Agency Nursing - WDYT?

U.S.A. Illinois

Published

DH and I are moving to Chicago in August (yay!) and will be living in the Lakeview area. We are expecting our IL license soon but haven't really seen any job openings in the Chicago area. We were thinking that we could both sign up with agencies for a few month to get a feel for different hospitals & hopefully work our way into a job that way.

Would this work?

Are there any nurses on here that do agency work in the Chicagoland area? Has the economy hurt agency nursing any? DH does ER/ICU and I do NICU. Do you think we will be able to get at least 2 shifts a week if we sign up with 1-2 agencies?

I am terrified of quitting my job, moving across the country & not having a job! Due to family reasons though we have to move in August!

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I think you can each definitely get 2 shifts a week. I currently work agency for PNI. (LOVE them!) Not sure what agency nursing was like in Chicago pre-recession though because I just moved here in August. If I make myself available 5 days, I get at least 3 days. I don't know about NICU, but your husband should do well with ER/ICU. May I ask what state you're coming from? I only ask because I got a rude awakening coming to Illinois from California. I wasn't aware most of the hospitals here have 8 hour shifts. Typically ER & ICU have 12 hour shifts but for other specialties most people do 8's.

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We are from CA as well! 8 hr shifts = yikes!!!

12 hrs is rough but I LOVE only working 3 days a week! Luckily we are both ICU people so hopefully this won't be an issue, but thanks for giving us a heads up!

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