Recruiter Issues

[Travel_Lusting]

Hi All,

I am a Canadian RN preparing to start travel nursing in the US hopefully as early as this summer or early fall. First when I looked for a travel company I searched approx. 50 websites. I settled on Nurses Rx because they are partnered with Fresenius (dialysis product manufacturer) so they have many dialysis opportunities. Also, the recruiter was eager to get me on board and get the ball rolling. As far as helping with the paperwork, they have been marvellous, but at times I found my recruiter difficult to get answers from. I would email her with a few questions and sometimes she would write back answering one question or perhaps not even write back at all (which is happening now). I found a few websites which do not give Nurse Rx the best ranking and I may be questioning my choice because of this only.

Can anyone share their experiences with NursesRx or recommend other companies that specialize in dialysis travel nursing? Also, would it be inappropriate for me to request a different recruiter at NursesRx? After doing some reading on this forum I can see that the recruiter is the nurses' lifeline during an assignment and right now I do not have much faith in mine.

Any insight anyone can share would be much appreciated. Thanks so much in advance.

[NedRN]

Unfortunately, only if you have a problem can you discover how well the recruiter/agency will support you. I do have to say though that a failed drug screen is also out of the agency's control. Remember, this is not like a regular job. The agency can only afford to pay you if you generate billable hours. They don't have a margin that can allow for injuries or any other issue that causes missed hours. You'll note that the hospital didn't cut you any slack either. But here is hoping the agency helps. The more history you have with an agency showing proven value, the more likely they are to treat you well. So that is also not in your favor this time. Best of luck!

[Strawberrykool]

I was going to take a contract with nurses rx and decided against it when they tried to pay me less money to go to the same facility I went to before. Being that they represent a part of AMN. AMN contracted my current agency and I was paid more money to go through another agency that they contracted then to go straight through them. Which made no sense at all.

[NedRN]

Oh, it does make sense. I'm going to assume that American Mobile has the vendor management contract there. Such contracts have an overhead of around 3%, meaning that AM charges the hospital about 3% of the bill rate, even if a subcontracting agency of AM supplies the traveler. Now consider that in the travel industry, agencies make between 18 and 40 percent of the bill rate - which is everything that is not paid in compensation, benefits, and payroll taxes to the traveler. AM is on the high side of that gross profit margin. It is easy to see that the 3% overhead of a vendor manager is easily overwhelmed by the 22% gross margin spread between different agencies. Thus it is not uncommon for a subcontracting agency to pay more than the agency who holds the VM contract although it seems paradoxical at first glance. Parallon (formerly All About Staffing) which is the in-house VM for HCA hospitals is similar in that their subcontractors often pay travelers more than Parallon.

That is the simple story but there are complexities. Some vendor managers do not also have their own agency like AM and HCA. They are pure vendor managers and are vendor neutral - showing no favoritism. While AM's contract with this particular facility may require them to be vendor neutral, that is not always the case. Nevertheless, they are required to provide the needed travelers, and when they cannot, either the hospital will go around the VM and hire a rapid response company to supply necessary staff, or the VM will increase the bill rate until they can locate the right traveler from their subcontracting agencies. The result is the same in that the traveler will get paid more than the VM in-house traveler.

Takes a bit to wrap your head around this as it would seem obvious that the in-house agency traveler can be paid more. Sometimes it is so, but not as often as most would imagine. To me, the primary advantage to working directly for the vendor manager (sometimes called the prime vendor) is first crack at available assignments, not money. There is one other disadvantage to working for the VM in that if something happens, you don't have an independent advocate on your side as a middleman.

[PrimeTimeJrod]

Instead of choosing one "Single" large recruiting company, my advice would be to find a smaller staffing agency that you like, since they will be able to be more personal with you, and help you find a better job, suited perfectly for you. In the larger companies, those recruiters will be juggling HUNDREDS of nurses and thousands of jobs, and rarely can remember everything you want or follow up with any kind of realistic consistency. Once you find a smaller company and recruiter you like...FIND ANOTHER ONE TOO! And maybe another! This way, you get all the benefits of working with a better recruiter, AND you get the higher pay rate too; not to mention that with 2-4 recruiters working for you, you WILL find the position you want!

[BonniesmomRN]

Thanks for the advice PrimeTime. Would you have any suggestions for smaller companies ? Or even ones to avoid?