Interview

The agency is also acting as a vendor manager for the hospital and doing (hopefully agency neutral) screening for them. American Mobile? The usual manager interview is really just a courtesy, they already want you. It is an opportunity to ask questions, or for the manager to convince you to come.

A vendor manager interview is way different. They too have decided you are qualified for the job, and want to screen you further. You won't really be able to ask questions - or in any case receive effective answers. Rather there will be scripted questions for you. There may be a clinical based one, but many will be behavioral in nature. How do you handle it when a physician yells at you in front of a patient? or some other conflict question.

If you have reservations about this assignment, you can ask the interviewer if you can talk to the manager prior to accepting the assignment. She may or may not be helpful.

Actually its with Cross Country, that's kind of what I thought with the vendor manager. I just want to make sure I get a first assignment that is a good fit rather than good pay. I was hoping to talk to the manager so I will be asking to do just that, thanks Ned.

The VM may ask you why you want to talk to the manager. I would tell her just that, that it is your first assignment and you want to confirm that it is a good fit.

Is it at one of the Florida Hospital facilities? I've never mentioned it before, but I'm leery about first time travelers and vendor managers. The reason is that these are almost always hospitals that use a lot of travelers and really benefit from the efficiencies of vendor managers. Vendor managers turn travelers into even more of a commodity than we usually are already, and you are just one more of a multitude of travelers that the hospital sees. That could be good in that they are used to travelers, but bad that staff may tired of orienting them or working with them. Hopefully CC is doing the right thing for a first assignment, but I have to believe that agencies with direct relationships with the hospital are more likely to know their needs. Your recruiter is now at least two steps removed from the hospital. I do know CC keeps a lot of traveler notes on their client hospital - ask your recruiter about it - so they should know.

Also be aware that CC keeps a lot of notes about you, down to contact notes for every phone call. That helps the recruiter trace what has been said to you and personalize the conversation - like how is your dog Bones doing? - but your griping or personal life stuff too. I'm just reminding you to keep it professional, be friendly with your recruiter, but don't turn her into your friend. Easy to do and they are an important person in your life. But ultimately, her loyalties lie with the agency and not you if something goes bad. I was hurt on a personal level when my own relationship with CC went south after four years. Never a followup from my recruiter. I had sent her daughter Xmas gift. Not right - but irresistible at the time with a premier league soccer team in England with her daughter's name where I was working. I bounced back with two job offers the same day I was terminated on an assignment but it still hurts. A more business like relationship can help avoid that.

Thanks for the advice. No its not FL hospital it Lousiville, Kentucky, at the university of Lousiville hospital.

Ah, I didn't know they had that one, I was just taking a guess at their largest contract and thinking time of the year.