolled past. Posting them together lets a doctor take three of your dates in one decision, which is how you end up with a regular instead of a stranger every week.

The six things worth saying

1. 1The rate, and its shape — flat, tiered, session, or hourly plus a top-up.
2. 2What the incentives actually are, in numbers.
3. 3Typical patient load.
4. 4When and how you pay.
5. 5Whether the break is paid.
6. 6Your cancellation policy — plainly, before they commit.

Or let the form ask for you

On LocumMY, a posting has fields for all six, so you don't have to remember them — post every date in one go, each becoming its own claimable slot. Your slot collects applicants rather than going to whoever texted first, and you pick from real profiles: years of experience, MMC number, and an admin-checked IC and APC.

Contacts are exchanged only once you confirm someone, so your clinic's number isn't sitting in a public thread. It's free to post. Post your slots.