When to negotiate

The focus for me is to travel around and find a good place to settle in a few years. So money was a factor, but not as important as location. I wouldn't let any of my agencies submit me for the same position. And when I started getting initial quotes I let my other recruiters know some of the packages I was being offered in areas I was particularly interested in. I also made sure I was making between $45-50 hr using the Pan Travelers calculator. For my last assignment my one recruiter pretty much matched the Seattle pay I was offered and i got to see a different part of the Pacific Northwest.

Staff nurses always think that travelers make ridiculous amounts of money. Even travelers can be unreliable. The best source is what you did, compare different real offers to you. For a first assignment, you have little value and represent a lot of risk to an agency. Nor do you know what to negotiate or have a better offer to work from. I wouldn't even look at pay or location right now but pick the assignment that is the best fit for you and the one you will be most likely to complete successfully. Maximizing your pay can come later.

Money was not my top priority in choosing my first assignment. I went with the assignment that was in a good location (10 minutes walking from the beach!) and where I thought would be a good place for a first time traveler (it is). I am making twice as much as when I was staff so that is nice. I want to make sure for my next assignment I get a competitive pay package. It makes sense to get different offers from different agencies for different locations.

Using the PanTravelers calculator for the health insurance and housing, should I put in what they are reimbursing me for 13 weeks or monthly? Centfromlv, is $45-50 net or gross?

The current calculator version requires that you put in insurance for the entire assignment term. A better version is on the way.

$45 to $50 is the gross number on the calculator. It would be amazing if it were net! The calculator estimates net pay as well, but gross is a useful number for several reasons. It really can't be compared to anything else though but it is useful to know that most travel assignments clock in at between $40 and $50 an hour gross per the calculator.