What does a Nurse Recruiter actually do??

[JillRene]

Ok Guys, I'll try and make this short, but it's my turn to vent.....

I am a Travel Nurse, if you could call it that, I was with the same hospital for 3 years, just kept signing on for another 3 months. The hospital downsized,(combined floors), so there is no need for me anymore, which is fine that's the risk you take being a travel contract nurse. I'm a single Mom, 3 kids. I have been having a hard time finding another contract in the area, so I decided that maybe it was time to go on staff somewhere. Which by the way makes me want to throw up because I detest hospital administrations, I put them right up there with Enron and American Airlines. They are the type of people that never just do what is right, the only thing that matters to them is them. Sorry, I better not get going on that subject. So I started calling Nurse Recruiters, I am tele trained, have floated everywhere from the ER to CICU to Med/Surg, not bragging, just fortunate enough to have a broad base knowledge. Here is the kicker, "Not ONE Nurse Recruiter has gotten back to me!!!!!!!!!

What is up with that?? UHMMMM Doesn't the word Recruiter define their job. Here I am, an experienced RN making there job easy, going to them, they didn't have to come recruit me, and they won't freaking call me back. The hospitals I've called all have jobs posted so it isn't like there's nothing available. HELLO, there actually is a Nursing shortage!!!

Please tell me I'm not crazy and that the obvious is very obvious.

Any suggestions?? Yesterday I put some calls into Nurse Managers and left messages. I wonder if I'll hear back from any of them.

[JillRene]

Oramar: Finally, a reason why it all makes sense. Of Course!!! Management doesn't care about that pt., so you're right, why would they want to hire more Nurses. The floor nurse gets paid the same whether she has 5 patients or 10 patients, but the manager will make more money if that Nurse has 10 patients. Sometimes I hate the fact that I love being a Nurse. I get soooo frustrated with our health care system, but when I'm in that room with my patient (most of the time) there's no where else I'd rather be.

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

Originally posted by oramar

And then there are the ulterior motives. A lot of nurses tell me they are working one person short on everyshift. They also tell me that managment tells them they can't find anyone. However, if you check into it you will find that those same managers are in no hurry to hire. Why should they when everyone is doing the work of two everyday and bringing them in under budget. After all they get a % of that amount they come in under budget. All I can say to mangers that do that sort of thing is that it is diabolical and will come back to bite you in the rear.

EXACTLY.

[Brainiacster]

OP,

Depends on what kind of experience the recruiter has. If it's strictly someone from an HR background who really doesn't understand the science or the nuances of nursing, the recruiter can be almost worthless. Sometimes, the recruiter's manager has been around long enough to know a good applicant when one comes along, but more junior staff frequently is clueless re what the job really entails. Often, they're given a list of Q's to ask & it's fairly obvious on the phone that they're pretty green. Also, a lot of places use a computer program to do the first set of selections. Often those programs will scan only the first portion of a resume (X number of words) and those programs also look for certain words to be repeated. Anyway, hope this info helps. BTW, if you can bypass HR & talk directly to an NM, you've just cut a lot of the red tape out. Good luck!