looking for my first contract

Why not travel to other states?

Is it your first contract? Before I had a contract under my belt, it did take a couple tries to get a call. Are you only applying to oncology positions? If you're willing to work elsewhere in the med-surg/tele/stepdown arena you'll find a lot more options.

Are you chemo certified? Some, not all oncology travel assignments require chemo certification. Like Swellz suggested, try applying for med/surg/tele positions as well.

Most hospitals require at least 2 years of experience and some even want you to have a few travel assignments under your belt. Travel agencies will recruit you with only 1 year of experience but you will definitely have some difficulty securing your first contract because of the hospitals requirements. Be patient, and maybe in the meantime apply for licensure in other states to expand your search area. If you’re looking for something close maybe try a bordering state.

Have you considered California? There are lots of opportunities out here.

Yeah, I missed that you had only one year of acute care experience. That could be your problem. Most travelers have more experience, so they are more desirable candidates in comparison. Have you asked your recruiter for feedback from the hospital liaison/account manager? They may be able to tell you where you're getting blocked.

MotivatedOne brings up a good point. If you get your chemo-bio certification or your OCN, you're really showing off your oncology expertise. Every onc job I interviewed for made a point of being impressed that I had my chemo-bio certificate, even if they didn't allow travelers to hang chemo per policy. I applied to some that "required" an OCN but I was interviewed for them anyway with just the cert. If you can get your current job to pay for it, I'd do that in the next few months and try again for travel jobs after that.

You wrote that you only have one year of experience. That may be part of the problem. Regardless of what agencies tell you, it's not enough. Get another year, at LEAST. You will be glad you did when you don't end up in court.

Thanks for the advice. I think I may have the bio-chemo certification, I'm not sure and will have to look. I am chemo certified by my job, however, I don't care to stay in oncology. I am applying for my license in other states.

As far as needing more experience, I see that posted a lot. I also see lots of posts (from here and other places) with nurses with 1-1.5 yrs of experience who are comfortable taking travel jobs, and have succeeded in travel jobs. I am aware that I may need more experience to get a travel job. However, this is what I want to do for the time being so might as well go for it. There will always be jobs that say you need x years of experience, and it doesn't hurt to give it a try. A friend landed a new grad RN job in a Cath lab, so you really never know until you submit applications ?

The feedback I've heard was they wanted someone with more experience, but again, there aren't a whole bunch of jobs in my state. I don't think I'm doing myself a disservice by trying.

The 2 years of experience thing is to PROTECT YOU, not to make getting a job easier. Nurses who say to get more experience are trying to HELP you. We've seen so many 1 year first time travelers leave in tears day 2. Or get cancelled 1500 miles from home - with no savings or backup plan.

ANYONE can get a travel job with a shady agency after 1 year. But hey, you do you.

Landing a first job in a specialty is not a fair comparison to traveling with only one year of experience. A new specialty is going to have a plan for training and support - in travel, you're hired specifically because you don't need training or support. You get in, do your job, get out.

If you get other state licenses, I'm positive you can find a med-surg job with one year of experience, advisable or not. Just keep in mind it may be in a less ideal location or a less ideal hospital or for less ideal pay, since you aren't a competitive candidate.