South Florida to LA

Published

I've said I want to travel since nursing school years ago so Im finally in the process of doing it!

Ive located travel agencies that have pretty high rankings per this website- thanx guys!!

BUT the comp packages aren't as high as i anticipated. I used to hear that travel nurses make a whole lot of money BUT based on the compensation packages Ive been getting I really cant tell. 36hrs 18/hr base pay stipends from 800-1200 . I have 2 years ICU 2 years telemetry.

Is it because this will be my first travel assignment? Is it because I want day shift?

I've been going back and forth with my recruiters, about not wanting to do nights but they tell me I need to be flexible. We go through 3-4 packages a day and I really dont find any to be appealing.

Is this normal? Should i bite the bullet and take the lower package, suck it up and take nights??

HELP PLEASE !

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Huge pay should not be a priority for your first assignment. You want a successful first assignment so you are not turned off of travel nursing, and a much improved and proven work history. After that you can start thinking more about money. Yes, you can certainly make more than that. It can take a while to learn how to maximize compensation though.

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If you're really set on day shift then I would wait for more assignments to pop up. Agencies always push you to take the first assignment they offer because they're all pushy and want to get you started. I'm a tele travel nurse and most positions I saw in SoCal were nights, but got lucky and ended up with a day shift. For ICU, I would think you'd have more choice. As for money, I agree with Ned. De prioritize that vs a good first assignment. I feel like most agencies' rates are similar for the same position (sounds like you're having that experience). In CA, FlexCare boasts to have the most pay, but their insurance is crazy expensive and don't offer additional bonuses (travel, extra shift, etc. because they're very up front about it "coming out of one big pot of money"), so I feel like it sorta all evens out anyway. Some hospitals pay more than others too. So just focus on where you want to go and what kind of hospital you want to work on, and then look at pay. Sure it's not as much as what travel nurses allegedly made back in the day, but we missed out, and the pay is much better than local pay (at least for me, being from MO and having a tax home)

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Thank you So much for your feedback NedRN! Success rate is more important with the first assignment I didnt really think of it that way.

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Thank you Michi66 for your reply! I submitted to an offer keeping in my the hospital reviews and the overall package with FlexCare. Now I have my fingers crossed. :)

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