One of the best aspects of travel nursing is the potential it affords you. Pay rate, location, shift– all are negotiable and can be shopped out to best meet your needs at any given time!
What is the best way to make sure you have the most options available in your career as a travel nurse? Have multiple travel nurse recruiters!
Why you should work with multiple travel nurse recruiters:
This is important for one main reason: exclusive contracts. Every company will have access to certain jobs based on their relationship with hospitals and vendor companies. Therefore, to have the best access to jobs, you need to have a travel nurse recruiter from a few different companies who have different relationships with different hospitals or systems.
It may sound like a lot at first, but it is totally normal and a good travel nurse recruiter will expect you to have other recruiters as well. The key to balancing all of this is to be open about it with your recruiter(s). Be up front and say something like “I just wanted to let you know I have another recruiter looking for contracts right now as well. I will let you know as soon as I sign a contract if I choose to go with them based on what we find.”
Another helpful thing is to let your recruiter know what is most important to you as they look for jobs. This can help them be more successful in their search, and you with your overall satisfaction. Don’t say you are open to night shift if you really are not, for example. If you really, really need a specific location at a certain time, tell them that!
A good travel nurse recruiter will also let you know if they simply don’t have what you need at that moment. They won’t try to draw you into jobs that don’t fit your needs if you have done a good job at communicating what those are. A good travel nurse recruiter should say something like “I’m sorry I don’t have that right now, but I’ll be here whenever your contract finishes up and we can try and find the right fit for the next one!”
If a travel nurse recruiter tries to tell you that it is abnormal or bad to have more than one recruiter–they are not looking out for your best interest. While a good recruiter might be able to do some digging or reach out to try and “find” a position that will fit your needs, they ultimately can recognize that they simply might not have the job that you need right now. However, if they are smart and courteous they will realize that building a good relationship and leaving the door open for you to circle back is more valuable than being a hard sell or discouraging you from doing what is best for you.
At the end of the day, your relationship with your travel nurse recruiters should be treated as a business relationship. The respect should be mutual, and communication should be direct and open without causing the other person to take things personally.
Remember that this goes both ways. While your travel nurse recruiter needs to be respectful and communicative to you, it helps them do their job better if you can reciprocate these actions. Don’t ghost them if you find another assignment, or if you are upset with something they are doing. Instead–communicate! Let them know why you are frustrated. Tell them you took another assignment but will be done on a specific date. A good travel nurse recruiter will not be offended, they will be appreciative that you have enough respect for them to communicate.
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Are you on the hunt for your next travel nurse gig? Look no further than our job board! Click here to explore all our current opportunities.
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