Fastaff or Cross Country ?

Dixielee, BSN, RN · Apr 21, 2005

I have heard very little good about either of these companies. I never did get a return call from Fastaff when I was beginning to look at travel companies, and could never get a straight answer on many things from Cross Country. I went with RN Network in 2000 and have been extremely happy with them. Do your homework, talk to travelers who have been around a while, read this forum etc. and get familiar with various agencies before you committ. If you feel you are getting the run around, do not pursue them. If they are not committed enough to recruit you, they will surely not be available if you really need them while on assignment.

sandi917 · Apr 21, 2005

I have heard very little good about either of these companies. I never did get a return call from Fastaff when I was beginning to look at travel companies, and could never get a straight answer on many things from Cross Country. I went with RN Network in 2000 and have been extremely happy with them. Do your homework, talk to travelers who have been around a while, read this forum etc. and get familiar with various agencies before you committ. If you feel you are getting the run around, do not pursue them. If they are not committed enough to recruit you, they will surely not be available if you really need them while on assignment.

Thank you for responding so quickly!! I will take your advice and appreciate it.

suzanne4, RN · Apr 21, 2005

I would stay away from both of those................

Travel assignments are also based on where you want to go to, not all agencies staff all states and cities..............you need to narrow things fown first as to where you would like to go to...........

ReefDragon · Apr 29, 2005

I am currently signed up with both and have did assignments for both of them as well. Cross Country tends to have the most assignments but their pay is usually severly lacking. Fastaff has fewer assignments but usually cannot be beat for salary. Fastaff tends to have assignments ranging from 4 wks and upward while Cross Country is 13wk+. Both are good companies in my book. With Cross Country, they staff a little further out than Fastaff. You usually know where you will be going 4-6 wks in advance while Fastaff is usually under 4 wks. What I tend to do come time to decide where to go next is contact the companies I an signed up with and see what is available. I choose the Hospital/area I want to go to and then ask all the companies......"XYZ Hospital in anywhere, USA has a nights position in the ICU with a startdate of June 10th. What will you pay for me to go there?" This method tends to get me a few dollars more per hour. I also find that companies lowball me on wage less as they know I basically go where I want with whoever will pay the most (I purchase my health insurance via the internet so benefits are not an issue).

nyck76 · Apr 30, 2005

I have not worked for either, but I have dealt with both. Like everyone else said, it depends on what is important to you. I do take insurance, so the cost and types of insurance available is part of what I look at since I have prescription meds and see the doctor every 3 months. Also look at who has long and short term disability, because when I first started I travelled with Preferred Healthcare/ Nurses RX for 2 years, not realizing that if something happened to me and I had to take off for awhile, I would have to rely on my savings because the company didn't offer disability. So now I really pay attention to that. Plus some of these companies that do offer insurance for free have crappy coverage.

Cross Country has lots of assignments, but has shared housing and lower hourly pay. Fastaff has private housing, but you have to beware because they staff alot of "Crisis situation" hospitals, which most take you just by looking at your profile and don't even interview you. I have found that I never go anywhere that doesn't conduct phone interviews since most of those facilities are hurting for nurse bad and don't treat travelers very well.

http://WWW.healthcaretraveler.com is a magazine with a lot of info just for travelers and has a lot of companies in it to contact. I tend to chose companies based on private housing, insurance, and rental car. I don't wanna put any more wear and tear on my car, I only go with companies that provide it and all inclusive housing that has linens, pots and pans, vaccum, etc. I hope I helped you out in someway. LOL. I wish I could have asked someone before I started on what to look for in a company and how to put things in my contract. I have learned alot along the way thats for sure.

k_cole21 · May 2, 2005

Cross Country is aweful. They had a couple traveling together & they were paying $400 a month for their housing! One of them should have been getting subsidy! They also don't pay well & aren't straight forward.

barefootlady, ADN, RN · May 2, 2005

I would stay away from both of these companies. There are a lot of companies out there, look some more.