Travel Nursing Advice

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I was recently offered a travel nursing job. In my opinion the pay was way too low and I told them I would get back with them with an answer. They are trying to lowball me with 25 dollars an hour but are offering a lot of bonus pay. The housing allowance is 500 a week food allowance is 322 dollars a week and they cover travel which is only $250 for the entire 13 weeks. Don't think this is a good offer. For you all that do travel nursing what should I be expecting?

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I think if 25 an hr is your taxable rate that's pretty good.

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Thanks Soliloguy. I've been looking at the #'s and honestly not sure if it's worth it. Appreciate the feedback.

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If you are only talking to one agency about one assignment, then that is a top offer! If you get some other numbers to compare, I suggest using PanTravelers calculator to make more sense of them.

Believe or not, your offer is on the high side. The usual range using the calculator is $40 - $50 total pay. You are over $50! (less if you are 40 hours) You cannot compare that number to staff pay, only other travel assignments.

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Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.

If that was offered to me, I'd take it! It's somewhat higher than the rate I get now.

Sent from my iPad using allnurses

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I was recently offered a travel nursing job. In my opinion the pay was way too low and I told them I would get back with them with an answer. They are trying to lowball me with 25 dollars an hour but are offering a lot of bonus pay. The housing allowance is 500 a week food allowance is 322 dollars a week and they cover travel which is only $250 for the entire 13 weeks. Don't think this is a good offer. For you all that do travel nursing what should I be expecting?

That's a killer deal. Take home is something like 1700 if you are working 3-12s. You are taking home the equivalent of $63ish/hour taxed money.

Tell me where that assignment is and I'll sign up for it...😃

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What agency is offering this?

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ok, where I make my money is on the housing stipends, food allowances, relocation bonuses, etc-the untaxed stuff. I call it "free money" I have found that most extended stays are willing to negotiate with someone who is going to be staying with them for months at a time. So I've gotten some amazing deals and pocketed the remainder of my stipend.

Agencies offer only what the facility is willing to pay for that specialty area really. My recruiter sends me out offers from different facilities when it is time for contract renewal. Each one is a little different. She knows I wont work for less than $50/hr (combination of hourly wage, housing stipends, food allowance, divided by the number of hours per week contracted) So she only sends me those type of offers. My specialty area is Surgery though and RNs are in very high demand for the OR so I dont usually have a problem getting what I want.

Another thing, make sure every detail is in your contract. I have them put in that I can take a week off every contract-be it all at once, or one day at a time. I rarely take it but it covers any sick time I may have, low census days and you want to stay home, etc-so I am not penalized by my agency for not working a full 40. If a facility requires any special type of training or certification, special colored scrubs or uniforms, anything you must pay for, put in your contract for reimbursement. My agency pays for my nursing license in all states I work in if not compact, my ACLS/PALs, my CNOR certification, etc. If you dont work, they dont make money either, so most agencies will pay for those things but wont tell you up front they will ;)

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