Last month, London-based PR consultancy Salix came to leading UK modelling agency Talent Management looking for a selection of diverse ‘real-looking’ models – which of course is our speciality!

The consultancy firm, known in the industry for their energetic approach to business, were looking to update the image library of one of their clients who provide flexible staff to the NHS.

So that the images would appeal to a broad base of people in the recruitment industry, Salix requested a selection of both male and female models that represented a diverse range of sizes, ethnicities and ages.

Needing to present the client’s various staff groups, our task was to find models to act as doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and hospital admin staff for images suitable for  publications, websites and recruitment campaigns.

With this strict brief in mind, Talent Management’s model booking team quickly got to work and headed over a great selection of models.

Of those put forward for the job, 8 lucky models with ranging ethnic backgrounds, from Indian to African, made the cut and were booked in for the February shoot.

Prior to the photoshoot, all our models were briefed beforehand by our modelling assignments team, and were asked to arrive at the shoot with clean hair, clean, short nails with no nail varnish or false nails, and no make-up, as a make-up artist was booked on the day. The group were also asked to bring a pair of black flat shoes, with rubber soles, ready to style with the uniforms.

On the day of the job, which took place on location at St Georges Hospital in Tooting, London, four of our chosen models – Morimba (43), Kate (34), Thao (26) and David (43) – all had an early morning start, with a 4-hour shoot booked in at 8am, while Talent Management’s remaining models – Kalu (45), Darren (45), Waleed (22) and Karen (42) – all had their shoot a little later on, kicking off at 11am.

Shortly after the 2 shoots, our models wrote to us expressing how much fun they’d had on the day.

Morimda, who was paid a healthy fee of £198.00 for her modelling efforts, told us how the experience had helped her grow in confidence: “I had a great experience being a model for the day, it was fun. The most enjoyable part of the assignment, which involved promoting the diverse roles of NHS staff, was meeting others members of the Talent Management agency. Through this job, I believe I have developed my acting skills, and the experience has definitely given me more confidence.”

Our male model Kalu, however, told us that for him the experience was all about having fun: “Talent Management asked me to model for NHS Professionals where I posed as a doctor and an Allied Health Professional in a hospital setting with different outfits. I was a bit nervous at first when I got to where we where doing the photo-shoot, but the staff and other models made me comfortable. I had so much fun from the experience, the photographer made us feel at ease and I felt real good doing stills and action shots. I would definitely love to do it again. It was so much fun and Talent Management are a great team.”

For the youngest of the group, Waleed, this was his first taste of modelling and he too thoroughly enjoyed the learning curve. “First of all thank you Talent Management for this wonderful modelling assignment, which was for the NHS’ new uniform update. I really enjoyed it, and every one was supportive and helpful. I learnt a lot of new things like being confident while posing and creating strong facial expressions. This was my first assignment with Talent Management and it was fun; I think it’s a good start and I have to learn a lot in my life. If you are thinking of becoming a model, I recommend Talent Management; it’s the right platform to boost your career,” the young model told us.

Reading through the rest of the feedback, which can be viewed on Talent Management’s Success Stories, it seems all 8 models truly took something positive from the assignments, not to mention nearly £200 each!