AMERICAN MOBILE

That is good advice, and it is refreshing to hear a good story about an experience with any agency. I know AM tends to compartmentalize different tasks, like recruiting, benefits, housing, credentialing and so on, but I'd be interested in knowing if you believe your positive experience is the result of the agency culture, or if you experienced something that can be had at any agency if you had the same recruiter?

One of the interesting things about large agencies like AM is that perhaps a large majority of their travelers have not worked anywhere else, and do have little interest in forums like this one that discusses agencies. Mostly you only find traveler reports on social media who have had a bad experience with a large agency and left (and need a new agency or recruiter). That leaves a very unfair skewing of reports about the most successful agencies (think about it).

To tell you the truth NedRn, I had a chance to give other agencies a try before I feel that it was not just the Recruiter per say it was how efficient they were in answering my questions and concerns, and trust me I have had an agency threaten me instead of listening to my concerns, I am sure some people have had a different experience from mine, but at least I can honestly say I am satisfied so far. As a matter of fact I was going over some assignments that this other agency wanted to offer me not only I was going to be driving an hour to the assignment and she was offering less than what I am making with AMN when I refuse all her low ball offers and made it clear to her if I don't make at least what I am making now or higher I am not interested, She stated "I guess this is not the agency for you" then she hung up. fyi this is the third recruiter from that agency that called me with the same type of attitude. go figure

While a corporate culture (or just the immediate manager) can affect how recruiters behave, the best recruiters are professional enough to ignore lapses of professionalism by their peers and managers. Recruiters are like travelers, they often switch agencies! Usually the better ones looking for better working conditions, or more professionalism where they can thrive. Usually their travelers follow them (slightly delayed as usually their contracts do not allow notifying travelers about their new agency - but easy enough to find online these days) so such recruiters are heavily recruited themselves by other agencies. And their travelers could care less about what current agency their recruiter is working for, they know they will be treated right.

Larger companies such as American Mobile have better recruiter training (like larger hospitals for new grads), so there may be a tendency for there to be a larger percentage of well trained and professional recruiters at large agencies. But you can get lucky or unlucky at any agency with getting a good (or bad) recruiter. And there are some real advantages to smaller agencies, better pay (as a rule of thumb), and the potential for more personalized attention (even knowing the agency owner) - although again, that can be highly recruiter specific.

I've never worked for AM, but I do have a couple of positive anecdotes to share about them. A couple of years ago at the Travelers Conference, I was trying to resolve several reported issues of bad behavior by American Mobile. I talked to a recruiter manager there, and later by phone, whose original fairly large agency was acquired by AM. She said that AM quickly managed to shift the old agencies corporate culture to their own, and the result was a far better place to work than under the original management. It also turned out that the reported bad behavior was real, and rampant at that other agency, and was quickly squelched by AM. Having heard no new such stories in the last couple years, I believe her.

The other positive story that I read twice online (but have never confirmed directly with AM), is that new travelers get to talk to several recruiters and pick the one they like the best. I harp endlessly here about how important it is to have a good fit and good business relationship with your recruiter(s), so of course I think that (if true), this is really enlightened corporate behavior, and having worked myself in sales before nursing school, a very very unusual way to run a sales team where the customer gets to pick who they talk to.

@ cincin1222 Did AMN tell you to post something nice on this forum about them?

I hope this other agency/s was not Aya or Cross Country and its umbrella of low balling companies, They all pay low.

Aya over the past week on Facebook is getting slaughtered by nurses. I found them to be a waste of time just like AMN. A first time travel nurse used Aya and started praising them right away. Mind you she never worked travel nor did she even start her contract. 1 month in she discovered she was getting paid 400 less a week than everyone else LOL. She took back her praises and told everyone to avoid AYA.

Just to be clear, Aya (formerly Access) is not owned by Cross Country.

Just to be clear, Aya (formerly Access) is not owned by Cross Country.

I am very aware of that, never wrote it was...What are you telling me for?

Because your post lumped in Aya with Cross Country's "umbrella of low balling companies". So I made it clear. Did you want to debate sentence construction?

Because your post lumped in Aya with Cross Country's "umbrella of low balling companies". So I made it clear. Did you want to debate sentence construction?

We sure can.

The word or indicates an alternative option. "Cross Country and its umbrella of low balling companies is only referring to Cross Country not AyA.

I hope this other agency/s was not Aya or Cross Country and its umbrella of low balling companies, They all pay low.

I was being rhetorical. Is that not clear?

You wrote it so it makes sense you get it. Diagram the sentence to understand its impact on others. It is not clear. I clarified it. There are an amazing number of brands owned by Cross Country and American Mobile and a mention of a random agency included with either will cause confusion - and many travelers are already confused and misidentify who owns which agency brands.

Being rhetorical is not something that should be implied in an online forum. Same thing applies to Sarcasm.

The problem with a bulk of travel nurses is their lack of understanding big business.

The answer is NO, AMN did not tell me to say something nice, and Yes I have had an opportunity to compare pay packages from small agencies that pays well to bigger ones that I have heard to stay away from, when I put two and two together I still end up making the same or less than. The point here is simple as long as you are a traveler you will never get what you think you deserve and or what you want to get. These companies are in business to make money. FYI I have worked for BIG AND SMALL agencies.

Most of the time, it is recruiters posing as travelers that are praising their own agency. Those are pretty easy to spot when their first three posts on Allnurses are nothing but agency praise, often mentioning the recruiter name (their self). cicin2222's post was clearly authentic.