When is the right time to apply to an Agency(s)

NedRN · Nov 29, 2014

December is too early to land an assignment for June. But it is not too early to start talking to agencies and weeding out the non starters. The extra time will allow you to learn a lot about the professionalism of your recruiters and separate out the keepers

guest474423 · Nov 29, 2014

Typically speaking, a four week lead time on your travel assignment is both ample and appropriate. But yes, start talking to agencies and weeding out the people you don't like. Be forewarned, it's a lot like buying a car. Don't let yourself get rolled over or pushed into an assignment you don't want to do. Some companies have "exclusive" contracts and will do all they can to force you into a certain hospital in a certain place, etc. Just know what you want and what you don't and stick to it.

AlishaaaRN · Nov 29, 2014

Thanks for the response,

When applying to just the agencies, will they be calling your current employer for reference? I just want to prepare my boss ahead of time instead of surprising her with phone calls from Travel Companies.

guest474423 · Nov 29, 2014

In my experience they have called your "references" and not necessarily your "current supervisor."

NedRN · Nov 29, 2014

Thanks for the response,
When applying to just the agencies, will they be calling your current employer for reference? I just want to prepare my boss ahead of time instead of surprising her with phone calls from Travel Companies.

If you don't have written references, that is exactly what they will do. And you don't want them to do that as you cannot control who might pick up the phone nor what they might say.

A professional portfolio is a must for all professionals, especially travelers who switch jobs a lot (both facilities and agencies) by the nature of their job. Written references are like gold to an agency and will make the difference between getting the assignment or losing it. Having them on your laptop as part of your profile will mean you can sign up very quickly with agencies and not miss that fast moving assignment.

A form can make collecting written references much easier. There are several examples for free download, including editable ones you can customize, on PanTravelers. You should be able to find many more on Google Images. Use one you like. Personally, I don't like the ones with will/will not rehire checkboxes.

It takes only a couple minutes to fill out the form, and when possible, I always wait for the person to do it. It also gives me a chance to coach them and explain that it is a reference for external use, not an internal evaluation. They can simply check the boxes, but I ask that they write a sentence or two of narrative as it is far more powerful to the interviewing manager.

Once done, you know exactly what the interviewing manager will see, not what happens on some random phone call. Pick and choose which written references you give out - often I can pluck one out of the past whose author is known to the department I'm applying to. I try to get a couple references from each assignment, starting just a few weeks in (if you get terminated, having a reference in hand can help squelch lies). In general though, every agency will require "current" references, which mean two from the last 12 months. No harm in using older good ones though, they help show a pattern to the interviewing manager.

Agencies also collect evaluations from each assignment, but in a demonstration of how valuable they are, they almost never will give the traveler a copy. Because they have competitive value, you could take them to use to get a job with another agency. So it is vitally important that you collect your own.

In your case, you need to get them at your current job. Ideally, it should be in the context of your professional portfolio long before you consider other jobs but almost no one does that and it is too late for you. I would tell your manager/director that you are considering traveling in the near future (it is a courtesy and they will find out anyway) and request a letter of reference or hand them a form. Do the same thing with charge nurses and other managers you work with.

The goal is at least two good references. You are allowed to think outside the box, I have a friend who likes to collect them from physicians he works with in the ER. In general, the higher up the food chain you can go, the more impressed potential managers will be. When all else fails, get staff nurses to fill out a reference form. If you have letters from patients, those might be OK as secondary documents (I'm dubious), but you will still need at least two professional current references.

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Nov 30, 2014

I started talking to agencies in February of this year, picked agencies in June/July, completed paperwork in Aug, started interviewing with hospitals in Sept, gave notice and resigned early Oct and started my first assignment mid-Oct, just to give you an idea.

AlishaaaRN · Dec 4, 2014

Thank you Ned! That was very helpful. I have already started drafting a reference form to give to coworkers and charge nurses and am going to ask my Director and Clinical Coordinator for written references.

Also attempting to put a portfolio together. The Cardiac ICU is my first job out of Nursing School so that is the only material I have to work with professionally as a nurse.

For a portfolio I was thinking of including special Cardiac related competencies, Mid-year evaluations that I have received from work and Thank You notes/Recognition from families. Probably only creating 3-5 PDFs with this material in it also Along with a resume/ mission statement.

Does this sound appropriate ?

Thanks for reading and your insight!

~Alisha

NedRN · Dec 5, 2014

Those are fine items but not quite what you need for travel. First what you need are the basic components of a profile. This is what every agency submits to the hospital. It consists of a work history, a skills checklist, and at least two written references. Most agencies will also send a summary page that may includes a couple of sentences describing your strengths. It would be helpful if you did this to help the agency not to misrepresent you on the profile the manager will read before deciding who she will interview.

All agencies have (bad) skills checklists. PanTravelers has really good checklists you can download for free with space for the agency logo. Some agencies will allow them and some will make you use theirs.

You can also make your own work history and there are examples on PanTravelers for both short work histories and nurses with long careers. Agencies often require that you fill out an application and they flow that to their work history page. Usually they will accept your own work history attached to the application which will save you a bit of work (more as you get more assignments.

That is all you need to get an interview and a job offer although many agencies will try for more. After an offer, you need documentation prior to starting. This includes your license, certifications, physical, vaccinations (and usually titers), TB status (I recommend Quantiferon so you don't have to deal with hospitals that want two step PPD a week before the assignment starts), and sometimes a fit test.

That is it for a travel portfolio but then there is some standard employment stuff to do like a background check, W-4, I-9, and benefit stuff. Most agencies will also have a bunch of mandatories to do prior to assignment start (which will then mostly be repeated by the hospital), things like fire and safety, medication test, HIPAA, et cetera.