Fellow Traveler, Do You Have A Contract For The First of The Year?

packtraveler06 · Dec 18, 2008

Try to be patient, I have been looking for 6wks and just go a job for 1/5 on friday. I usually use two different travel companies, but this time around I handed my profile out like candy!! (I would not normally recommend this method as it is very time consuming!!) What is the old saying, desperate times call for desperate measures? As luck would have it my primary company is the one who ended up getting me a job. I also finally consented to being a little bit more flexible (i.e I usually work nights but applied for a day/night rotation, offered to rotate campuses of larger hospitals, etc.) Be VERY careful because hospitals are trying to spread the nurses even thinner. Perfect example is the contract I am currently in.... the hospital hired MANY ICU nurses instead of the tele/medsurg/er/cardiac/heme-onc nurses that they needed and then just told the travellers on arrival that they had policy changes requiring floating to all units..... that way if the ICU got busy (which it usually does at this hospital) they could pull all of these ICU nurses that they floated out back to the ICU. Bottom line.... they had ICU nurses that worked in the ICU less than 10 shifts for an entire contract. I have several other ICU nurse friends working in different states that said other hospitals are trying to do that as well.... Good luck

rodggang · Dec 18, 2008

Hello,

I have gotten the itch to go traveling again and have also noticed that jobs are not as plentiful as before. I am not in a huge hurry, but would like to get something for January or February. My recruiters tell me they hope things will get better after the first of the year. Do you think that with the way the economy is affecting the retirement nest eggs of us baby boomers that we will not see them retiring as early as they planned? I know I am looking at working longer than I had planned.

Cris

bagladyrn, RN · Dec 18, 2008

Yes, it really is getting much tighter! I finally got a contract lined up for after my current one, but had to be extremely flexible about where I would go and the contracts I would consider, even to the wage I would consider. (I didn't communicate this last to my recruiter, but I did consider whether some of the lower paying contracts would do to "hold me over"). I put out my info for contracts in at least 6 different states all over the country. I only drew the line at North Dakota in the winter! Just couldn't see myself going there!

Hang in there!

IndigoCarmine · Dec 18, 2008

My current contract ends Jan 10th and after that, I have nothing. I'm going to try and stay put one more contract, but the nurse mgr warned me that she'd not being given free reign to hire enough travellers to replace the 5-7 that have left! :banghead:

Spiderella · Dec 18, 2008

I just started a contract...but that was after sitting at home scrambling for four weeks! One of my fellow travelers had her contract canceled the DAY BEFORE she was to start. She lost so much money travelling cross country and then having to backtrack. She stayed home for seven weeks, looking for a job, and then this rotating ICU shift cropped up.

Times are hard, you're right, being flexible is the key...good luck to everyone!

neurorn6 · Dec 30, 2008

I had hope to find a different position, but now I am extending my current contract. I had to accept another 13 weeks, it was that or nothing. Hopefully, spring will be better.

IndigoCarmine · Dec 30, 2008

I extended, too. It was too much of a scramble and too much worry to do otehrwise.

I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that April will bring more jobs!

haras regnurps · Dec 31, 2008

Well I do not have a contract. Have been looking since I got back to the states. ( was in Africa on a mission trip )

Thought that my agency would have something lined up for when I got back. That was at the end of Nov. and still have no contract. This is getting scary and I am kinda desperate. Know that things can change tomorrow but don't like this at all......................

MtGypsy, ADN · Jan 3, 2009

I too am getting nervous about contracts. According to my recruiter "contracts should start coming in January". Well...it's January and I still don't have a contract. I do Med/Surg, which always has less jobs posted. I love my agency and hope they can come through soon but I have also put in applications at some larger companies..it's just such a hassle to fill out all the paperwork. I've thought about applying to local hospitals, but they aren't hiring. (one hospital has 27 open nursing positions!) I thought I would take the Holidays off this year, so haven't worked since October!! I hate to admit that I'm bored, and that money is slim. MMMmmmmm doesn't the kitty food smell good :) Just kidding, thank heaven for ramen noodles!!! It's tough when both spouses do contract work in a weird world. Well, thanks for listening to my venting..... Things have to pick up, otherwise who will provide patient care?

neurorn6 · Jan 3, 2009

The contracts are out there, you just have to work through the crap to get there. I saw on my companies site, more listings. I think that facilities are just being more picky. Hang in there! By the way, my kids love Ramen Noodles. LOL

By the way, its fairly warm here in SC!

USIJurgy · Jan 3, 2009

I agree that times are definitely tough for travelers right now. I work at a hospital in Manhattan and it seems the economy has finally taken its toll on the hospitals- no overtime for staff, no more travelers after January 31st and a hiring freeze (I hear mid management is next to go). Luckily my dept's mgr is allowed to fill the five vacancies she has now so I have opted to stop traveling and stay in NYC. I am sad to stop traveling but this is a great ER. Good luck in your search!