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I have read many posts about people who started their travel nursing career after less than a year of nursing experience. I am very interested in what these people have to say about the rest of their travel nursing career after making this decision. Will staring travel nursing after 8 months of working in the hospital put me at a disadvantage later on when I am trying secure good contracts with reputable agencies? How will it look on my resume? Will completion of several travel contracts make me more marketable in the future? I assume at this stage I will only be able to get a contract with a community hospital. Is working for a bigger hospital system a possibility in the future after completion of several assignments and having good references to back up my experience?

I have started working Per Diem through a nursing agency not so long ago in addition to my full-time job at a hospital. I have never worked for a registry before and I feel I need some advice on how to deal with agencies and recruiters. When I just started, I told them very basic information about myself and they quickly found local assignment for me. A few weeks later, I ran into a problem. Initially, they just said that they have an assignment for me and gave me location of the hospital. No specialty or rate was provided, which felt very strange because I was so used to hearing from other nurses that you usually get an offer that sounds something like, “We have an assignment at this location for you. You will be working on this unit. The rate will be this much.” You then decide if you want to accept it. I asked the same thing from my agency and they replied that it will be MS unit and the rate is $720 per 12-hour shift. I accepted it and successfully completed it. They got back to me the same day and said that this facility wants to book me on any other day that I am available. I responded that variety is more important for me at this moment and I would rather prefer that they rotate me through 2-3 different facilities. They said that they work with different facilities in the area and can certainly do this for me. I gave them my availability for the next few weeks and they reached out to me again. To my surprise on all subsequent days that I booked with them, they sent me to the same facility. When I got paid the next time (this was weekly pay), the rate was much lower than on my first paycheck. I called them and expressed my concerns. They responded that the other rate was pandemic pay, and they switched to regular pay no so long ago. It was sort of bait and switch game, so I ended up working two shifts with them at a lower rate without even being told that this was the case. At the end of the conversation, they said that they will send me a list of facilities they work with and their rates. Four days later, they sent me a list of several places that were 2-4 hours away from where I live and that supposedly offer higher pay. They surely did fulfil their promise, but their definition of local surely didn’t match the definition that I gave them. I feel that there was total lack of transparency on their end and complete lack of control on my end. They place me wherever they see fit and pay me what they feel is okay by playing dirty games. I had enough with them and went to another registry in the area, and they upfront gave me a list of facilities they work with and the rates that these facilities pay to RNs. They said that the rates are subject to change, but they will notify me if they ever go up or down. They also mentioned that it is not a problem for me to work at several hospitals to gain experience I am after. I have no idea how it will go with them, but since I lack necessary experience, it will be a trial and error game for me. To have a better outcome this time around I decided to ask a few questions before I even begin my first assignment with them: (This is for Per Diem position, not a travel contract) 1. What are some tips for negotiating a good deal with an agency? 2. Is there a way to find out current rates in the area where I live, so I know that I am being paid at least an average market rate? 3. Are there any ways to negotiate better rates with the agency? 4. What would you expect a professional agency to provide you with from the very beginning? 5. What should I ask from a recruiter from the very beginning? 6. Any other questions that I missed…

Thanks for clarification and advice! Now, I have a rough idea what I may say to the family friend. Just got to see how it all turns out… My family friend’s unit manager contacted me today to schedule an interview for the upcoming Monday. Hiring event ended this Friday (today). HR said that it will take 24 – 48 hours to hear back from them. This would either be Monday or Tuesday. On Monday morning I will interview with another manager and if I am a good fit, she will most likely contact HR. Around this time, HR will be finalizing results from the first interview that I had. Would this be a problem? Since employee referral is a legitimate reason why another interview was scheduled for me by the family friend’s unit manager, I don’t see a problem with this. I was referred by an employee that works at their facility to his unit manager, who happened to schedule an interview with me around the same time HR scheduled an interview for me with another manager. I have no control of such things and simply took advantage of the opportunities that were offered to me. Controlling the drama of life is not my forte. The funny thing is that the person that I interviewed with is the unit director for 2N and 4S, and the other person I will interview with on Monday is in charge of 2S and 4N. Would it be a good idea to let the manager I will interview with on Monday know that I already had an interview with another manager last week, and still waiting to hear from HR? Just let them know that I applied directly and was also referred by their current employee, and it just so happened that both of the interviews somewhat overlapped. The manager that scheduled upcoming interview only mentioned that it will be for a RN position. No other details were given and I did not ask, so I am going there to have a conversation and see what she will offer. When HR contacted me, they were more specific about the position that I interviewed for and I got the rest of the details from the manager I already interviewed with. I guess, if I tell them the whole story, they will ask, “Since you have interviewed for XXXXXX and we can offer you YYYYYY on our unit, which one would you prefer?” At the time of the upcoming interview I will not have any information about the other position that I already interviewed for, so I don’t want to sound like what they are offering me is my second choice. Is it better not to say anything about the other interview until things become more clear and only answer if this type of question is asked? I thought telling them, “Where do you think the hospital needs more people, and where do you think my qualifications will better serve you? The hiring event was for both MS and Tele, and HR decided that I would be a good fit for the Tele unit. If the hospital needs nurses on the Tele unit and the manager I interviewed with thinks that I will be a good fit for their unit, then I will go there. If the hospital need more people on your unit and you think I am a good fit for this position, I am happy to serve here.”

I am in a little predicament… A family friend has been trying to arrange an interview for me with his unit manager. The manager told family friend that she will contact me, but no one reached out to me. I didn’t want to bother family friend anymore than I already did, and just assumed that no one will reach out to me since I have not heard anything from anyone for more than 2 weeks. I continued my job search and came across an ad for a hiring event at the same facility where family friend works. I decided to apply to it and see what will happen. What happened was quite interesting. Family friend reached out to me after about 2 weeks and asked if I was contacted by the manager of the unit. I said that no one got in touch with me yet. He went ahead and reminded the manager again to contact me. The manager said that she will contact me later this week to schedule an interview for next week. The next day I got a response from that same facility to come for an interview for the position I applied for. The interview was scheduled for the following day. It is a solid opportunity that exists. The manger of his unit still has not contacted me. I went and interviewed for that position and found out that it is a position that I like. I still don’t have any response from his unit manager, plus there is no guarantee that even if she interviews me, there will be a job offer. I feel a little bit disturbed because family friend has put in effort to arrange an opportunity for me, but at the same time I have another opportunity that I already have in front of me this very second. Plus, this opportunity is at the same facility for the same position just on a different floor. The opportunity that he is trying to arrange may not even materialize, because he has nothing to do with decision making. All he is doing is trying to arrange a meeting between me and the manager of his unit. I sort of feel obliged to interview with his unit manager and accept an offer if it is made. At the same time, I feel that I am trying to play it nice and in a way please him. If I let go of the opportunity that I already have in front of me and his manager decides that I am not a good fit for their unit, I will be left with nothing. One of the people that I spoke to mentioned that I should have mentioned to my family friend that I was directly applying the hospital, because there was a job opening. This would have let him know that their manager has not contacted me yet, plus informed him of a possibility that I may get called in for an interview. This has never crossed my mind. Right now I am waiting for final decision from the interview I went to. I am also waiting for his manger to contact me to schedule an interview with me for next week. If I get a solid offer from the interview I went to, I will take it; however, I am having hard time deciding what to tell family friend about all of this.

I have another interview coming up, and I think I need really need to change my mindset on the way things are. The interview part is not the problem for me, but the real problem ends up being the conditions of every new grad job position that I either get or that could potentially be offered. For what it is worth, it is probably better to stay away from residency programs that on top of additional classroom work, provide orientations that are questionable. I could potentially get a similar job at a small community hospital, but without the pressure of a 2 year contract and additional classwork. On-the-unit orientation quality and length would most likely be the same, considering that conditions during the pandemic are pretty much the same everywhere. For sometime, I thought that getting into a good residency program at a bigger hospital was in a way superior than getting a job at a smaller community hospital. Now, my mindset is slowly beginning to change.

I am just coming at it from analytical side, since in business everything is about numbers. Words paint beautiful pictures, but numbers show reality of things. Lets say the program started in mid-April. That would make it approximately 20 weeks until this day. 20 weeks - 4 weeks of classroom = 16 weeks 16 weeks x 3 shifts per week = 48 days 48 days - 30 days preceptorship = 18 days as a resource on COVID floor or CNA on another floor The model can be stretched out to their advantage even further. If there are 30 days of preceptorship, then we can do something like this: 3 days as CNA or resource nurse on COVID floor initially. 2 days as CNA/resource + 1 day with preceptor for the rest of the time. This can be repeated for 30 weeks. At least this is the picture I got when I asked a follow up question, "What is April cohort doing right now?" The model does sound beneficial if they are considering investing in training me and making me a valuable employee, but the numbers are a little bit off, in my opinion. I really questioned the quality of this sort of orientation when you are spending 0 days with your preceptor initially, and then you are being balanced around getting to see your preceptor only 1 day a week, or may be 2 days, and at the end they may even cut orientation time short. Pretty much what it comes out to is that I have no control of my orientation at all, and specifics such as the length of CNA/Resource on COVID floor are not even being discussed. According to the numbers, it could be as long as they need it to be. It can be as long as half a year, and from the response that I got, that is exactly the case.

Yes, I think you are right. I should probably come down from a cloud and face the cold and cruel reality of everyday life. Hoping that a Med-surge/Telemetry residency program would interview me for that specific position without all the other "minor" details is a bit unrealistic in today's world. Probably moving my frame of mind would be a bit more effective to take advantage of the opportunities that I already have around me. I am not sure that somewhere out there people are more different than here.

Just came back from yet another interview for a new grad residency program. Does this sound like kaka that is wrapped in a nicely designed wrap? I had a similar experience a few weeks ago with an interview for ICU position where I was told that they are in need of nurses right now, but in a few month they may not need me in ICU, so I would be transferred to a step down unit. Orientation on ICU was 15 shifts for a new grad. I am feeling that search for a new grad position right now really demands a great deal of personal sacrifice to deal with the mind-blowing conditions that are imposed on the job seeker. If before it was just a 2 year contract and other minor things, now if you want a job, they pretty much own you. I was ready for a 2-3 year contract and working any shifts they saw fit, but the rest of the information was certainly not in the job description and was shared in a very indirect way. Does this even legally go along with "assign additional job responsibilities within your general skill set for capabilities"? --- "We have a modified orientation program. This modified version was implemented at the start of the pandemic. We hired April cohort at the times when everything was changing, so we couldn't support them in terms of precepting them right away. So we did not postpone or cancel that. We created a new nursing support role for them. So they start as a resource nurse on COVID unit or as nursing assistant in other units. We found that they really transitioned easily into RN preceptorship once they had this time to kind of learn culture, the work flow. They had extra time to master they nursing skills working as nursing resource and nursing assistant. Once they started to work into RN preceptorship, they really solidified their pathophys, they are able to being better at recognizing trends, patterns, and connect that data to seeing a full picture for every patient. So instead of being very task focused, which is typical of new grads, they are better critical thinkers." "We are going to continue this model, because we saw how much more confident our new grads after that. They don't have to worry about learning the charting system or learning where all the supplies are, or learning what doctors are taking care of these patients. They already know that stuff before taking on full patient care." "Our April cohort worked for about 3 months in that role, but we will see what October has in terms of the pandemic. It may be shorter than 3 months, but we will communicate with you." "Do you have any questions for us?" "As far as this goes, what is April cohort doing right now?" They are on their preceptorship with their RN. They are doing 2 shifts a week with their preceptor, and 1 shift a week as a resource or CNA role. Because they had that extra time on the units doing patient care, some of our nurse new grad are ready to be off of orientation. ... So 30 shifts of orientation is standard for a new grad? Yes, but as you can see, many people get off earlier because of the time they spent in the alternate role. So we are able to pay them as an RN, even though they are not practicing independently as a RN. You will still be considered a Clinical Nurse I. You will be able to pull meds, work with the nurses on the unit and do some of those skill, but you won't have that pressure of being the primary RN for that patient. I was a new grad here as well, and when we started to change things up, I was like, "I wish I had this!" I would have known where everything was, who was the doctor assigned to my patients. So learning those nitty gritty details and then take full care of the patients... The difference between the April cohort and January cohort is big."

I had an interview with Cardiac ICU today and was a little bit alarmed by a few things that were mentioned about the program and the need of the hospital. They mentioned that they currently have a need for nurses on their unit, but once the new hospital is built, they may not need as many nurses. Therefore after working on their unit for several month you may be transferred to step-down unit or anywhere else where there is need. It seems that there is a 2 year contract for the program. The program consists of 1 month of classroom (8-5 pm), and the second month is orientation on the unit (18 shifts). They may extend orientation a little bit if you are not meeting certain goals. Then you are on your own, but there are people who you can consult before you make any decisions. I looked at other threads on allnurses.com, and it seems that a lot of hospitals do much lengthier orientation on the unit especially for new grads (at least 12 weeks is a standard). 18 shift would be enough on Tele and Step-Down, but I am not really sure about ICU. Something to think about considering relocation and your future goals.

I am in the same position and would like to know what type of training they provide in their ICU rotation. How is the program structured (classroom and clinical component, mentorship, program-end project)? I couldn't find any information about their residency program on their website. I had an opportunity to interview for a different unit a while back and I didn't get any specifics on the residency program except that on the unit orientation would be around 5 weeks. Any information is much appreciated from the people that are already in the program. I know a few people had to relocate. Was relocation away from home worth it? How are you liking the program and overall environment?

I think I got it. So what they really meant to say is, "We are interested in talking to you about a position at our facility. We are sending you this email to see if you are actually still interested, so we don't make extra effort of calling the person who is no longer interested. If you are still interested, pleased be ready to hear from us anytime regardless of your availability." Similar strategy as with verbal offers and actual offer letters that are written after the person expressed his/her interest.

In my previous interviews, most of the screening calls from recruiters came without notice. They just left a voice message saying that they want to talk to me about available position at their facility. When I was available, I would answer the phone call and the person would ask if right now is a good time to talk. Some just sent emails to schedule an interview. In the past week I got a few emails form recruiters that want to schedule a phone call at the time that would be good for me. “I have received your application and am interested in discussing a possible position here at _______. Please let me know when is a good time to call you.” “Thanks for applying for _______. Please tell me a good time for us to speak.” etc. I usually respond by saying the following: “The best time to reach me tomorrow is between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM. Please let me know if that works for you. My phone number is ________.” The first recruiter simply did not call. The other recruiter sent me an email on the day when phone call was scheduled saying, “I will call you later today.” It takes a good chunk of time for me to prepare for a conversation with a recruiter from a specific hospital, plus I have to put everything on hold and wait for that phone call. So I sent an email back to the second recruiter restating that my availability is limited. “My availability is extremely limited today. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about ________ position with your organization and would like to schedule a specific time when both of us will be available. Please let me know if 09:00 AM - 09:30 AM tomorrow will work for you. Thank you for your interest in me as a potential candidate.” The person responds, “Yes, it works, will call you then.” Again, I put everything on hold and wait for a phone call, and again the person simply doesn’t call at the scheduled time. Is this a common thing in the days of cell phones when you are expected to be available whenever it is convenient for another person, and the formalities of setting up a time to call don’t really mean anything? I have another recruiter that sent me a similar email yesterday, and based on my previous experiences I simply don’t know what to expect and how to respond.

I will try a mixture of all of these next time. I think disgust with LA, CA would be an honest reason for relocation aside from better job opportunities. Thanks for mentioning this, Emergent.

I am a new-grad who is located in SoCal area. I have been applying to out-of-state jobs and very recently received a phone call from a recruiter. It seemed like most of the questions were focused on relocation rather than on the residency program and why I am a good candidate for them. I was completely unprepared for this part, so I had to make things up on the go. Do you know anything about the area you are planning to relocate to? Why are you planning to relocate to ______? Things were going alright until I asked if their residency program has a contract. A lot of programs do, and I would like to know from the start what I am getting myself into. It was like I flipped a switch. Right away the person became skeptical and went on to ask about my goals for the next 5 years and if I was planning to relocate to California any time in the future. I know that there are a lot of nurses who have relocated in the past for RN residency programs and for other reasons. What do you tell the recruiter? What do they want to hear? How do you explain your reasons for relocation in such a way that it either sounds neutral or of benefit to them? Thanks

Well... It is only true IF you are not willing to relocate. There are hundreds of RN residencies all over US that are currently hiring. Yes, the hospitals are limiting the number of new grads they are admitting, but they are still hiring. Every state and every hospital is different. For example, HCA residency program in CA is closed indefinitely. HCA residency program in Texas is open in every HCA hospital. UCLA program specifically say that they are closed indefinitely. Providence program, on the other hand, is open. I applied to both of their cohorts. Here is a good website for you, if you are willing to go ANYWHERE: http://newgradnursehelp.com/category/application-window-open-now I am in CA right now, and things are not going so well here, so I am planning to relocate anywhere I get a residency in the speciality of my choice. I think it all depends WHEN you are ready to make that decision. If you are fresh out of school, then I would wait and just work on your BSN. If it has already been a year and a half, and you still don't have any nursing experience, then it is probably time to make some radical changes. Your value goes down with every day that passes. Who do you think they will hire if they have limited budget, a person with BSN degree who is fresh out of school and who has valuable transferable skills, or a person with the same qualifications, but who has been out of school for a year? Look into smaller hospitals in small towns on the border of states where temperature gets as high as 120 deg in the Summer time, and there is nothing around but the desert. You will be amazed how many openings they have RIGHT NOW with retention bonuses. And these positions are SPECIFICALLY for new grad RNs.