Ready to start traveling

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Hi everyone! I'm new to this site, figured some of you may have some valuable advice and insight on travel nursing. I have been an RN for almost 6 years and I most recently have ER experience and am looking into traveling to different ER assignments. The number of agencies and opportunities are a little overwhelming so does anyone have advice for where to start? Any recommendations for agencies and locations? I'm pretty interested in the Midwest and southern US to start then hopefully make it to Hawaii or St Thomas, maybe even internationally one day! Thanks in advance for any input!

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Specializes in ICU/CCU, PCU, Neuro, Telemetry.

Best advise I can give is speak to multiple agencies and recruiters and then narrow your selection to 5 recruiters you connect with. You can poll hundreds of travelers about their experiences with their companies and the responses will vary. Decide what things are important to you, location of assignment, rate of pay, housing stipend, benefits, etc.

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Traveling can be very exciting for the first time, make sure to cover all aspects in what your needs are.

is your license compact? Do you need to apply for a license in the state you desire to travel to? Is the licensing process walk through? Or will it take weeks? Do you want provided housing? Or do you want a tax free stipend/relocation to find your own? There are a lot of factors that come into your pay rate, a good recruiter will seek out your needs first and fore most.

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Specializes in ED/trauma.

Like you, I've been a nurse for 6 years and in the ER. Also, I'd felt overwhelmed for a long time!

I read lots of information (on this site and various other places), but it all seemed to confuse me more. I'd been considering travelling for two years, and it really took all that time to solidify my decision. Although I am spontaneous and love to travel, depending on your personal situation, travelling can be complicated. I finally got serious about it in January. I had gotten a referral for a recruiter and reconnected with her (after the initial chat two years ago). I also decided to sell my major belongings (TV, bed set), move the remainder into my sister's home (and live with her), and travel with the rest. All of that wasn't an easy decision, and it really took those two years for me to decide how I wanted and was able to make it all work. I think the most confusing part is the taxes, and I'm still trying to figure it all out. (That part actually dissuaded me for some time.) There are some really good resources though. (One I really like is traveltax.com.)

All of that said, I am writing this from Seattle, and I start my very first assignment tomorrow! Good luck!

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Touching on imanedrn's topic of taxes..

When breaking down your pay rate your recruiter should initially tell you what your taxable rate is and what your non taxable is and then equate when combined what your hourly rate is and weekly take home.

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Glad to hear feeling scared is normal!! I'm from north central WA and very familiar with Seattle..great pay there! What agency did you choose imanedrn?

Thank you everyone for the advice! I'm beginning to realize how important a great recruiter is! I don't want to be taken advantage of!!

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Specializes in ICU/CCU, PCU, Neuro, Telemetry.

Stefm13, feeling scared is definitely normal. Each new assignment brings me a little anxiety. Someone once told me, "you can do anything for 13 weeks, and remember it is only 13 weeks". That statement has helped me many times. The key to traveling is your relationship with your recruiter.

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Does anyone work with any awesome recruiters and/or agencies you would recommend?! I have spoken to sooooo many but don't know who I want to sign up with yet!

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I am not understanding why, in this industry, per diem is being broken down and considered a part of the hourly rate. We, as nurses, are really being ripped off here. A recruiter wants me to work for $12/hr + per diem which brings the weekly take home to $1200. That's $125/day per diem. The gov't rate for the area is $140/day. Per diem should be paid above and beyond, and considered separately from, the hourly rate. He then offered 18/hr + meal/incidentals and the company would pick up lodging. This would be my first travel nurse gig, but I have traveled extensively in another career, and this way of doing business is crazy! Is this typical, or is the recruiter trying to really hammer me?

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Its dependent on what the hospital is willing to pay, we as recruiters only have a certain margin to work with, we dont negotiate with the hospital on bill rate.

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Because maximizing per diems increases take home pay with the same bill rate. There is no mandate to pay any per diem, much less the maximum GSA per diem.

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