Submitted with one BUT accept with another

Too late now. You have to shop around before interviewing. You are locked into this assignment with the first agency. That said, after the hospital agreed to use you, you have some significant negotiating leverage with this agency, especially if you are willing to abandon this assignment. Ask them to match or better (or come close) to the other offer. If you walk, they make nothing as some other agency is likely to fill instead.

I would compare both offers using PanTravelers calculator. Use the total pay number. Some offers may only look better making you look foolish when the recruiter looks at it.

Print out both calculations and be prepared to send it to the first agency. Phone negotiations are difficult when discussing multiple compensation components unless you are on the same page - literally!

Hey thanks for the reply!

I broke it down it was a difference of $234 a week. The first company is Fastaff and would not budgeí ½í¸• I've learned a lesson don't be so quick to be submitted! Is it normal that Fastaff won't negotiate? I've negotiated with other companies before. It's only a 3 week assignment so I won't be salty for long.

Fastaff is a funny company. They tend not to be responsive until you are already working or have worked for them. They are notorious for not returning calls. They are a rapid response company and generally pay better than most agencies. So they are unlikely to want to budge. Is the difference really worth it for three weeks?

I'm a little surprised someone else is paying significantly better - I'm sure everyone here wants the name! Usually the opposite is true.

I won't go into all the dynamics of regular staffing which includes variable rates depending on need, and working around agency contracts to rapid response companies for travelers. It gets complex. So I can certainly see how things can go both ways. Fastaff has a fairly high gross profit margin, so if another agency gets the same bill rate, they could afford to pay you more.

I love to share valley medical staffing is the agency. It's for the solar eclipse in Oregon. Your right for 3 weeks it's not worth the hassle or possibly burning bridges over "$234" a week. Lesson definetly learned! I was being eager beaver. I'm waiting for crisis rates in Cali, do you know why kaiser changes rates mid contract? Again thank you for your advice!!

Valley is a very good agency. In a lot of organizations, there is a clear setting of culture from the top. A current negative example in the news almost daily is Uber. Valleys CEO (self titled "Chief) is highly ethical and treats everyone fairly including pay. I often mention them here primarily in the context of California assignments. Never really thought of them as high paying (other than those great California rates) but that is good to know. Newer travelers are more likely to get a good recruiter with an agency like Valley, which can alsoi be very important to even experienced travelers.

I've not heard of Kaiser changing rates mid contract. But such moves should never affect a current contract, only future ones.

A tidbit of possibly useful info: Kaiser has a vendor manager: American Mobile. All agency contracts go through them. Perhaps the most useful intel is that a uniform contract means all agencies are getting the same bill rate. So when you know there is a vendor manager involved, you can shop around and be able to truly tell which agencies run on lower gross profit margins - meaning more of the bill rate gets passed through to the traveler.

By the way, you can certainly discuss switching agencies with Valley and see what they say about it. A thousand bucks is real money. They may decline to to spend any of their good will with the hospital for a three week assignment. Kind unethical business practice at best.

Switching agencies does happen (although rarely) but is even less likely if there is a vendor manager in the middle.

If I were them, my pitch to the hospital might be that Fastaff submitted you but is no longer talking to you. If that is true anyway.

Ugh Ned I could kick myself for this! I shouldn't have thought Fastaff was the highest paying! I sucked it up and just went with them and have learned a VALUABLE lesson! 1. I didn't want to come off as sketchy to Valley so next assignment if there is something I'm considering I'll call them first! Oh Aureus just told me what they are paying! I feel nauseatedí ½í¸© Is it okay if I post it here?

Sure! I wouldn't care what Aureus pays, no way I'd work for the agency well known to be the worst in the country, at least for travel nurses. They treat allied OK.

Really!!? Wow good to know! The break down was 70/hr for the first 40hrs 105 after 40 work weeek is 48hrs/week per diem 245/week then $800 travel reimbursement. Hospital is providing housing total of $3885/week gross. Now that you say that I don't feel so terrible. Do you work strikes?

No, it lowers my income and self respect. The latter of course is less important.

Okay understandable, they are recruiting hard for one in Northern California. I'm not a fan of working 5-6 days in a row... the winter rates for L&D are crap with kaiser I'm holding out for something really good!

This is a difficult situation for you - I understand the complexity of the details you face:

1) You have every right to want to earn the highest pay for doing the same job, and deserve it too.

2) In doing what is best for yourself you may incur the wrath of the first travel company and burn your bridges with them should they find out {which is highly likely}.

The dilemma ...

Let me tell you a story that happened to me, I will try my best to pare down the details for brevity.

In 1998 I had been an RN for 4 years. At the time my husband and I had a 4 year old son and no living family left in the state we called home, which is pretty important while raising a child. Wanting to move from my current state (AZ) to live closer to my remaining relatives and my husband's family, I got my RN licence in MA and RI.

I contacted a very reputable travel company and signed up with them. The contact person promised they could get me a job ("No problem!") when the time to relocate arrived. I signed all the necessary contractual agreements, put my house on the market to rent, packed up my belongings, and gave plenty of notice to my current employer (roughly 6 months).

As the deadline steadily moved closer I began to get a bit nervous - they still hadn't located a position for me yet in the area we intended to move to near my husband's family in southern MA/RI area. The travel company contact person assured me this was not unusual, however continued to promise me that I would have a job lined up when the time came. I was uneasy (as I am a bit OCD, I like to have everything taken care of ahead of time - all my "I"'s dotted and my "T"'s crossed so to speak).

That didn't happen - the best they could offer was a job in the city of Boston proper, 100 miles away from where we intended to move. The whole thing folded like a house of cards in a windstorm - and I also had no job locally any more. No matter how I worded it to the travel company contact person she could not understand why driving 100 miles one way was unreasonable.

We decided relocating wasn't on the table any longer without a job, relocation allowance, or subsidiary cash for housing. I also had some pretty pissed off in-laws.

The travel company was able to get me a "travel job" interview locally (not all local hospitals would agree to do that for a nurse already settled in town back then). It was at a hospital I myself had recently submitted an application to.

Because I had already submitted an application for this ICU position previously about several weeks before hand, when I interviewed with the nurse manager she asked me if I wanted to take the job via the travel company (for significantly less pay) or as a freelance RN (this hospital was actually pretty forward thinking at the time, and had "travel positions" for local nurses - this boiled down to a significantly higher hourly wage but without any benefits, for a set amount of time; this contract could be renewed indefinitely if both parties agreed).

Oh boy ... {gulp} ...

I chose the freelance position - I knew it would piss off the travel company, and I wasn't disappointed either. The travel company contact person called me and let me have it soon afterward.

Although I didn't technically accept this position with the travel company, and according to the nurse manger I would have been called for an interview based upon the application I submitted previously (the travel company merely got me an interview a week or two sooner than I would have anyway) the contact person for the travel company basically saw this as a breach of agreement.

Whether or not they were 100% correct in this assumption, at the time on one hand I felt childishly disgruntled about their broken promises that had created a lot of turmoil in my life up to that point, although on the other hand I also felt like a heel.

Overall, we had both reneged on agreements, and we both behaved deplorably. The travel company contact person said horrible, vile, unprofessional things to me, and yelled while doing it - completely losing control. I swear to God I thought she was going to stoke out, or at the very least burst a blood vessel or two in her head!

By accepting the freelance position I knew I would never be able to use this travel company ever again - but as things hadn't panned out all that great anyway I was okay with that. I had a family I had to provide for, and I made the decision that best suited us as a family.

I ended up staying with the freelance ICU job for quite a while. I loved it and my coworkers. I learned so much! I only left when the entire hospital eventually closed their doors forever due to financial factors (about a year prior our open heart program had closed as well, which in hindsight was a huge red flag waving in the breeze). It was all very sad.

As it turns out I was wrong about being blackballed by the travel company - they continued to contact me to inquire if I was available for travel positions for years afterward (it turns out the previous contact person had been fired for unprofessional and inappropriate behavior - go figure).

I guess that wasn't as short as I had intended (sorry about that) ... I guess my point is this: You have to do what is best for you, because only you know what that is, and no one else will be looking out for your best interests. Does it really make any sense to earn far less doing the same job for someone else's best interests?

I hope this helps - and best of luck to you on whatever you decide to do.