New Travel RN, looking for advice on companies

desta · Nov 10, 2011

Hey RNyogi,

Just found your post - I am heading out to Portland for a few months & am looking for travel/staffing agencies that actually do placements in that area. Also thinking about drifting southward to California at some point. Just curious if you ever found any that you would recommend...

Thanks!

-Desta

79Tango · Nov 10, 2011

Desta what dept do you work? I know there is a "Procedure RN" & possibly "ICU" opening coming up in Portland.

I dont make recommendations in the open but you can PM or email me and Ill tell you what I know.

AppleRN4 · Nov 13, 2011

As much as I say I hated American Mobile, I should clarify that I HATED my experience with my recruiter, not the company itself. They paid pretty well in the contracts I did with them prior to switching. And they're a big umbrealla company that has managed to monopolize all the Kaiser contracts in SoCal/maybe even all of CA when I traveled with them. In short, they always have jobs available, especially for a new traveler.

dixRN · Nov 14, 2011

Look on Delphi Forums also under travel nursing. They have a category just about companies.

desta · Nov 16, 2011

Wow.. thank you everyone... sorry for the delay in responding but somehow I didn't get the alerts that there were responses!

79Tango - I don't think I have posted enough to send PMs or something but as soon as I do I will drop you a line. I am in the ED right now but actually have thought about switching to a more procedural area for a while (like cath lab or endoscopy where you need critical care skills and get to use them but it's a little less hectic than running around after ten or fifteen patients at a time...)

Vagabond - thanks for the Am Mobile feedback... I'd heard from a friend in CA that they had cornered the KP market- do you know if that's true in OR as well?

dixRN - will definitely check out Delphi...

79Tango · Nov 16, 2011

Desta, you should have no problem finding an ER contract, theres alot more of them than cath lab contracts.

GAVagabond, if I read your other post correctly you were making $55/HR working for AM? Daaang, I would take an idiot recruiter for that kind of dough!

AppleRN4 · Nov 17, 2011

Lol, trust me Tango, you wouldn't take the recruiter I had. She never listened and was too quick to say 'no' to whatever I needed. At some point, I had to draw the line based on her lack of listening/communications skills; Granted I made good money from them, she completely ruined the experience for me.

Desta, I don't have an Oregon license so I don't know the answer to your question, but if I had to make a educated guess, I'd say that AM has monopolized Oregon as well. It's not that far from CA. You're welcome, and good luck to you!

yogalove · Nov 17, 2011

hello again to everyone and thank you for your many responses!!

desta - i did find a company that i think has been great so far. it's called parallon. now, i can't say this from experience of taking an assignment with them, i've just been talking with them, and from my experiences with them so far - they are awesome!!

as many people have said, it depends on your recruiter, and mine seems to be very competent and extremely nice. i've been looking at some things online (like the delphi forum among others) and it seems like rn network and medical solutions are companies that have high satisfaction from the nurses that travel with them. i've also talked with cctc about positions in the cali/oregon/wash area and they have lots of positions available out there....

79Tango · Nov 17, 2011

Cmon Yogi, you CANNOT go hyping a company you havent worked for.. EVERYONE is great (at first).

Let us know once they get you set-up with an interview and make you an offer or something. Seriously though, what good is a recruiter if they cannot put you to work?

yogalove · Nov 17, 2011

yes, tango this is true. i'm definitely not trying to hype a company that i haven't been placed on assignment with....which is why i stated that i haven't been put on assignment yet. i just know what it feels like to be completely new to looking into travel nursing, and sometimes pointing someone in a certain direction can help. just trying to provide support for others!!!! i know i don't want to go looking into a company that everyone has had a bad experience with. that's all.....

i haven't been placed on assignment yet d/t a small road block in my travel experience that i didn't mention in my last post........i've been doing home health nursing for the last 2 years. (before that i did hospital work for 3 years). i want to get into travel nursing getting back into the acute care setting. cctc offered to get me travel positions in home health nursing, but i don't think i want to do that. cctc is the only one who could have me travel off of my current home health experience.

all the other companies i talked to stated that you must have 3-6 months current inpatient experience before you can travel.

since i don't want to do home health travel nursing, i'm going to pick up shifts around my local hospitals for the next 3-6 months and then get placed. yes, i will give more feedback once i have actually gotten an assignment. i'm not trying to lead anyone astray here.......just trying to help and give some suggestions based on my experiences thus far!

p.s. tango - not everyone has been nice so far. i've actually had a few companies be very rude to me when they found out that i worked in home health for the past 2 years.....and i don't see any reason for that! :)

79Tango · Nov 17, 2011

You are new and I can tell your heart is in the right place so Im be nice too.. However with everything you have just typed why are you even asking about all of these other companies? Seriously, what is up?

Like I said in your other thread.. You will go with whoever gets you a job and puts a contract in front of you...right? It might be CrapStaffing but if they got work thats where you will be (if you are serious about traveling).