Best travel nursing companies

Wolf at the Door, BSN · Feb 16, 2017

Best pay MSSI. USSI. The grandest locations that would be the huge companies that pay peanuts. Go to the travel nursing and search this topic.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Feb 16, 2017

Moved to the Travel Nursing forum

Talia52781 · Oct 29, 2017

Wolf, never traveled. Thinking about it. I'd be working in the OR. You seem knowledgeable in the industry. I can only choose one company because I'd be working on a visa. Between USSI and MSSI who would you choose for OR assignments?

NedRN · Oct 30, 2017

There is no best company or hospital. If there was, everyone would be working for them! Different strokes, and where you are in your travel career makes a difference in your choice of agencies.

The primary recommendation I make for all but the most experienced travelers (who of course already know their options) is to call a dozen or so agencies (not giving them your contact info) until you find 3 to 5 recruiters that you click with with, communicate well with, and with whom you feel that you can trust. Do all the paperwork with them (skip any you think you like that won't share real info about open assignments and actual compensation- believe me, it is not worth the effort). Just going through that many recruiters will be very educational and help you sort out the BSers from the straight talkers. You can get a head start on sorting out BS from truth by doing some reading on PanTravelers (pick the free membership).

The next thing to learn is that you are not chasing the money at first (although you are in a good specialty for that right now). Your first priority is to have successful and completed first assignment. How? Your best bet again is a good recruiter and a relatively easy assignment (mostly services you are good at clinically) at a traveler friendly hospital. Then you will know what you don't know now about how well you adapt to a new work environment quickly. OR assignments can give you up to two weeks orientation (which is much longer than most nursing specialties) but you really have to be up to a decent speed by then.

A successful first assignment means you are much more likely to succeed at traveling and automatically your pay will increase. You've also learned a lot about what kind of assignment you can handle and what you need from an agency. Now you can make more informed choices about recruiters and the size of agencies you want on your short list. Smaller agencies tend to compete against larger agencies by paying more and being more personalized, but you can do well at large agencies and they certainly have a wider choice of assignments (and are more likely to have a friendly assignment for a first time traveler).

Do not sign up for a resume site or a "one application for all the best agency" site. You want full control over who has your contact info. Unfortunately, there isn't a good way to shortcut finding good recruiters (the agency brand is almost irrelevant). If you can get a recruiter referral from an actual traveler, you can interview them but just like you would if you had cold called a random agency. Even if that was a great recruiter for that referring traveler, it might be really bad for you.

Think of a dating analogy. Someone who is right for a friend of yours may not be your dream date. And think of how many different dates you have to have before clicking. A recruiter is not as important to your path in life, but is a critical business choice, especially for your first assignment.

Last important point before you begin traveling, read about tax homes on PanTravelers. Don't give up your current residence until you do. No recruiter can be trusted on this topic.

NedRN · Oct 30, 2017

Oops, visa nurse. Now the right recruiter is critical. But restrict your search to larger agencies because you cannot switch easily. If you do an assignment and the relationship with your recruiter is not so great, ask that agency to switch to a different recruiter and describe the communication style you prefer (some agencies may make it easy to chat with several recruiters for an easier choice).

Larger agencies include American Mobile, Cross Country, RN Network, and Supplemental. Each of them will be well versed in visa issues. No specific recommendation, call and see who you fit best with.

I'd also suggest looking at the TravelTax site for cross country taxation. Your tax home is still super important. They will do a free phone consult with you that will start you doing travel the right way when it comes to taxes. He is the leading authority on travel nurse taxes as well as cross country taxes.

LegacyCoachMary · Nov 5, 2017

Hello NedRN,

I am having so much fun reading all the notes around traveling nurses. I have two gorgeous rooms at my house that are available for rent-- in the center of Silicon Valley. I am about 40 mins to UCSF, 10 mins to Stanford and Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, El Camino Hospital, O'Connor, etc. I am a life coach that specializes in end-of-life planning, estate planning, last wishes and getting organized 'just-in'case'. Please feel free to send an interested parties my way ([email protected]). Thanks, you're doing a great job!

friendlylark · Nov 7, 2017

Hello! I am getting ready to start my very first travel assignment on Monday in California :-) I signed on with American Mobile - and so far it has been VERY GOOD! My recruiter is Amanda. I have heard a lot of it has to do with getting the right recruiter. She has been fantastic!!!

I will be in the Emergency Department. For me, I just knew exactly where I wanted to go in California, and that was my first priority.

Do you have a particular place you want to go?

I asked about Colorado as well, and my recruiter told me EVERYONE wants to go to Colorado :-) LOL. It is considered a "destination" travel nursing spot.

I also got on to a good facebook group for travel nurses called "The Gypsy Nurse." Tons of resources there!!!

@LegacyCoachMary -- I may be going to Silicon Valley next!!!

pinkiepie_RN · Nov 10, 2017

Hello! I am getting ready to start my very first travel assignment on Monday in California :-) I signed on with American Mobile - and so far it has been VERY GOOD! My recruiter is Amanda. I have heard a lot of it has to do with getting the right recruiter. She has been fantastic!!!
I will be in the Emergency Department. For me, I just knew exactly where I wanted to go in California, and that was my first priority.
Do you have a particular place you want to go?
I asked about Colorado as well, and my recruiter told me EVERYONE wants to go to Colorado :-) LOL. It is considered a "destination" travel nursing spot.
I also got on to a good facebook group for travel nurses called "The Gypsy Nurse." Tons of resources there!!!
@LegacyCoachMary -- I may be going to Silicon Valley next!!!

I'm with a sister company of AMN (Nurses Rx) and have heard people complain about them but I haven't had any problems. My recruiter left and I was assigned a temporary recruiter for about a week before I got a new one. The only issue I had was waiting for an offer to re-extend my assignment but that was on the hospital's end (required budgetary approval and they "had to" wait until the end of the month) and my recruiter was supportive through it. She wasn't able to guarantee that my contract would be extended but was very positive and I felt comfortable with her.