4 Recommendations on Choosing a Journey Nursing Company
Written By: Brittany N. Garcia, BSN, RN, CPN, CCRN
The primary query it’s essential ask your self is, “Why am I touring?” Is it to discover the nation, create a bomb resume, become profitable, only for the enjoyable of it, or all the above? Upon getting answered that query, you may start to zero in on what you need from an company. For me particularly, my reply was all of those! Listed here are a number of the standards I used to search out the company that finest aligned with my journey targets.
Funds
One query I at all times get is, “How do you help your loved ones on a single revenue as a journey nurse?” For us that’s simple, BUDGET!!! My husband, Nick, and I sit down with every potential contract and calculate all of our bills; hire, groceries, gasoline, telephone invoice, medical health insurance, scholar mortgage funds, automotive insurance coverage, leisure…and the record goes on. Finally, we make a operating complete of all of the bills for the month, and go away a slight cushion for the sudden, then calculate it on a weekly foundation. Once I first began reviewing potential pay packages, I had that magic quantity in thoughts with the purpose of exceeding it. This led to a dialogue with my recruiter about my necessities for minimal weekly revenue. I emphasised that I might be supporting our household of three, and requested that I solely get despatched packages that met or surpassed that quantity. You possibly can consider pay packages like a pie. For essentially the most half, every company payments the hospital the identical means, all of them simply pay in another way primarily based on what’s included in your contract. Consider hourly pay, stipends, journey, and additional time as items of the pie, every might be organized and tailor-made primarily based on what you might be on the lookout for. Remember that in the event you add to 1, you take from one other. Take into account that pay shall be affected by location, hospital census, and specialty. I might encourage you to search out your magic quantity which may help slender your company search.
Perks & Advantages
It may be troublesome to filter via the lengthy record of journey nurse companies. One other level of reference I take advantage of to check companies are their perks and advantages. What do I imply by this? Medical health insurance, assured pay (i.e. pay even when a hospital cancels your shift), sick pay, reimbursement for licensure, journey and certifications. Some nurses aren’t concerned about this stuff and select an company that will not supply numerous perks. My view on this falls someplace within the center. We select to hold our personal non-public insurance coverage as a result of it permits me to take off extra time in between contracts with out shedding protection and is extra reasonably priced for our household. Alternatively, I just like the tax-exempt reimbursement for journey, licensure and certifications required for my contract. As a working mother, I’m additionally a fan of assured and sick pay as a result of we’re on a single revenue. You by no means know when chances are you’ll get a low-census day or your child is sick with a abdomen bug. Simply keep in mind this all ties again to my pie analogy, prices to cowl your perks could imply you obtain much less in hourly pay or stipends.
Location
Touring as a Pediatric Intensive Care Nurse, one in all my foremost targets was to work at a number of the prime ranked kids’s hospitals throughout the nation, lots of which are typically in massive cities. I knew I wanted to search out an company that labored with hospitals I used to be concerned about. I made a listing of about 10 hospitals I needed to work at and in contrast it to job listings on journey company web sites. Hospitals generally have unique contracts with sure companies, and can solely supply jobs via that specific company. If particular hospitals are essential to you, then you may simply discover out extra by asking companies who they contract with or looking one of many many journey nursing blogs accessible. As well as, your space of specialty has some influence on the locations you’ll be able to select as a traveler. As beforehand talked about, PICU positions are typically in bigger cities, whereas nurses who concentrate on Med-Surg have much more choices. It doesn’t matter what motivates you to choose a sure location, there’s an company that may get you to the place you need to go!
Recruiter
As a journey nurse your lifeline is your recruiter. I used to be EXTREMELY nervous to uproot my household, take them away from every part we knew, and help them with a profession that has a point of uncertainty. Once I started talking with companies and recruiters, I checked out it like a primary date:
- Do our personalities click on?
- Are they listening or simply interrupting?
- Do they sound assured?
- Are they pushy?
- Lastly, what’s my first impression?
I’ve to confess, this may be troublesome since you not often have the chance to fulfill face-to-face. Most communication is completed over the telephone, electronic mail or textual content. When I discovered just a few recruiters at completely different companies I used to be concerned about, I requested them for references. It was essential for me to talk with different nurses about their private experiences. Surprisingly, solely two recruiters had been capable of present me with references. I assumed it solely honest that they supply me with some data concerning their job efficiency contemplating the duties I might be entrusting them with. I want a recruiter that’s immediate in communication, an excellent listener, and will get me what I’m on the lookout for in a contract. I’ve to say, I bought actually fortunate with the recruiter I discovered; she does all of this and extra! We truly had the chance to fulfill her in individual whereas I used to be on project in California. She took us out for espresso and introduced our daughter a present. I undoubtedly don’t anticipate this stuff, however I genuinely really feel like she considers my household’s finest curiosity and works exhausting for us. Whether or not you select to work with one recruiter or just a few, keep in mind the company is just pretty much as good because the recruiter.
Along with the information above, one other software you should use in your search is Wanderly. They’re an organization that enables nurses to anonymously evaluate pay packages with out the trouble of finishing an utility for every company. I want I might have identified about them once I began touring! Finally, discovering the company that most closely fits your wants is straightforward upon getting established your journey nursing targets and record of must-haves. Journey nurse companies are like the sphere of nursing, every one has one thing completely different to supply and there one thing on the market for everybody. You should definitely comply with our household journey adventures @goinggoinggonegarcias and attain out
you probably have any questions. Completely happy travels!