Why all the talk about recruiters? What to look for?

[ArrowRN, BSN, RN]

I'm applying to a couple travel companies, mainly looking at doing PRN and per diem not full time travel yet, but just to "test the waters" and supplement my full-time job with local jobs. Most of the posts on travel nursing seems to dwell less on the facility and more on the recruiters. Why is this? I really don't see the need to "know" my recruiter per say. They basically find you jobs and get paid for doing it right? I've spoken to people at Fastaff and Cross country/Medical Staffing Network, both seem good to me. Excuse me for being a newbie at this. Prior to nursing I'd had experience as an independent contractor in cable tv world. I am aware that some contact jobs promise the world then turn out not to be as expected. So what then should I be looking for in a recruiter? What should I be asking prior to accepting assignments from them?

[NedRN]

Ever had a manager you could not communicate well with? Support staff? Someone you were dating? How did that work out?

Let's start with the basics, recruiters are in commissioned sales. So they do have an big incentive to get you placed. That is the minimum level of professionalism you can expect. And it is enough with per diem (usually). But that same minimum level of professionalism can also mean a travel recruiter may tell you anything to generate a commission. They may tell you that an assignment is traveler friendly when it is not (terminating travelers at will), or push you to take a high paying assignment (which pays well because it is a hell hole, and the recruiter gets extra to place you there). All sorts of other harmful BS can be spouted, from encouraging you to "just use your parent's address" so you can fake a tax home, to crap about how many jobs they have in your specialty. Because the truth could cost them your business, they may be reluctant to tell you about compensation on open job orders, or even where current open job orders are located, instead pushing you to sign up and do the massive paperwork that entails. That is also a sales tactic in that they know if you invest a lot of work into signing up, you are more invested, and will be more likely to take an assignment no matter the other red flags.

But you can do much better than random recruiters.

Obviously, you want recruiters that are honest, have your best interests at heart (these are usually superstar recruiters whose travelers will follow them around as they switch agencies themselves), and with who you communicate well with. If you cannot communicate well with your recruiter, and both you and her are annoyed with each other by every conversation or email, and cannot relate to each other's needs and priorities, all is lost. Great recruiters for you are a find, but it does take a lot of conversations with multiple recruiters to figure out who is who. The BS is easy to sort through after a while to discover honest recruiters, and recruiters that appear to have your best interests at heart can be demonstrated by a desire to get you started with easy and friendly assignments to start you on the road to success (and retention by this recruiter). If she tries to steer you to such assignments (often lower paying) despite you chasing a fabulous location or pay, you know she has great ethics.

So why don't all recruiters do this, because it will benefit them in the long term? Well, in sales, twenty percent of the workforce generates eighty percent of the business. Because in any profession, most are not capable of being in that top twenty percent. They don't have either the ability, or the desire to learn and grow. All you have to do is think of your fellow nurses, and the physicians and support staff you interact with. Same goes for recruiters. By the way, recruiting is an entry level job, no education or experience is required. Folks from certain previous professions do better. For example, the very first travel nurse company Travcorp discovered that social workers did great on "issue" calls from travelers (common for recruiters to receive calls about work, housing, or personal issues) taking far less time on the calls than recruiters from other work histories and made an effort to recruit them as recruiters. Obviously those with HR backgrounds will likely do better as agency recruiters, but as you talk to recruiters, it can be helpful to ask about their previous jobs, and how long they have been a recruiter.

Recruiters are not your friend, nor are they your servant. You want a good working business relationship so both parties benefit. You don't need to "know" them, but a certain exchange of personal information does allow you to develop a good relationship. Simple pleasantries like are you feeling better after taking a sick day build trust. But it is certainly your choice of communication style you like, and you can pick appropriate recruiters that do not invade your personal space.

Hopefully this has given you the general idea of how important your recruiter is. As the gatekeeper for an agency, you can see how your relationship with that agency is completely colored by your relationship with your recruiter and how hard she works and fights for what you need. A good recruiter at a bad agency is so much better than a bad recruiter at a good agency that it is barely worth discussing agency brands.

As to what questions to ask potential recruiters, well everything! Any interactive conversation will be revealing. Ask about something that sounds like BS or red flags you heard from another recruiter. Take notes and grade them just as you would if you were hiring them. Which in fact is what you are doing.

[ArrowRN, BSN, RN]

I guess that is why some nurses would say company x is great and others would say that same company is horrible. I'm not really much of conversationalist being an introvert, I just expect my first job to be horrible and if its not, well I wont be disappointed. I'm looking forward to having to work at a hospital without having to get caught up in the units day to day politics You have armed me with some things to look for, I appreciate it.

[NedRN]

Staying away from unit politics is professional, and even more necessary as a traveler. I'm also introverted, but still appreciate connection and admire how easy it seems to be for extroverts. Most in sales tend to be on the extroverted side which certainly in excess can be annoying, but some introverts do well in sales, often because they have more sensitivity to others. I did OK in sales (and several other professions) prior to becoming a nurse.

You don't want your first assignment to be discouragingly horrible, that is no way to start a job. Work up to horrible and after some travel experience, your skills will improve and you may no longer have that perception of below average assignments. If you don't perform minimal due diligence on your recruiter, appropriate assignments picks, and useful interviews with managers before accepting assignments, you might get horrible out of the gate.