Why are so many jobs available?

[amzyRN]

It appears staff positions are much harder to obtain than travel gigs. It seems like travel nurse jobs are so plentiful, at least there are always many more ads for these positions. It seems too good to be true. Do agencies get incentives to sign up nurses and then you never get an assignment? What's the scoop?

[NedRN]

Appearances can be deceptive. Staff jobs may be hard to get in some areas, and difficult to fill in other areas. 50 agencies can have access to the same open assignment and all advertise it. Others knowing that there is no way to recruit a new nurse in time for any open assignment don't even bother with real assignments and advertise "representative" assignments.

Yes, some agencies will pay incentives to a recruiter or marketing firm to get a fully signed up traveler. But that is a game with an real end result, another filled assignment. Appearances can be deceptive, but the reality is that there really are more open assignments than travelers to fill them and every agency would be making a ton more money if they had more qualified candidates.

I have no idea what you mean by "too good to be true" because there is always pluses and minuses to every job choice. Travelers do not make what physicians make, nor do they get the benefits that most staff nurses get. Lots of lies out there and I've never seen a travel assignment or a staff job that was too good to be true when you get down to the facts. Some choices are better than others for one person, and worse for someone else. Jobs and workers always come to some sort of balance.

[rxis]

It certainly does have a way of balancing out. Staff often complain that supplemental staff is much more well compensated. At the facility I'm currently working, a lot of the staff actually earn more than I do as a contract nurse even though my hourly wage is higher. RNs often can't seem to add up the numbers well. I also often hear staff make complaints that supplemental staff costs the facility more money. However, core staff is what actually costs more money to maintain to the company.