Is my travel recruiter lying?

NedRN · Jul 9, 2017

There is no central clearinghouse that all agencies access. They all have different contracts with different hospitals. There are vendor management companies that have contracts with hospitals (basically outsourcing hospital HR departments) and assignments at those hospitals can be seen by all their subcontracting agencies. But that is not usually the case in Chicago. In fact, very few national agencies have much access to Chicago travel assignments. Kind of a strange market with a very robust per diem culture. There are travel assignments there, but mostly handled by local Chicago agencies. And most of them are effectively block booking by local per diem nurses who work local agency.

Recruiters may embellish the truth, but the reality is they do want you to sign up. If you don't, you are not going to generate commissions for them. This is not a fun game for new travelers. You want them to give you facts, like real open assignments at real hospitals, but they may be unwilling until you sign up. Another difficult truth here: even if they tell you about a real and available assignment, by the time you do all the paperwork and they submit you, that particular job is probably gone. So what's a girl to do? Talk to lots of agencies and go with those that credibly (do they seem honest?) claim to have consistent availability. You can also call Chicago area agencies (they are much likelier to know the local market and tell you the real scoop). Here are a few Chicago area agency names for you that have had travel assignments in the past:

Acumen Medical Staffing (AMS)

AMR ProNurse (Advanced Medical Resources)

Brighton Staffing

Fidelity On Call

Healthcare Personnel, Inc. (HPI)

M3 Medical Group

MedStaff Alternatives

NovaStaff Healthcare Services, Inc.

Prestige Healthcare Resources, Inc.

Professional Nursing Inc. (PNI)

SedonaMedical Staffing

In my notes for Medstaff Alternatives I wrote that they have contracts with 70 Chicago hospitals. They might be worth calling first. They seem to be a regional registry with contracts in three neighboring states as well as Illinois.

Wolf at the Door, BSN · Jul 9, 2017

Hello fellow travelers!
So I am currently talking to several recruiters regarding my first ICU assignment in Chicago that I plan to start in several weeks. Some have been direct with me about how there are no positions in Chicago at the moment but two have told me they see a few positions in the ICU at various hospitals. Who do I believe? I obviously want an assignment available in the upcoming weeks, but is this a ploy to get nurses to sign on? Or do some agencies seriously see more jobs available than others?
Please help me decide how to proceed! Thanks!

A many many agencies use medefis. There are other places they can look to see jobs.

Inner city chicago does not have anything from the main companies based on a list I received.

The only two chicagoland jobs I see are

ELK GROVE VILLAGE

ALEXIAN BROTHERS MED CTR

ICU

12H Days 13wks start 7/17

$48.28

ROCKFORD

ROCKFORD HEALTHCARE & REHAB CTR

CCU

12H Night

$44.20

vzcookie · Jul 12, 2017

Thank you so much!! Very informative stuff