So I'm looking to start my first travel contract mid-January or early February....
I've been talking primarily with three different recruiters. One from TaleMed, one from FlexCare, and one from Cirrus.
They aren't awful recruiters by any means, but there's been inconsistency with all three. Cirrus has been the best at getting back with me, but I had to ask MULTIPLE times about benefits before she sent me information, and the entire process with her hasn't been very educational. This will be my first assignment and she acts like I already know what I'm doing and isn't seeming like she's going to help me much with housing at all...
The lady from FlexCare talks over me whenever I'm on the phone with her (she talks A LOT) and basically sent me all kinds of information and then disappeared for several days, I had to email her after multiple days of attempts and tell her I was going to look into talking to someone else before she finally got back to me. Overall though I think she's been the most helpful, albeit slow.
TaleMed has been the worst by far. They were rated top agency on Highway Hypodermics so I wanted to give them a shot, and all the people I've spoken with there have been so friendly! But I got with a recruiter, she sent me things to fill out, and I told her I wanted a list of locations and a benefits package because obviously that would all be important in my decision.
Well I STILL haven't gotten anything about benefits (she says it has to come from HR...its been a week...) and she sent me a list of locations but no pay packages. I emailed her multiple times asking about this, and benefits, and never heard anything. She calls me a few days after to tell me she hasn't forgotten about me, that she's just been busy, tells me she'll get me the pay packages that day....She ends up sending me ONE pay package for ONE of the locations only, the next day. So I call them on Friday to request a different recruiter, and the guy I talk to defends her in every way and feeds me BS answers about "well generally we don't offer pay package info until we get ready to submit you...," then I tell him she did send me one... Then he says "maybe she only sent you the one pay package because it's Colorado and all of them pay about the same," which I know isn't true, because after I talked to him she sent me multiple pay packages the next day, all with different rates of course. Then he proceeds to tell me "well maybe she didn't send the pay packages because we haven't received your application yet" which I had already submitted online AND I had already filled out everything she had emailed to me. This entire process has been going on for about a week, and it took her that long even get me any pay packages.
So needless to say I'm feeling extremely discouraged. I need to talk to someone who understands I'm new and can make things go as smoothly as possible. I told the TaleMed guy, I'm dragging my family across the country for this, I need to be with someone who gives me
information straight and in a timely manner, and I feel like a lot of this has been convoluted or something.
Am I being impatient? I've never done this so I don't know how long a window this emailing back and forth takes, but I expect a reply if not the same day at least next day. Is that too quick for some people? I could be in the wrong here.
Any ideas appreciated! And if you guys have any recruiters or companies that you're in love with, send some info my way!
Although I agree that you should look into other agencies I will say I was in the same boat. I started looking into travel beginning of Nov and contacted agency...after finding out that I wanted to wait till January they went dark. Then as we got close to January they started calling me and requesting all my documents. Its all about priority.
Although I agree that you should look into other agencies I will say I was in the same boat. I started looking into travel beginning of Nov and contacted agency...after finding out that I wanted to wait till January they went dark. Then as we got close to January they started calling me and requesting all my documents. Its all about priority.
I suppose that is very true. They may have had people starting in December than they had to focus on.
Thankfully I applied to 5 agencies yesterday and I spoke with a recruiter today, have lots of paperwork completed. Will review the offer tonight and speak with recruiter tomorrow. He is moving very quickly and has been highly responsive. Just what I feel comfortable with. Best of luck on your search!
I have actually referred other travelers at the contract I am working to my recruiter, as they are with the dreaded AMN and are having horrible experiences in relation to pay and availability of their recruiter. One thing that was important to me was being able to have answers to questions I had in a timely manner, and I usually have them in no more than an hour!
Define decent... like do I think mine would actually kill for money? Well, possibly. I imagine them mostly as used car salesman. It's their job to make you like them but your trust is not something I would ever give freely. Keep your wits about you, it's a big world out there.
Define decent... like do I think mine would actually kill for money? Well, possibly. I imagine them mostly as used car salesman. It's their job to make you like them but your trust is not something I would ever give freely. Keep your wits about you, it's a big world out there.
Yep I find it funny how they all want to pretend that they are your best friend asking about your family and dogs ect. Just remember its a business situation, Think of yourself as a sub-contractor and you want to have good contacts but they work for you. I let all mine know that I work with other agencies...This has actually made them work harder for me.
NedRN
1 Article; 5,785 Posts
Good plan!