travel companies "farming out" contracts

[lmttravel]

Hello All,

I am a first time traveler. I have researched and applied to what I think are good companies. However, I am now receiving emails from subsidiaries. Is this the standard for travelers? If so, are my references going to be contacted by each and every company? Is there a way around that process? I am concerned with my references being annoyed with several calls.

Thanks for the input.

[NedRN]

For starters, you are doing references wrong, really wrong. You need to get written references for every job and assignment, preferably several, and as early as possible in each assignment (to protect you from anything that may happen later in the assignment - hospitals often term travelers based on census and make up some clinical reason). That way you have total control over your career and you know exactly what your references say - rather than your worst enemy or some idiot answering the phone making crap up. Or no reference at all based on employer policy, just dates of employment. Or your reference person could be long gone, or have forgotten you and can no longer say anything positive about you.

Plus you are right, you don't want to annoy your valuable reference. Written references are much easier to verify than a name and phone number and make you much more valuable to your next agency. Lots of reference forms out there, PanTravelers has some customizable ones that are travel specific. The agency you work for will also collect such a form for every assignment, but they are unlikely to share it with you to use with some other.

That said, if you are talking about large agencies and their different brands, Cross Country and NovaPro for example, no, they won't have to verify your references more than once. Kind of strange that they would put more than one recruiter to work with you, are you sure they are not separate companies and someone has sold your name on a mailing list?

[lmttravel]

Terrific information! In this era of technology, I was not sure if written references were still used. I that this was a really "old school" practice. Luckily, I have written references from my employers going back 20 years. I will be sure to ask future recruiters. Speaking of Cross-Country and Nova Pro, do you have any insight? Recruiters from both companies are communicating we me. Thank you for the great reply.

[aandersonrn]

I went with cross country because I was a new traveler. I was fully signed up with 3 other agencies, they have just gotten me interviews and jobs faster than the others. My pay is nice, I have worked in one meh hospital and one great hospital that I have been re upping with. The housing was OK, I started taking the stipend because they were charging $900/mo more for a second bedroom in Seattle. They worked with my dog and 2 cats but made it seem unreasonable that I asked.

[NedRN]

No advice re: CCTC versus NovaPro. In the past, NovaPro paid higher. I'm still puzzled that both would be contacting you at the same time. If it has been a while since you signed up with CC, they do release your profile so that any recruiter in their system can take a stab at converting you to an assignment. But it is pointless to do that with several recruiters at the same time and it runs the risk of turning you off working for them at all.