Perm Job Success After Travel?

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

I'm contemplating my first travel assignment later this year after 2 years med/tele at a univ hospital. I'm a little hesitant leaving a permanent job to travel for 2 reasons: (1) afraid I will not be able to find another perm job after I decide I no longer wish to travel and (2) afraid of getting stuck longer in another part of the country if there are no travel jobs in or near my home state of NY.

Specifically to (1), I would like to get 2+ years in another specialty (in some sort of critical care or ED) but I know I would need a perm job for that and will have to travel as a med/tele nurse in the meantime -- no prob there actually. But I am open to travel again once I get that CC or ED experience (especially after certification). But I don't want to put off travel nursing until I specialize in CC or ED.

So my questions are:

How successful have you been with getting permanent work after travel assignments? More concerned in this question with getting into a new specialty -- CC, ED, Peds -- as opposed to another job in med/tele.

Is your resume more attractive to employers when it has travel experience? Or is that a negative that flags you as a flight risk of sorts?

Is one essentially destined to travel nurse for the rest of their career or is there hope in returning to a home base?

Thanks in advance for all replies!

[NedRN]

One danger in traveling is you may like it too much and not want to stop!

Mixed bag for managers hiring perm. Your experience will be hard to beat versus other candidates, but you could be viewed as a flight risk. Offering to commit for three years may allay such concerns. Much will depend on the hiring climate when you choose to go perm. You may find your horizons somewhat broader than New York when the time comes, which will give you more choice of jobs. If you insist on New York, you will know better than us what the general needs are. From what I hear, upstate pays poorly, the city pays better but the work is hard. I also hear it snows in New York!

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

Born and raised in the NYC metro area, and currently working there too, so all that is old hat for me, lol. I do however want to travel nurse to such states as CA just to see what it's like to be a nurse there (particularly with regulated nurse staffing ratios in place). And looking for an opportunity to change the scenery a bit, even if for a short while.

As always, I appreciate your advice, NedRN!

Sent from my iPad using allnurses

[AnthonyJivan]

Just to give you a heads up, NY has a lot of travel opportunity and you can benefit from the tax free stipend/relocation if you take assignments 50-75 miles from your residence. More so California! I live here as well..

The nice thing is, each assignment is typically 13 weeks or shorter, sometimes depending on hospitals needs, you can extend or even become permanent off a travel assignment, but its always your choice.

Hope this helps a bit..

[NedRN]

I know you are just trying to drum up business, but you are really doing travelers a disservice when you cite internal agency rules about distance from home to be eligible for tax-free benefits. If your traveler commutes 50 miles from home and takes your agency's tax-free benefits, he/she will have quite an expensive surprise if audited by the IRS. The IRS has no such distance rules, rather the minimum threshold is that the duties of the job require an overnight stay. That could be as little as perhaps 15 miles if call is involved for example.

[tech1000]

My husband's ex-girlfriend actually moved to our town because she was unable to get a job in her hometown after she quit traveling. Apparently she quit at her hometown hospital and therefore couldn't get rehired, and then the other hospital didn't want to hire her since she had worked for their competition hospital. I'm staying PRN at my job so that when I quit traveling, I have a place to go. It will cost money flying home regularly, but if I want to be home for any reason, I at least have a place to work!