New To Recruiting Travel Nurses..Please Help

[USTravelNurses]

I am not trying to find someone a job right this minute, but as I mentioned I am new and nervous. I have just moved into a new role as a Travel Nurse Recruiter, and I do not want to do anything wrong. So, I am asking for advice from anyone who is willing to help. If you have anything you have hated or enjoyed about working in Travel or with recruiters...please share. If you would just like to vent ....everything would help. I am soft spoken and not pushy, and I don't think I can be if I tried so I am trying to find another way to be successful without having to be a salesman. So again, please feel free to tell me anything you love/hate about recruiters. I would rather know what I shouldn't do then try to make up what I should!

[NedRN]

BS. All you have to do is read comments in any travel nursing forum to learn what travelers like or dislike. Every "style" that a sales person has works for some prospects and not for others. I'd be curious if your agency put you up to this post to learn how to handle abuse, or if it was your own idea.

[wylie-coyote]

I don't know why but it really annoys me when I call some of these agencies and they ask, "So, what made you want to get into travel nursing?" But as said in many other posts, talk to the recruiters feel them out. I am looking for positions in New York and I'm slowly learning my ADN is setting me back. Numerous hospitals want that magnet status and require BSN.

[USTravelNurses]

Thank you for responding. Actually all my idea...I am from the finance and accounting world so Nursing is all new. Actually I was working for a gas company before this, and this is literally my 2nd week. Nevertheless, reading all of the comments is exactly what I will do. Obviously you have not enjoyed recruiters, and that is what I am trying not to be...some annoying recruiter that calls random people just to fill a position. I want to help people, just like I did in my last position. I worked in Medical 2 years ago, but it was with medical assistants and specimen processors. I was good at it, and never worked on anything if I thought it was not going to help my candidates. If I feel like I am having to sale something I wont do it.

As I learn more and more I will be happy to help anyone, even if it is preparing for another job. So, feel free to reach out to me anytime...until then..I am just trying to find the difference between OR and ER nurses. Thanks again!

[USTravelNurses]

So Mr. Coyote,

I wish I was advanced enough to understand that situation, but at this point you are speaking another language. They did in fact teach me to ask that very same question though. So, WE ask that question to ultimately figure out if you are really wanting to travel for pure enjoyment of seeing other cities, scoping out possible places to live in the future, gain experience in multiple settings, etc. As you know not all of the locations are going to be resort type places, so they want to see what your comfort level would be. lol...I don't know why this bothers you. It is nice to know though...maybe I could just ask what the parson has enjoyed most about traveling. Thank you for responding! Everything helps, and if you think of anything more let me know.

[NedRN]

What made you go into travel nursing? is only an appropriate question for a new traveler. Type A's (which many nurses are) will only be annoyed and that doesn't help your qualifying the prospective employee. An open ended question of how can I help you is a better starting point. You can certainly ask them for communication tips, some travelers like an attentive recruiter who contacts them often, others hate it, especially when you don't respect their sleep time.

I'm not annoyed at recruiters generally, I understand the process very well. A transparent attempt at recruiting on a travelers forum (which you are continuing in apparent good humor) is annoying. None of the questions in your poll do you have the slightest control over (except for perhaps customer service) so the answers are meaningless. If you had read forum posts, you may have been able to ask better questions, like how many calls about new openings is too much, or should I submit you to assignments I haven't talked to you about, and so on.

But any such queries are self-serving (even if you didn't really mean it) and really does not help you other than perhaps getting some readers who like your tone or style to PM you to your benefit (potential commission). I find that intrusive on a forum for nurses and cannot see any benefit for us. The major place where industry insiders can benefit travelers on a forum are with explanations of specific industry practices that leave many travelers puzzled and confused. When helpful information is exchanged, the implicit recruiting is very tolerable. This is just my opinion, not that of allnurses.

Good luck to you anyway.

[USTravelNurses]

Wow...I truly didn't think I was being that intrusive. I honestly did want to just get insight into how I could be different, but I guess this helps in one way. I definitely know what not to do when I actually start recruiting. Thanks for your help, I am still excited to have this job, and I think I will find a way to be better. I will now just read no more posts, instead of asking questions.

Best of luck to you!

[NedRN]

I suspect you are not really understanding what I'm saying, but you probably will once you learn how difficult your job is and how hard you have to work to find prospects. In the interim, yes, reading lots and talking to real travelers will be a real learning experience. Don't take many negative posts too literally, it is human nature to talk about bad experiences rather than good ones. In the meantime, you may find FaceBook greener pastures if you want to converse with travelers online.

[HarryTheCat, MSN, RN]

No matter how you approach this job, you're going to have to be a "salesman" on both ends of the engagement. But if you are going to be successful and stick around in the business you are going to have to approach the "sale" with a high degree of confidentiality, honesty and integrity. Never, never, ever misrepresent a candidate to a client or vice versa. If the last three travelers bailed out of the assignment in 30 days or less, don't "conveniently forget" to tell your candidate. And you'd better figure out why before you backfill the position. If your candidate is a great nurse, but has all the charm of a prickly pear cactus, don't withhold that from your client. Know your candidate. Know your client. Know the market. And never overpromise or underdeliver. It's going to take some time to build up your book of business to the point where it's financially rewarding, but always keep your feet firmly planted on the ethical high ground and you will develop a reputation as someone who can be trusted to do the right thing.

[NedRN]

On the same note as HarryTheCat, I thought of something else to say. You have (or will develop) a business relationship with your travelers. Work hard for your travelers and fight agency management for them, but remember it is a business relationship and your actual loyalties are to your agency. Be cordial with your travelers, chatty etc., but remember it is all too easy for travelers to think you are their friend. You are not, do not fool yourself, and try to keep an ethical line. Don't manipulate your travelers because they think you are friends, and don't allow travelers to manipulate you either for a similar reason.

Similarly (HarryTheCat said much the same thing), don't push travelers to take assignments you know are wrong for them just because that is all you have available, or because management is pushing a hospital for client development or because of a high margin. Your short term earnings may be less (try not to listen to other recruiters who are pushing you to grab the money), but the loyalty earned will bring you long term travelers, which is where the real rewards are. Most recruiters make pathetic money compared to travelers, but some superstars actually do quite well, and travelers follow them from agency to agency.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

Don't low ball me. The wheels don't roll for less than 35/hr, 40/hr if no health insurance, and a 1500 to 2500 housing stipend and a reasonable traveI allowance. I know the bill rates and what I am worth. I will do the hospital's mandatory tests when I get there and I will be paid my full base rate for orientation.

Call only when a job for my preferred location appears on Medifis, not every day. If you want me to be loyal then pay me a loyalty bonus.

All of this must be in the contract. This is my business. I will represent your company in a professional manner. I need you to be professional and honest with me in return.

kind regards,

Maggie

[NedRN]

Loyalty bonuses are the same as a holdback. It is my money and I would prefer it in my hourly rate. And while more a more complicated math problem, if a hospital is paying a lower rate for orientation and your agency is averaging your pay rate for the whole assignment, you are almost certainly losing out. You may feel good about it emotionally, but if you do the math... The only scenario where you will come out ahead demanding an average bill rate is if the assignment ends early, like week 3!

Why do you mention Medefis? They have a very small slice of the entire market. If you know about bill rates, you also know that rates on Medefis have not recovered to 2007 levels. Frankly they suck with lots of jobs at sub 60 bill rates, and I'm not sure why. It is a very different picture of supply and demand compared to rates with direct contracts and other vendor managers for in-demand specialties (at least for nurses, allied is a different story but still lower than expected).