claytonrenee

I've only been traveling for 1 1/2 years and that contract seems low to me. I only travel in Florida though, and try to stay within 2 1/2 hours of my home base because I have a family. The lowest I've taken was 1395 a week gross pay for my first assignment. Now my average is 1625 gross for med-surg. What specialty is this contract in? Is the housing in the area affordable? How close is it to home? You seem to have a lot of desirable experience that I didn't have when I started traveling so I would assume that you would make more AND I thought Florida was supposed to take the award for lowest paid state. haha. I think you should get a few more quotes. But know this, I started with one company who did everything for their travelers, but their pay was lower. It was great to start out like that because I was new to the game. Now fast forward one year and I have switched to a higher paying company, but it has it's downfalls. Example, I have to schedule and pay for any physicals, tb testing, etc whereas my last company took care of that for me payment, location, etc. And my new company is constantly saying "oh we don't have this paper on file" and I have to resend it even though I know they already had it. References again after 2 months of working for them. New physical because my other is more than 6 months old. That would have made the experience as a new traveler overwhelming. Now I have all my papers neatly organized and when they need something I send it right away and if I do have to pay for something my $200+ per week is more than enough to cover it. Maybe do a contract or two with a lower paying company who has glowing reviews might be worth it until you get your feet wet?

That would be a big NO! I make more than that in Florida where we are known for low pay.

New grad pay with ADN in Central FL I started out at $19.5. About 1 1/2 years later I was making $22.15. I went PRN at that time and got $33 an hour so I could start travel nursing with a huge increase of course in pay about $42. I recently started with a new travel company after a year with the other and make over $45 an hour. I switched back to PT from PRN and my pay is about $29.50 for the PT same job I was making $22.15 at a year and a half prior. Pay is not the only consideration for me though. I would take a lower pay for a commute where I could actually come home each night. Currently, my commute is 2 1/2 hours so that's not possible.

I kept my PRN job at home. Only downfall is you are usually committed to X # of shifts per pay period or month. I don't travel far and stay within a few hours of my home so it's not too bad for me, but if you are traveling wide and far it might be a bit hard to pull off.