Still searching, but uncertain of the options

Specialties Travel

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I've put in a few topics on this site, and got some excellent responses and info. The search goes on. I've talked to a few recruiters. Some good, some not so good. I talked to a recruiter yesterday from near the top of the list on Highway Hypodermics, and it was a very interesting conversation. This recruiter was very personable and knowledgable in his job.

The problem I walked away with was the feeling that all of the responsiblility seemed to be thrust back on me. Housing, utilities, even medical insurance were basically left up to me to seek out and obtain. The way he put it was that a total amount was determined by the overall amount that any given hospital gave was distributed between all the factors involved in the final contract (housing assistance, utilities setup, medical care setup, and everyone associated with these factors), which led to the final determination of what my actual pay would be.

It was a little more involved than this, but this is the general gist of the conversation. His opinion was to set up for my own living arrangements, provide for my own utilities, rent my own furniture, and get my own health insurance. He further suggested that I find a room to rent through Craigs list in some strangers house for the term of each assignment.

I even read on one of these forums someone saying that he was happy with a blow-up mattress and department store lamp was basically his idea of heaven. If someone likes that, great for them. This is something that I have absolutely no interest in doing.

I like having a nice place to return to after work to kick back and chill. I am a very private person and I like my space and freedom, and I have a dog that has been with me since a very young pup (8 years now), and has never had to live in such an arrangement. This option is not even a consideration! So, I suggested finding a short lease rental house, and the whole stipend concept seemed to get brushed aside, again placing the whole responsibility back on me.

The one thing that I would gain from this would be maximum pay. The money is very important to me in that I plan on using it to pay for an advanced degree as well as some further RN certifications, but what good is more money when I'm using a large portion of it to keep a roof over my head?

The first time I travelled was back in 2002-2003. It was with Cross Country, and after I sent them all my info and signed the dotted line to accept an assignment, they did EVERYTHING else. The housing, furniture, utilities(including internet and cable) were all set up. All I had to do was get in my vehicle and drive there. I even got there 5 days early, and it was all ready for me. This gave me some time to explore a little, especially finding the hospital. I did this for 3 assignments, and all went the same way. And my pay was still $30/hr, even back then. Of course I was still keeping a rental back here at the time, but I don't plan on this now. It seems a little redundant considering my future goals.

This time I have a close friends house to use as a permanent residence, and this recruiter did suggest placing some sort of financial investment in this house to avoid possible future IRS problems. Like paying part of this friends electric or something, which makes perfect sense to me. But the rest, well I'm just not sure. Maybe I misinterpreted this recuiters opinions.

Has the whole outlook on travel nursing changed this much in the past 10 years? It's not just this recruiter. I seem to be getting this general outlook from most recruiters I've talked to. At least his was the most open suggestions, without the hidden agendas.

Has anyone else experienced these kinds of suggestions and opinions? Any advice? I am starting to get a bad feeling that this may prove to be a dead end.

The biggest problem I can see is getting all this set up by this time next month. I still am working full time in a hospital here, and I can't and don't want to do all this extra work.

I don't mind at all working for a goal, but a goal should lead to a conclusion, not more difficulties. Just the search for a good agency is becoming a second job, what with the applications, skills lists, and phone conversations.

I'm even starting to get the idea in the back of my mind that I would be better off just accepting one of these other offers to take a full time job in Texas or somewhere. But I don't want to do this. I want to spread my wings, see some sights, and move forward with my goals, and being locked into just another job is not going to do this for me. And what about this so-called "negotiating"?

The general concensus that I've been getting when suggesting or questioning something is "we don't do things that way, so don't question us" Is this simply how things are now, where these agencies are promising the sun and moon, flashing glitter in your eyes, and then manipulating the situation back to their benefit, and giving you whats left?

Are there any companies out there who make promises that they work to keep, or is it all just empty space and wishful thinking?

My personal best case scenario would be to have an agency do all the extras for at least the first couple assignments, giving me the time to get a more solid base as to what is needed and gaining more responsibility as I go. That feels real and do-able.

Everyone I talk to when mentioning travel nursing talks about having everything taken care of, seeing new places, and making great pay. I know there are many happy travelling nurses out there. How are they doing it?

I don't even mind footing part of the responsibility, but the idea of living in some strangers basement and sharing their bathroom and kitchen, and paying for everything else, just doesn't sound too promising.

My God, I couldn't even keep up with bills that would quickly tack up living like that, even given "more money". These are serious concerns for me. Maybe it's just a matter of jumping through a few hoops to get to the prize. If so, fine. I can do that. But right now, it just doesn't feel that way. This should be an exciting adventure, not some quest that may end in a possible dead end. Please help!

Specializes in Ortho/Uro/Peds/Research/PH/Insur/Travel.

I'm not even sure where to begin! If you enjoyed the ease of working for/with Cross Country, why don't you contact them again? Travel nursing is NOT glamorous. Unless you are working in a city where the average one-bedroom costs $2,000 (or more) a month, it isn't worth taking the agency's housing. I make a lot more money finding a room to rent for, say, $500 a month and pocketing the other $1,000+. However, I can understand your desire for privacy, etc. So, you will have to decide what is MOST important for you as a traveler. I have an assignment coming up where the hourly rate is in the mid $40. However, I have to find my own housing and, if I desire, health insurance. If I am going to continue as a bedside nurse, I want to make as much money as possible...and see the country while I do it! I sincerely wish you all the luck in the world!

This was an interesting read and an eye opener because I do have some of the glitter in mine when it comes to the prospect of travel nursing. I don't yet qualify because I am a new grad and need some experience first, but it's good to know that I will need to be very careful if I try this route in the future!

Specializes in ICU./CCU/SICU.

I'm like you, Theopenroad54, I like privacy, a decent apartment, my own washer/dryer, etc. Yes, I could go live at the Y or rent a room in some ax murderer's basement for $150 a month, but that's not how I like to live. I honestly suggest one of the bigger companies like AMN or Cross Country. I looked into smaller companies because , Yes, they pay more and are a little more personal, but all of them gave me the same schpiel you're hearing about finding your own housing. I've looked into that option too, and by the time I find someplace furnished, that's in a decent part of town, that allows short-term leasing and pets, and I'm not pocketing any money with the stipend. Most of my housing has been decent-nice, with the exception of the current place I'm in of course =0

We mostly found our own place to live, but we took most of our furnishings with us so didn't have to rent any. I think most big companies still find you housing and furnish it for you.

Beware getting rid of your tax home, I know a few travel nurses who have been audited since the IRS is finding that many are not sticking to the tax free home rules. You are supposed to pay I think 50% of the upkeep of your tax home. Otherwise you open yourself up to a world of problem. If you do not maintain another residence, then you do not qualify for the tax free housing or per diem rates per the IRS. Not sure if this is what you are telling the companies and that is why you are getting the answers that you get.

good luck.

Specializes in Emergency.

I have to be 100% honest. I was a travel nurse for quite a while with a very legitimate tax home (MY house). I found that I could make almost the same amount of money by working my regular job and then doing a bit of very high paying PRN stuff on the side. THe disruption of moving every three months and dealing with a new set of rules and a new set of people turned out to be not worth it at all. Plus, I know when I had issues with things like housing, the company was no help whatsoever.

I am confused though why you don't just go back to CCtrav corps. I worked for them for a while, as they were the only company with a preferential contract I wanted. They actually were pretty much the company tht did everything they said they would do, on time. Pay was not as good, but...I enjoyed arriving to a fully furnished place that did not look like a slum.

Specializes in Medical-surgical.

I traveled for 18months, and am currently taking a break from traveling and got a staff position. In my opinion, what it boils down to is travel nursing just isn't the money maker that it used to be. I have 10yrs of experience and now that I'm not traveling my paychecks are the same as they were when I was traveling, I'm just paying for my apt. now. When traveling I never took the stipend because sometimes you get down to the end of your assignment and may not have a contract lined up until the last minute so the thought of setting all the housing stuff up on my own did not appeal to me, but taking the stipend is where other nurses made more money than I did. My health insurance was provided through my company, I personally wouldn't work for a company that didn't provide my insurance for me.

theopenroad54 & jdickrn - I've been doing a lot of investigative work and I'm finding out exactly what you are all talking about. A good friend of mine who has been traveling for over 10 years said to me "travel agencies aren't paying what they use to. They stopped paying good in 2005" This is a rude awakening to me. Travel nursing use to be the way to see the country, while making great money and being compensated for it. Now from what I'm gathering now it seems that it is just a way to see the country and not make that much money while doing it. Unfortunately this is all extremely discouraging. Travel nursing is something that I have been dreaming about for years. And now that it seems I have the opportunity, it doesn't seem to be panning out. I've spoken to over 10 companies and almost all are making the nurse run around like a nut. I'm glad that I'm not feeling alone in this situation.

Just an update. First off, thank you all for your comments and insights. Just like JWRN104 said, I too don't feel like I'm alone in what I'm experiencing here. It seems like every time I allow myself too believe that this is going to start moving forward, I end up facing another wall.

First off, there's this whole "FREE" concept. Their biggest sales pitch is free this and free that. But as soon as you start talking to any given recruiter (and I've been talking to a few), the whole spiel changes almost immediately to "come on , we're all adults and know that nothing is free. Someone has to pay for it". Which is fine, I am an adult and realize that nothing is truly free and no one is going to hand me anything. Fact of life. Fine. My question is, how can they push this out so adamently, when it's an outright lie. Isn't that false advertizing?

Second, why so many obstacles? As I said, every time I think I'm going to start making some progress and meet my personal goal of mid August, These companies come up with some other reason to delay my submittals. First it was the whole no recent experience in ICU thing. This led to my acceptance of taking a step-down or tele assignment with possible float to ICU. Again, fine. If it gets me to where I want to go, I can do that. My biggest concern with this is that there is no guaratee that I will ever be floated to ICU once I start. From my own personal nursing experience, if you want something, basically don't ask directly for it. The only way that I got my initial ICU experience was by leaving the hospital that I was with (their final response when I requested ICU was that I was good on tele and they were going to keep me there) and going to another hospital to start directly in ICU. Fine, we do what we have to. Not a problem. Then there was a consistent string of problems with my paperwork with various travel agencies. For all intents and purposes, very minor stuff (like minor problems with references - they misinterpreted my references as being all personal friends instead of supervisors, which, in fact, they were all supervisors, who gave excellent reference as to my abilities, 4 references in fact). The latest has to do with my ACLS. The company that I am using follows the same criteria as the AHA, questions then skills checkoff. I have been using this company for the past eight years with no problems. That's 4 recerts. It was just more convenient for me. The problem that I'm having is that this ACLS expires in October, but these companies won't begin submissions unless I update this NOW. I even had one recruiter tell me this one day last week, and then call back the next day to ask if I had done this yet. THE NEXT DAY! Once again, fine, I will do what I have to do. Hell, it needed done anyway, right? But this won't happen over night. I have this habit of preparing myself as best I can. I like to do a little studying and updating, which I'm doing. I feel this makes me conscientious. It's the same way I deal with any given crisis on the floor. I don't just walk in and start trying anything. I see entirely too much of this "chicken with their heads cut off syndrome" in others, and I really don't want to see it in myself. My concern is that these agencies will completely drop me from consideration if I don't do exactly as they say, when they say it. This leads me to believe that this is all I can expect once I'm accepted by one of these agencies. The answer to any given problem these days seems to be to focus on the problem, not on the solution, let alone the final outcome. I completely understand these companies needs to meet certain criteria. One more time, fine, it's up to me to find a sense of balance in all this. But by their standards, the only thing I am eligible for at this point would be in an LTAC somewhere. With the lack of everthing else that they claim to be offering, I may as well stay where I'm at. At that point there goes 10-12 years worth of ICU experience down the drain. The fact is the whole reason I started this was to not only use this to help pay my way through school, but to also get back to what I love most....ICU. The more I give in to thier demands the further I feel these goals slipping away. The longer I am away from ICU, the harder it becomes to get back. And with all this "pay your own way" stuff that I'm seeing with these agencies, I'm beginning to believe that paying my way through school is just a pipe dream.

This doesn't leave me without options. I can always look for a job as a full time employee on an ICU somewhere. I don't want to do this, considering my schooling reason for wanting to travel. But one last and final time, fine, I will do what I have to. I will continue to pursue this for a while longer. but am beginning to come to the belief that this is just a waste of my time. I am feeling like I am sitting in one spot waiting for someone elses approval to take the next step forward. I have already put in considerable time and effort into applying , submitting all the required info, doing skills checklists and competancy tests, just to have them find some other reason not to submit me to what I'm pursuing. And remember, I'm doing this all while working a full time job. So this has become a second full time job. I'm getting a little too old to be played with this way. And for what, a definite maybe? On my next update, I sincerely hope and pray that I can say "Wow! It actually happened. I have my first assignment, and it sounds like a good one. So here we go!". We'll see.

Thanks emilee. I'm just very sorry to be the bearer of bad news like this. As for the companies I'm looking into, I am pursuing the very best of Highway Hypodermics. This is a supposedly private website devoted to analysing various travel agencies and awarding them positioning out of @ 100-150 companies, based on their packages on one scale and on their support and backing on another. I have put all of my attention thusfar on their top 10-20 companies. What I have found is that although they score high per these scales, they become exponentially more difficult to be considered for, and in all offer no better than the better known agencies, like AMN or CCTC. My biggest concern is that once I find an assignment with one of these agencies, am I going to have to go through all this again for my next assignment, and so on, and be left out there sweating it out to the last minute. That really doesn't sound too appealing.

Companies like AMN and CCTC rank only in the middle of the road as per HH, but they are by far better known. If this pursuit of the elite per HH continues to be met with so many diificulties, I will attempt for a brief period of time to pursue the better known agencies. If this becomes as big a hassle, then I start looking for a full time job ON an ICU somewhere. Which is where I'm starting to believe this is all headed anyway. But I have to try. Talk later.

Specializes in Operating Room.

Sounds real fishy that your recruiter doesn't submit you when your ACLS doesn't even expire till October. Travel is lucrative if you go to Northern California. I have been traveling for 10 years and have not had that awful experience but I also don't work with just one company. You should not have to jump through hoops when working as a traveler, it should be a smooth transition and everything taken care of when you take an assignment. I have looked on Highway Hypodermic and have talked to some of those companies they listed as being top 10 and laughed because I have dealt with them and currently and most definitely found their status to be laughable. You can't put all your eggs in one basket, do the dirty work and at least have 10 travel companies working FOR you and not the other way around. When your recruiters know that, they will be scrounging to find jobs you want.

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