Travel Nursing in Compact States

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Hi all,

I am looking to start a career as a traveler in 6 short weeks! My plan had been to work in California, as it seems to have a plethora or travel jobs available. I recently realized there had been an error in my CA license application. Now I am worried that I won't have a license in time to get a job there.

I currently hold a compact license. The agencies I am with each have 3-4 compact state jobs available, some of which require previous travel experience.

So the question---does anyone know of a smaller agency that specializes in compact states or at least has more options to work in one? I have searched the web, but finding smaller agencies online is proving difficult.

Thanks so much for your help!

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What is your interest in working for a small agency? I would recommend starting to call agencies and weeding them out by responsiveness and how well you connect to the recruiter. The results may surprise you. In any case, if you are planning on working for small agencies, you will need to have backup agencies to get better access to assignments.

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Thank you, NedRN.

I am currently with 2 larger agencies. I am interested in a smaller agency only if they have many compact jobs available. The large companies I am with seem to have the majority of their jobs in NY and CA, both places I do not have a license for. I am in the process of getting a CA license, but think that it may not happen in time. When I research other large agencies, I still see a lack of compact jobs. I'm hoping someone knows of a little agency with more jobs in TX, ID, SD, ND etc.

My current plan is to call agencies and hope recruiters will be honest about the number of assignments in compact states, as I have found they post many more jobs on the website than are actually available.

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I sent you a private message that might help. I might also mention that compact states typically pay less, and you will have more competition from experienced travel nurses holding compact licenses. Low barriers to entry as they say in business.

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Thank you for the advice! I'm registered and will be looking. Can't PM back due to low number of posts. I figured I would get less pay, but as I see this job as a stepping stone to California, I'm okay with this. Later on I'll probably add another state license, but keeping my focus to California for now.

I didn't think about the competition, fingers crossed I guess...

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Competition probably won't stop you from getting a compact state job, especially in Texas, but you probably won't land the more desirable assignments before you have some travel experience on your work history.

It is far easier to get your license by visiting California. A temp can be done in under 48 hours with luck. The process is described in detail on PanTravelers board resource. By mail you are looking at anywhere from several weeks to many months. They have recently improved times dramatically, but much depends on fingerprints (the usual source of licensure delays).

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Granadina what's your specialty?

Maybe consider Cross Country if you haven't talked to them yet. Yes they're large, but they quickly helped me find a good first assignment in a compact state (even though it meant being in the Phoenix area in the summer, lol).

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NICU is my specialty.

I'm open to Texas for sure! I'm currently on the East Coast, so a trip to CA would be cost and time prohibitive.

I will hope to get a miracle from CA (a temp license in only 5 weeks) while working towards a compact job as my back up.

I am signed up with a large company already, but would like a company with more compact options.

Thanks to you both!

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It's impossible to get a CA license in days now...your fingerprints have to be done, processed, and the results sent to CA BON by the FBI before a license is issued...even if you went in person to do it at the board. CA used to be a walk thru state with easy to obtain temp licenses, but it's not that way anymore. So you are looking at at least 4 weeks for your finger prints to process!

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It is significantly faster now. It can take as little as 48 hours now if done inside California.

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Specializes in PICU, CTICU.

So if I got Live Scanned yesterday and applied for endorsement online yesterday as well, we could be talking as little as 48 hrs? Assuming they received my out of state license verification and transcripts?

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Transcripts are not required to get a temp license. They do have to verify any license, that is best done by Nursys. If you only have a license from a non-Nursys verifying state, you will probably have to call the California BON to make sure they have the paper verification in hand to have a shot at that time frame. I believe the 48 hour process is much easier with Nursys - I'd check PanTravelers for the fine details. They have a back office phone number for the Board if time is critical.

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