I'm a critical nurse with 4-5 years experience. Just got my Cali license. I've been working with Travel Nurse Across America. I picked them because they had high ratings on multiple sites. But the examples of pay rates my recruiter has been sending me seem low. For example: Oakland ICU position at Kaiser starts at 20/hr. The "blended rate" ends up being like 24/hr. That's what I make in Michigan with a much lower cost of living!
M&I is about 31/day... That's around 11000 for a 13 week assignment if I go with their housing. There is a 1000 dollar travel reimbursement in that.
Am I being ripped off or does this seem like about the right starting point? I'm only still working with this recruiter because she has helped me from the start, but I'm not sure she's going to get more for me. Every time I tell her.. "look, I need more" her response is to be more flexible, after all.. it is your first travel job and it only lasts 13 weeks" I've been recently looking at other companies. Companies my friends have worked with. They offer a little better wages, but overall the with benefits and the tax advantages, it kind of looks pretty close.
I realize that as a first time traveler, I need to be flexible... any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
