As a travel nurse, I have spoken to, messaged with, and worked with my fair share of travel agencies and recruiters. It can be really overwhelming, especially when you are first getting started and realize there are hundreds of companies to chose from. When deciding what travel agency to work with, I would reach out to someone you know who has done or is doing travel nursing. They may have a great recruiter who they can recommend with a specific company. Often times, companies give referral bonuses, so you’ll also be helping out a fellow nurse!
This way, someone you know has had a good experience with not only the agency, but also the recruiter. Your recruiter is who you will be in communication with the most. They are the one who find job openings for your specialty. Sometimes if they aren’t on top of it, you might miss out completely on a job you want. You want this to be someone who is responsive and to the point. I have different relationships with each of my recruiters.
Have Recruiters With Multiple Agencies
Yes. I said ALL of my recruiters. Some people believe in sticking with one company and being loyal to their recruiter. That’s great too! I love my recruiters, and I’ve had good experiences for the most part with every agency I’ve worked with. However, there are jobs that one agency might have that another doesn’t have access to. There was also an instance where I took a contract with a company who paid me less than every other traveler I was working with. (This was my first travel contract, so I was a rookie. It really felt like I was taken advantage of, so I have not traveled with that company again.)
On the flip side, if you have a truly amazing recruiter and don’t want to deal with going back and forth with so many people, sticking to one agency has its perks. For one, you won’t have to keep submitting all of your paperwork, doing competency tests, etc. This is so nice when you do use an agency more than one time. If you use them for one contract, use someone else for the next, and then go back to the first agency, they will still have all of your information.
My Agencies
To be transparent and give you an idea of what I do, I have recruiters with Host Healthcare, AMN Healthcare, Aya Healthcare, Cross Country Nurses, MedStaff Pro, TotalMed, and Trusted (a bit different, I will talk about this later). I have actually taken contracts with Medical Solutions, AMN, Host, and Cross Country. You can talk to however many people that you’d like. It gives you the opportunity to see what’s out there. They all have websites where you can keep an eye on available jobs as well, and often times I will message my recruiter to say I want to get submitted for a job I’m interested in.
The downside to this is that I get a ton of calls, texts, and emails each month or two checking in to see if I’m looking for something. It can be annoying. If it’s a company I don’t work with or don’t want to work with, I just block the number and don’t respond. For the ones I do want to work with, I let them know when I’ve booked another assignment and when I will be looking again.
Agencies Without Recruiters
There are agencies out there now that you can work with who don’t have recruiters. This means you are in charge of finding your own jobs (which I sometimes do anyways, even with a recruiter). But most importantly, you might not have as much support if an issue arises with your contract. I haven’t actually taken a contract with any of these companies yet, but I do have profile with Trusted.
They assign a sort-of advisor or helper to message you in case you need any assistance with anything. They also explain the expectations for certain jobs. For example, some jobs will have requirements, some will have “recommendations”. This is where the employer would like you to have a certain certification, but it isn’t necessary to be hired. The thing with jobs like these, if someone else applies to it with those suggestions, they might be hired before you if you don’t have it. I hope that makes sense. This applies to any travel job.
Know Where You Want to Work
Many agencies have contracts in all 50 states, but not all. Some of the companies I work with have special relationships with certain hospital systems (ex: Kaiser Permanente). If you want to work for that specific system, it would do you well to find an agency with a relationship with them. I have experienced it multiple times where I am applying to jobs that one agency doesn’t have the same job as another agency does.
The other thing is knowing what state. Like I said, not all agencies have contracts in, say, Hawaii. When I was first looking for a job in Hawaii, the first thing I asked a potential recruiter was if they ever get contracts there. If the answer was no, I didn’t work with them. In doing this, my first ever travel nurse contract was in Hawaii!
Communication
How does your recruiter communicate? Do you like a chatty recruiter who gets to know you personally or are you more of a “get to the point” kind of person? Do you wait days for your recruiter to reply to you or are they on top of it? These are all important things to note before taking a contract with an agency. Like I said above, your recruiter is who you are communicating with the most. If something goes wrong during your assignment, they are who you will reach out to. They are the ones who will be helping sort out issues.
I would also encourage you to ask them about communication preferences and what is best for them. Does a phone call work best or an email? Are they in a different time zone? I often times text my recruiters, but sometimes they only have work texting while they are actually at work, so if they aren’t in until the next afternoon, they won’t see it for a day. If it is urgent that can be an issue.
Something else I have had problems with is lack of communication when they are on vacation. Usually a recruiter will email me saying they are out of the office from whatever dates, but that XYZ is their backup while they’re away. They give me the number and email of the replacement if I need anything. It has happened where I haven’t gotten a message like this before though, and my recruiter is out of the office for a few days. So when I email or message about something important, I don’t get a response.
Trust me when I say that a lack of communication ends up becoming a lack of trust in the relationship with your recruiter. Just like it would with any relationship. It’s important to ask about how they go about these things when you are preparing to work with them and make sure you can trust this person.
Money
Of course, this has to be a topic. If you are going into travel nursing, you likely are looking forward to some higher paychecks than if you were a staff. Depending on if you are really wanting to go to a specific location, or you just want to follow the money, you can do that.
If I am open to going anywhere (I have a compact license that allows me to work in 39 states) I let my recruiter know that and tell them to send me potential contracts that are above a certain amount of money. I also usually look for day shift positions, so I can let them know that too. The more money I make, the higher their commission, so they are usually happy to do this.
Side note: Make sure, especially when working a really high paying job, that you take out the appropriate taxes. Some companies allow you to not withhold taxes, but that will come back to bite you during tax season! Trust me. That money has to be paid one way or another.
What tips do you have for newbie travelers and what travel agency to use? Is there anything you’ve experienced as a traveler that you think is important to put on this list? Let me know in the comments! Also, read up on my pros and cons to travel nursing!
