I'm someone that wants to hit different locations versus going for biggest pay every time. I'm signed up with multiple agencies but even between them I don't always have the best options. I'm thinking about googling hospitals and just calling their HR to see if they use travelers and if so, what agency? Has anyone done this? Would the HR assistant answering the phone know these answers?

Either HR or staffing. If the hospital uses a vendor manager, they may not be able to name individual agencies but the VM could. Both may decline to answer for no good reason but if you can get past voice mail, you have a shot. Of course you still won't know if they have an opening for a traveler but you can ask about that too.

I tried HR once and she wouldn't tell me. She said they want permanent nurses, not temps, and if I'm interested, I need to apply. I told her I am interested, but I want to first get a feel for the hospital and environment before deciding on staying there permanent. Her lips were sealed. Dumb move IMO. Travelers who become perm are ideal since they won't need to spend the money training you, and if someone liked it well enough to become staff, it's probably safe to say they won't quit after 6 months like so many do.

HR is a huge road block in many hospitals even if you want perm. Some HR departments screen travelers and the manager never sees the profile. I was actually blacklisted by one hospital's HR for calling the manager after they had my profile for two weeks. She never saw it. Nothing venture nothing win in that case. But I have called several hospitals about what agency they used.

In fact, before I started traveling, I walked into Miami Heart Institute in person while I was in Miami Beach on vacation and asked them about needs for travelers and what agencies they used. I went there that winter!

I never dealt with my hospital's HR as a traveler, only with the unit manager. And I work in one of the biggest hospitals in NYC. However, I previously did apply online to several positions there for perm before traveling and never ever got past HR. Sometimes I feel like I was able to work at that hospital by walking in through the back door

And now my manager has said she would consider me for a position later on if I decided to come back. I may not since I will want a more critical care role as staff. However, it's great to have someone like this know me on the job as opposed to just paper. Sometimes I think getting past HR is a big plus if you can wing it.

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