Nuances in communicating with recruiters/nurse managers...

[laurenshe]

I am planning on traveling this winter for the first time. I've started the process and have been trying to glean as much advice as I can from a few traveler friends of mine. Their advice feels like dating advice for amateurs :) Some of it makes NO sense to me as the amateur, and sometimes I get conflicting advice from different sources, and there are some unwritten rules that seem to be taken very seriously by the experienced travelers.

I'm trying to figure out how to navigate the process and would love to hear from others about their experiences with this -- it has become clear that there are many different approaches to this process and I think I could benefit from hearing about all of them! :) I'll share two specific topics I've been thinking about and if anyone has input or insight into either one I would love to hear it!

Topic 1: Working with one agency or multiple agencies...I've heard three different perspectives on this:

One nurse advised that I use multiple agencies but that I should never tell any one of the agencies that I'm actually doing that. (My question is...when I accept an assignment with one of them, what am I supposed to tell the other one? I don't understand how I could secretly use multiple companies.)

Another nurse advised not to "two-time" at all, that it's off-putting to nurse managers if they see that multiple companies are submitting you for the same job, and off-putting to the travel companies as well. She suggested that I work with one agency and have the recruiter submit me for multiple assignments at the same time.

A third nurse advised that I should openly use multiple companies and actually use that to my advantage, playing them off of each other to negotiate for better compensation or benefits or whatever. (This is definitely out of my comfort zone being brand new to traveling and I kind of just folded that advice up and put it in the corner.)

Topic 2: Calling the nurse manager when the recruiter says they've submitted your profile...

Yesterday my recruiter called and said that my profile had been submitted to a particular assignment and said that I should call the nurse manager, and gave me her contact info. I immediately texted one traveler friend to tell her that I was excitednervoushappyterrified and she advised me NOT to call the nurse manager, or at least to wait a few days. She said that she also surveyed two other travelers and they all agreed that you should 'never call the manager' as a rule, and that I should 'fib to the recruiter' and tell them that I called and didn't get through. She briefly explained that you don't want to come off as pushy and/or pompous (as in, assuming that the manager has even looked at your profile or has any interest in speaking with you) and that if you DO call the nurse manager they will find it off-putting and not call/hire you. This is where I really start to feel like I'm a 14-year-old learning about the dating game for the first time (ha ha!). I consulted another traveler friend who advised me to go ahead and call and she said, "I've never heard of not calling the manager."

So...what I've done as far as 'navigating the process' is, I've spoken with a few different companies to get a feel for each recruiter, but I've only gotten as far as applying for specific assignments with one agency. I DID call the nurse manager of the assignment I was submitted to and left what I hope was a brief, 'low pressure' voice mail, basically introducing myself and saying "my profile was submitted for such-and-such position and I just wanted to give you my contact information in case I can answer any questions or give any more details about my profile, thank you."

Thank you in advance for sharing experiences or insights!

[NedRN]

Yes, use multiple agencies. Yes, let all of them know you are shopping around (that starts you on the road to better pay without even playing them off against each other directly). Yes, tell them when you have committed to an assignment and when you want to start looking for your next assignment.

The issue with more than one agency submitting you to the same assignment is a different question and you do not want that to happen. In fact, you want complete control of where you are submitted, and by what agency. You do not want to be submitted without your OK and it is a game that some agencies play for a couple of reasons. If you discover that you have two agencies with the same assignment, work out who is best to work for (including compensation of course) before you choose which one will submit you. To the hospital, either the first agency to submit you "owns" you, or they will just toss your submissions out completely. Nothing but negatives if this happens as the peanut butter sandwich rule means that you will always prefer the second agency that you now can't use.

Have you ever applied to a job before? The candidates that follow through are much more likely to win the job. Don't depend on the professionalism and process of managers and institutions you don't know. Yes, you may **** off some hospitals, but generally you wouldn't have gotten the assignment anyway. The longer you wait, the larger the pile of profiles that the manager will have to go through to pick who to interview, and the less likely that you will get it. I could write a few thousand words on this topic and I have been a big winner many times by calling the hospital, and also experienced sour grapes from one HR - but hey, it had been three weeks and they hadn't called, I lost nothing. Think about how the agency won the hospital contract in the first place, they started with a completely cold call, and were persistent. That's business!

In my opinion, the agency is doing you a favor by suggesting you call the manager, and often the manager appreciates the time savings anyway and will give you an immediate interview. Like any other interview, you want to be enthusiastic about working at their great hospital et cetera so be prepared before you call. It will save you a bunch of time waiting and wondering what is going on, and perhaps choosing to pursue more responsive potential assignments. But use discretion, don't do unless your recruiter says it will be helpful.

[laurenshe]

Thank you NedRN! I have been through the application/interview process before, but this process seems unique, and it seems to have its own culture with specific advice -- advice that I've never heard before about the 'normal' job search process (e.g. "never call the manager"). I feel like I'm learning as a complete amateur, despite having a solid work history and experience with applying for jobs. I really appreciate your advice, and I like your approach to openly communicating with multiple agencies.

In fact, you want complete control of where you are submitted, and by what agency. You do not want to be submitted without your OK and it is a game that some agencies play for a couple of reasons.

Could you elaborate on this -- especially the "...it is a game that some agencies play..." part? This is another thing that I don't know anything about yet. I was under the impression (er, assumption rather, and my fault for assuming!) that I wouldn't be submitted to any positions without discussion first. The first I heard about this specific position was when they told me that I had already been submitted and that I should call the unit manager. We had only vaguely discussed potential locales and general time frame for a start date but that was as far as we had gotten. Is it unusual that she went ahead and submitted me without further discussion?

[NedRN]

As I already mentioned, the first agency to submit you to a particular hospital "owns" you. The hospital will only recognize that first agency on a first come first serve basis. It is generally impossible to land an assignment at that hospital through another agency now - the hospital understandably doesn't want to get involved with inter-agency battles over one, let's face it, commodity traveler.

Another reason for just submitting you without discussion is that they are taking advantage of human nature. We are indecisive creatures and when we are told that a hospital wants us and will interview, many will give a sigh of relief and take it. Guided sales techniques, when well done, relieve a lot of pressure off the buyer and is actually welcomed.

The downside for the career traveler of course is that we want to shape where we go and what our compensation will be. That is taken out of our control when we accept an assignment by the first agency that submitted us, and now have no negotiating power on the compensation, not even to utilize another agency. Another downside is that you may not want to go to this hospital with this particular agency or at all, and now declining the assignment that the hospital believes you were committed to can get you blackballed. Not a big problem with thousands of hospitals out there unless this particular hospital was on your bucket list. It is a bigger problem if it was a large chain like HCA or Kaiser who now blackballs you from all their hospitals.

So you might ask, well what about the hospitals who are also damaged by this process? Wasting time interviewing travelers who never wanted to go there? Good question. All I can do is speculate that this game has more pluses for the participating agencies than negatives.

So you can go along with these games as I presume many new travelers do, or you can read your agencies the riot act and state unconditionally that they cannot submit you without your express permission every single time. Drop them like a rock if they don't play by your rules. Hundreds of agencies out there, so losing one costs you some time, but that's it.

On the other hand, if you develop good relationships with recruiters and they know what you want well in terms of job, location, and compensation, you can give them more latitude. Some assignments are uber-desirable and can be gone within minutes. You would want your recruiter to submit you and not want to wake you up after a 12 hour night shift. This scenario is very different from an agency general practice though.

And human nature is an interesting thing. Even after having this spelled out here, you might still appreciate a recruiter that says they submitted you to some random hospital and they want to interview you. The uncertainty will be over, and you will start Googling the area and getting excited about what you find.

"Never call the manager" is also an example of human nature. Calling the manager is work, and potential rejection scares everyone. It also feels like the process isn't working, and your recruiter and the manager need to do their respective jobs (and the invisible middleman at this point, the hospital HR who is not allowing direct recruiter to manager contact). Also true.