If you are flexible with where you will go, does it help much?

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

OK. I've only been traveling for a year, hit a year this past Jan. My current contract ends April, and people whose contracts are ending now are being told "sorry, we are getting away from agency nursing" by the hospital. The job market, I'm sure everyone will agree, is drying up.

My wife and I do this travel nursing because we wanted to see/investigate places we might want to live. We dont have a lot of restrictions on where we are willing to go. We drove from PA to WA for a Tacoma contract and are now in Seattle. I am thinking about maybe going full time staff, I've had an interview in Gig Harbor and could possibly land a job on eastern WA.

As the job market was getting bad, I noticed a trend. The people who have a small list of places they will go to (about 3 states) were the first to find themselves struggleing to find work. Most nurses I talked to who were more flexible did not have any difficulty finding work. Now I am hearing that nurses who have told their recruiter "I dont care where I go, I just want to work" are not getting offers either.

So, my question is, if you are like my wife and I, willing to travel long distances, are you also having issues with getting the next job?

I'm not 100% sure I will get a staff position. I'm wondering if anything will be available if I dont.

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I started traveling in the summer of 2008, and I was only picky about my 1st assignment (didn't want to be too far away from home). But back then, nearly every traveler could be picky because of the numerous contracts that were available throughout the country. After that 1st assignment ended (which i loved), I told my recruiter that i wasn't picky and that i was willing to relocate anywhere throughout the country (this was around October 2008) . My 2nd contract wasn't very difficult to come by either at that time. But towards the end of that contract (end of Dec and early Jan), I wasn't hearing from any of the hospitals my recruiter was submitting me for, so i decided to extend for a little while longer. I'm currently still here and my recruiter has already tried shopping me around for numerous hospitals and haven't gotten any bites. So, i'm probably going to end of extending here again, even though i'm willing to take an assignment anywhere. I'm not very optimistic that i'll be able to land another contract as soon as this one finishes. I work in the ICU and even those positions are hard to come by apparently.

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

Ah. Someone corrected.....cough/gag (scolded) me when I said I thought travelers not getting jobs were probably just being picky.

At first, it was only the picky ones who werent getting jobs. You know the one's I'm talking about.........have a high min. pay rate, will only go to certain places etc....

But now, I'm hearing from other travelers that are like me, like to travel here and there, are not finding jobs. I'll point out still that most of them have been offered jobs but refused them. One was because the job paid......well, I wont say the amt. but it was $2 less than her min. rate. Another wouldnt travel to Arkansas.

I'm trying to get a feel for the market, decide if I want to go staff or not. I really do love it here in WA, and a few other things (wanting to get my BSN for one, getting an opportunity to go into ICU) are making staff look tempting again.

Wow. Seems a lot of people are not finding work though. I am very fortunate to have signed up for this position I am in before the drought came along. I'm on until April.

Hope things get better for you. At least you can resign where you are. Even if you hate it, its better than nothing.

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Specializes in OB.
Ah. Someone corrected.....cough/gag (scolded) me when I said I thought travelers not getting jobs were probably just being picky.

That wasn't a "scold" young man! When I scold you you'll know it!:D

It was just the "mom" voice - apparently it's strong enough to overcome the limitations of the internet.....

(Couldn't resist coming in here to harass a bit - you know that we moms always hear everything you say...)

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
Ah. Someone corrected.....cough/gag (scolded) me when I said I thought travelers not getting jobs were probably just being picky.

That wasn't a "scold" young man! When I scold you you'll know it!:D

It was just the "mom" voice - apparently it's strong enough to overcome the limitations of the internet.....

(Couldn't resist coming in here to harass a bit - you know that we moms always hear everything you say...)

How many kids you have? Me, none. If my wife has her way, that'll be changing soon. Oh my, then she'll pick up that "mom" voice too. Great. Just great.:icon_roll

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Specializes in OB.

How many kids you have? Me, none. If my wife has her way, that'll be changing soon. Oh my, then she'll pick up that "mom" voice too. Great. Just great.:icon_roll

Have one son and 4 foster sons - all were in their teens at the same time, so I became very adept at the "mom" voice. (It also seems to work very well on drunks and psych pts. by the way!)

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

Ah, thats why psych. never seemed like my niche. I dont have the mom voice. Wonder if you need the mom voice for ICU. I hope not.

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