Travel Nursing Blogs » Travel Nursing Checklist

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #27: Getting a good night’s sleep

Jeff — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:00:30 +0000

Whether you are on your first travel nursing assignment or twentieth there is nothing more important than getting a good night’s sleep before your first day. Actually you need great sleep before each shift too, but for this post we are just focusing on your first day of an assignment.

Your first day at your travel nursing job will set the tone for the rest of your assignment. It is when will you need to learn the most. It is when first impressions of you will be made. And it is probably going to the most stressful day you face, merely because of the unfamiliarity and unknowns surrounding it.

Most likely your first day will consist of some sort of orientation. How extensive that orientation is depends on the hospital . In some cases your orientation may be brief and on the same day you actually start working on your unit, while others the orientation may be more thorough and will be all you will do that day. Either way though, having a great nights sleep is the best way to ensure that you will be prepared for the day. So take the time to establish a quality bed time routine as soon as you get to your new location.

Getting a good night’s sleep in a new location can be difficult so it is important to create a routine that is as similar to what you would do at home as possible. Here are some articles full of advice just for helping travel nurses get the sleep they need.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #26: Finding the hospital

Jeff — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:44:47 +0000

At this point your stuff is all unpacked and it’s been a long drive. You are tempted to crawl into bed and sleep until you are supposed to be at the hospital. Don’t.

The first thing you need to do now is find where the hospital is. The experience you have on any of the travel nursing jobs you ever work will be heavily impacted by the impression you make on the first day. So arriving late because you got lost on the way to the hospital is not a good way to start.

Even if you have a GPS don’t rely solely on it. It still will be helpful if you have made the drive the once and are somewhat experienced driving int the city.

But don’t just pull up in the hospital parking lot and go home. Find out where you should park and and get out and go in. Find your unit and try and familiarize with the layout of the hospital. You don’t have to check-in or anything (unless of course you are in a unit that requires a sign in like Labor & Delivery or ICU), just walk around and get a sense for where everything is. Of course if the opportunity arises, introduce yourself to any other nurses you meet, but don’t feel pressured to do so at this point.

Now, you can go home and rest.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #25: Unpacking your stuff

Jeff — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:58:11 +0000

After arriving at your travel nurse housing the best thing you can do (assuming you have given yourself enough time and don’t have to be at the hospital the next morning) is to take an afternoon or so and unpack and get settled in.

You may be thinking “I’m only going to be there for three months, how much unpacking do I really need to do?”

Well for starters living our of boxes is just going to create an extra stress to your life that you just don’t need. Plus 3 months is a lot longer than you think.

Secondly, If you forgot something important you will find out much quicker when you are unpacking. Waiting until the first day of your assignment to discover that heels are the only shoes you packed is not a good way to get started.

Finally, you may just absolutely love the location and the hospital and decide to extend. Wouldn’t that be an easier to decision to make if you were already unpacked?

OK, so now that we have established how important it is for you to unpack how can you do it as quickly and easily as possible? The more you travel the more you will establish your own routine, but these tips are for those of you just getting started.

How much you have to unpack can depend a lot on whether or not you took housing from your travel nursing company or if you decided to take a stipend and set up your own housing. But either way these tips should help you out.

The first thing you will want to do is unpack your boom-box, stereo or iPod and get some of your favorite upbeat music playing. This will help you get in a rhythm, which makes everything go faster.

Next move each labeled box or tub into its appropriate room. You did mark your boxes right?

After that take a look at the furniture, is is it where you want it? If not move it now, before you get everything unpacked.

Unpack your ”essentials” box first if you have one. Having one is a good idea so that if you do find yourself in a pinch for time you can just unpack that one box and still be able to function and get to work.

After the bathroom is done, move on to your bedroom. Take some time to make sure it is going to be a comfortable place for you to get a good nights sleep each night, but especially the first night.

If you have kitchen items, especially if you set up your own housing, then unpack that next. You will probably want something to eat once you are done right?

Then move onto the living room and unpack any other miscellaneous items you have like a bike, or pet supplies, etc.

Finally, this is a great chance to throw out anything you don’t need or think you over-packed.

Stay tuned for the next installment of the Travel Nursing Checklist.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #24: Arriving at your housing

Jeff — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:26:22 +0000

Now that you have arrived at your housing you may find yourself in a hurry to move in and go explore your new city and get ready for your assignment. But first there are a few things you need to take care of.

If you are working with a good travel nursing company, you should have little trouble with your housing, but there can still be surprises. So before you start unpacking all your stuff and hitting the town there are a few things you need to handle first.

Hopefully you have already arranged this with your recruiter at this point, but it is important to arrive a couple of days early, if not more, to your housing. This will give you time to handle all of the items listed next and relax and get acclimated before the assignment starts.
Before you leave for your assignment be sure to print out your move-in instructions and have made arrangements with the apartment office to pick up your keys and be shown to the apartment.
If you think you may be arriving after normal business hours for some reason make sure you have an emergency phone number as well.
Save all important names and numbers in your cell phone (recruiter, housing coordinator, leasing agent, etc.) so you can easily make any calls you may need. Also include your assignment manager’s number in case there is some housing issue that will prevent you from making it to the first day of your assignment on time.
Make sure that the housing lives up to what was described to you by your travel nursing company. You want to make sure that you feel safe and that the living conditions are clean and comfortable.
Check to see that all items promised by your company are there, such as kitchen items, furniture and bedding.
Conduct a walk through the apartment and write down and photograph any pre-exisisting damages you see. You want to make sure to avoid paying damage fees when you move out for something that was there before you moved in. Call your housing coordinator with this list right away so they can communicate it to the landlord.
Do a quick run through to ensure that your basic utilities are turned on and working. You don’t want to move in and make yourself comfortable only to find there is no plumbing.
If there are any utilities not working call your recruiter or housing coordinator right away so they can get things turned on for you. They are normally on call 24 hours a day in emergency situations and should be able to handle any situations for you quickly.
If after these steps you feel that the housing is just not safe for you to stay in contact your recruiter before you take possession of the apartment.
Once you are checked in call your recruiter and let them know that everything looks good.

When all that is done you can start unpacking. Stay tuned for the next Travel Nursing Checklist post for tips on that.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #23: Preparing yourself for the drive

Jeff — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:27:01 +0000

Just like we said in the last segment of the Travel Nursing Checklist, preparing to arrive at your assignment is crucial to your success as a travel nurse because being late to your assignment is not a good way to make a good impression on your new manager.

The last post talked about preparing your car for a drive to your travel nursing assignment. Now the next thing you need to handle is preparing yourself to make a long drive to your assignment. This means taking care of things as important as mapping out your drive or making sure you have GPS to things as seemingly trivial, but no less important like having comfortable clothes and even planning a little fun along the way if you have time.

Scheduling the drive to your travel nursing job

During the course of a long cross country drive you may run across things that slow you down and are out of your control, so one of the first things you want to do is leave yourself plenty of time to actually make the drive. I would recommend planning on it taking about 20-30% more time than you think need and plan on arriving in your new city at least 2-3 days early; talk to your recruiter about the earliest date you can move into your housing.

The most simple way to do this is visit a site like Mapquest or Google Maps to determine your driving distance and estimated drive time. As a tip try to schedule your drive to avoid hitting major cities during rush hour (don’t forget about time changes).

Here are some previous articles we have written on this topic.

Scheduling sleep before driving to your travel nursing job

Now that you know when you need to leave, one of the best things you can do is plan on getting enough sleep before you head out. Depending on your drive distance you may need to plan on driving through the night or plan a stop at a hotel.

If you need to drive through the night then make sure you get extra sleep the day or two before. Never compromise your safety though, if you are tired pull over and find a hotel.

If you know you are going to stay at a hotel before you leave then make sure you call ahead and make a reservation. You would hate to arrive in town only to find out your trip is coinciding with a giant polka festival and there are no more rooms available.

Having fun during the drive to your travel nursing job

You’re starting to get to the fun part of travel nursing now, so don’t forget to plan some fun into your cross c0untry drive (if you have one). With pre-planning you will be able to take time and enjoy one of the best parts of travel nursing, seeing the country. We have written a lot of great articles and discussed a lot of resources in the past that can help you make the most of your road trip across the country so I won’t rehash them here, but they are listed below.

Saving money while driving to your travel nursing job

Just because you are most likely making more money as a travel nurse doesn’t mean you want to blow it all just driving to your job so here are some links to previous articles we have written on saving money while getting to your assignment.

Preparing your pets for the drive to your travel nursing job

If you happen to be taking a pet with you while you are on assignment then you will need to plan for that too. Fido and Toonces have special needs when it comes to a long drive, so it is better to anticipate them early than have to react to them after it is too late. Again, this is an area we have written on before so here are links to those articles.

Preparing to stay safe during the drive to your travel nursing job

One of the most important things you need to plan out before you leave for your assignment is to take proper precautions to stay safe while you are driving. Whether you are driving alone or with a companion, in the summer time or during the winter it is still imperative that you put your safety first. Part of this is pre-planning and giving yourself enough time to make the drive so you don’t feel like you have to push through exhaustion or bad conditions just to get to your assignment on time. Here are some articles we have written in the past with advice for driving safety.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #22: Preparing your car for the drive

Jeff — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:15:36 +0000

By this point in the travel nursing process you are getting so close to actually working your first assignment. Now you just have to make sure you and your car are prepared to make the drive.

You may be wondering why this small part of the process is getting its own section in the Travel Nursing Checklist?

The reason is simple. The start to a travel nursing assignment is one of the most important parts of it. It is where the initial impressions of you as a nurse and professional are made and one of the easiest ways to self-sabotage that impression is to arrive late. Whether it is your fault or not or a fair impression or not, the unit manager that hired you may have a negative attitude toward you from the start if you arrive late.

So nothing is easier, yet more crucial to doing a great job as a travel nurse than taking the time to plan and prepare for your drive so you can arrive on time if not early to your assignment. Which will also give you time to get into your housing, map out the drive to the hospital and mentally prepare for your first day.

Make sure your car is ready for the drive to your travel nursing assignment

Making sure your car is prepared for the drive is important because an unexpected breakdown on your way to your assignment or while you are in your new town could put a real cramp in your ability to perform your travel nursing job; if you can’t get to the hospital it is very difficult to perform the job.

In fact, that is why it is important to take good care of your car at all times by taking it in for regular oil changes and fluid changes and having a mechanic you trust check items like shocks, struts, tires and brake pads for you.

Here are some good websites to find a mechanic you can trust in a new city:

If you haven’t been taking your car in or maintaining it yourself regularly though, don’t fret, just make sure you take it in a couple of weeks before you plan to leave for an assignment. That way if there are major repairs you need to do you have time.

Here are some great resources to give you the basics of car care:

Here are some great resources to help you prepare your car for a long road trip:

Here are some articles we have written over the past four years that you may also find useful when preparing your car for your next assignment:

In the next installment of the Travel Nursing Checklist we will look at preparing yourself for the drive to your assignment.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #21: Squeezing your stuff into your car

Jeff — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:39:35 +0000

OK. You have made all the arrangements you need to handle before you leave and taken care of all the items in Travel Nursing Checklist Item #20: Getting ready to leave for your travel nursing job. Now you are ready for the fun activity of packing your belongings into your car that you are going to need during your travel nursing assignment.

Hopefully you have read this page that will help you put together a list of items you will need to pack for your travel nursing assignment. If not, check it out.

Once you have that list determined, it is time to load all of it into your car. Cramming your stuff into your car may be a tight squeeze, but here are some resources to help you get the most in the space you have:

Have fun, create a system and see how much you can squeeze in, just make sure you don’t overdo it to the point of not being a safe driver.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #20: Getting ready to leave for your travel nursing job

Jeff — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:48:16 +0000

When it comes time to leave for your travel nursing job there can be a lot to remember to do. This list should help you from drowning in post-it-Notes. Mark the date on your calendar and work backwards to check off the things you are going to need to take care of before you leave. This list includes:

At Your Home

Make sure all unnecessary items in your home are unplugged
Clear your answering machine of old messages to make room for new ones or set up call forwarding to your cell phone
Have a left-overs party and then throw out all your perishable food
Set the heat your house needs to be at while you are gone if you have plants you will want to have a temp that keeps them alive and if you live in a cold climate you will want it to be warm enough that your pipes don’t freeze
Pack your belongings – see this page for a list of items you may want to take on your travel nursing assignment
Ship any larger items you may need to your assignment, especially if you are not driving yourself to the assignment
Backup your computer in case it is damaged during the move to your assignment
Make sure your pet is ready to travel
Make sure all your bills paid and set up as many as you can to be auto pay or pay online
Buy a wireless card so you can have Internet wherever you are
Renew any prescriptions you take
Make sure to buy a new memory card for your digital camera or clear off your old one
If your spouse or significant other and/or kids or someone else is going with you make sure they are ready to go too
Ask a trsuted neighbor to keep an eye on your home while you are gone

On Your Way

Map your travel route to your assignment
Have your oil changed and car maintained
Book a hotel room along the way if you are driving a long way from your home
Take precautions to make sure you stay safe on the road

With Your Company

Make sure you get first day instructions from your travel nursing company
Check in with your travel nursing company and make sure there are no loose ends to tie up – they should be checking in with you
Make sure you have your nurse licensure for that state taken care of

While You’re There

Ask someone to regularly check on your house while you are away to make sure nothing major happens while you are away
Schedule someone to take care of any pets that aren’t going with you like a bird, fish, etc.
Make a contact information list for family and friends
Contact the Post Office and have them forward your mail to your assignment
Set up timed-lights to help keep potential intruders from getting any ideas
Visit AAA and get some travel guides of the area you will be working in – and sign up if you are not already a member
Contact any friends you have in the area your travel nursing job is in and set up some fun dates
Set someone up to mow your yard or hire a lawn service or in winter shovel your sidewalk
Make a “bucket list” of things you would like to do in the area
If you are taking a stipend make sure your housing is set up or you have someone to stay with
Go online and try to learn as much about your new hospital as you can
Make sure your Facebook updates are set to only be seen by your friends so you are not telling strangers you are not home. Here are some resource for staying safe online in general – Stay safe Online.org and Cyber security for travel nurses

If there is anything else that we missed let me know so we can get it added.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #19: Planning your journey to your travel nursing job

Jeff — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:40:58 +0000

Hooray! You have the travel nursing job, now what do you do?

Well, first things first, you are going to need to know your start date, which you should get with the first day instructions your travel nursing company provides you. Once you know that you can start your planning.

After that, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions about transportation:

How am I going to get to the assignment? My own car? Rental car? Plane?
Based on my timeline and mode of transportation do I have time to take my time and enjoy the trip? Or do I need to double time it and get there quick?
How are you going to get around once you are there?

Here are some resources we have put together in the past and found on other sites that you can use during this process:

Driving to the assignment

Flying to the assignment

Enjoying the drive to the assignment

Getting around during the assignment

After you figure out your transportation it is time to start scheduling your trip and going through your Pre-Travel Nursing Job Checklist.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #18: Not getting the travel nursing job, now what?

Jeff — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:15:41 +0000

So now you are discouraged, you have gone through all the work of working with your recruiter to get you an interview for the travel nursing job you want, you had a great interview and hit it off with the nurse manager interviewing you and you know you are qualified for the job, but you still didn’t get it.

The key in this situation is not to get frustrated or give up. Even in times when there is a high demand (i.e. tons of open jobs) and low supply (i.e. qualified travel nurses) there is still a lot of competition for a job, so it is not an indictment of your skill or qualifications as a nurse if you don’t get a particular job. Often this is just as dependent on the reputation of the company you working with, their relationship with the hospital, the speed your profile got to them (another great reason to always be prepared) and how many other nurses’ profiles were submitted for the job.

Which is why you may want to consider working with more than one travel nursing company at a time, I wouldn’t recommend any more than 2 or 3, but having multiple companies trying to find you a job you obviously increase your chances of finding the travel nursing job you want.

What will happen next is really dependent on you and whether or not you want to continue the process with that company, find a new one, take a break, or give up altogether. But a good recruiter will have laid out a plan ahead of time. Which means resubmitting you to a new job should actually occur pretty quickly. Your recruiter should have a list of other open positions they are prepared to submit you to or at least a list of potential locations you are interested in that they can quickly find to submit you to.

In the meantime you and your recruiter should discuss what it may have been that may have kept you from getting the job. Some things you may want to look at include:

How the interview went – some people just don’t do this well, but it is something they can practice with you if they know it is a weakness for you
Was it really a good match - Ask yourself questions like, “Was the hospital bigger than you were used to?” “Did there appear to be a good culture match?”
Do you need to take another look at your resume and highlight your skills or volunteer work more?
Are there some skills you need to improve on or have more experience with in order to get the job you want?

It is important to rely on your recruiter during this time they should be knowledgeable enough to find you the jobs that are the best for you and meet the things you are looking for in your travel nursing career. But remember, the only thing worse than not getting the job you want is to get one that is not a good fit.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #17: Accepting the travel nursing job

Jeff — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:18:17 +0000

At this stage in the travel nursing process you should hopefully be hearing one way or the other about the hospital’s decision to hire you. Sometimes the hiring manager will offer you on the job right on the phone, though that is rarer. Most often what will happen is that the hospital hiring or nurse manager will get back in touch with their contact at your travel nursing company who will let them know that they are interested in offering you the travel nursing job.

When your recruiter calls you, you will want to take the chance to verify the information about the travel nursing job and verify the details of the contract. At this point you should have already discussed the position details, benefits and pay thoroughly with your travel nurse recruiter (see Ultimate Travel Nurse Checklist #15) and have no surprises about it, but this is still your chance to follow-up and make sure that everything you have discussed is still accurate. You will need to verify the following pieces of information about your travel nursing job are in alignment with what you have been told:

• Name and location of the assignment
• Unit you’ll be working in
• Assignment start and end dates
• Shift and hours you are being hired to work
• Assignment pay rate (with any overtime and holiday rates included)
• Travel money to be paid at the start or end of your assignment
• Any other bonuses to be paid by the facility or travel nursing company
• Any deducted amounts from your pay for any health, dental, vision, or other company benefit plans
• Special pay rates (i.e. on-call or charge pay)
• Whether the travel nursing company is providing housing or what the monthly amount is to be paid for a housing allowance
• Any scheduling requirements you need to be aware of

Hopefully you are not being submitted for a travel nursing job you don’t plan on taking, so if after going over all the job and contract details everything matches up, you will need to let them know that you have officially accepted the assignment and sign the travel nursing contract. The travel nursing contract will probably be faxed or emailed to you and need returned as soon as possible so the hospital can confirm that the you are indeed taking the job and they can close it.

However in the instance that you did not get offered the travel nursing job the part of the process of getting submitted to a travel nursing job will have to start over at least partially. But the key is not to get discouraged. The next installment of the Ultimate Travel Nursing Checklist will lay out some tips to help you with that.

Travel nursing checklist item #16 – The travel nursing job interview

Jeff — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:53:00 +0000

The next step in the Ultimate Travel Nursing Checklist that you will be aware of is the travel nurse interview. Between being submitted and interviewed may be a bit of waiting for you. But at the hospital and the travel nursing company a bit more is going on. The hospital staff responsible for making the hiring decision will be evaluating your resume, references, skills checklist and profile along with all the other candidates competing for the job, which is why you want to have a standout profile.

Your travel nursing agency will be contacting the hospital on your behalf trying to convince them that you are the best candidate to meet their needs. And sometimes this is not just based on years of experience alone. So don’t get too worried. Travel nursing is such a unique job and good travel nurse candidates have a few different characteristics than just what makes a good nurse. For instance a nurse with 5 years travel experience out of 8 years of nursing experience may have the edge over a first time travel nurse with 20 years nursing experience, or a nurse who has already worked in a particular part of the country may have an edge over a nurse who didn’t. It all just depends on the hospital’s needs.

Depending on how the hospital is set up and how many travel nursing companies they work with, two basic processes will be going on while you are waiting to hear from the hospital. Either a staffing or HR manager will look over your profile, one among anywhere from 10 to 40 other candidates (less companies means less competition for you) and decide which ones meet the needs that the nurse unit manager has told her she has for the position. She will usually narrow this down to the top three or so and and them to the nursing manager to evaluate and/or interview. If the hospital is smaller the nurse unit manager is more likely to be in direct contact with the travel nursing agency eliminating the go between, but leaving her with more profiles to evaluate. Either of these situations means you will have to sit and wait a little until you get your travel nursing interview, but don’t take it as a time to veg, instead use it to prepare so that you can blow the hiring nurse manager away during your interview.

One of the first and obvious differences of a travel nursing interview versus a traditional interview is that it will be done over the phone. For some nurses that is a cause to breathe easy, for others it is a cause to panic. If you are the latter don’t worry we have done several posts here at TravelNursingBlogs.com full of great travel nursing interview tips, so rather than rehash them all here are the links:

Travel Nursing Job Interview Tips
All the ingredients to a great interview
Are you ready for the five types of nursing interviews?

Overall when it comes to interviewing for a travel nursing job the key is to be confident of your skills and not to get nervous. Taking the time to prepare will help you a ton in this regard.

Keep an eye out for the next step in the Ultimate Travel Nursing Checklist installment; accepting the travel nursing job.

Travel nursing checklist item #15 – Being submitted to a hospital

Jeff — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:25:04 +0000

Every travel nursing company’s process is a little different, but for the most part the next step in the Ultimate Travel Nursing Checklist is being submitted by your recruiter. There is not a lot of for you as a travel nurse to do at this point. By this stage if you followed all of the guidelines laid out in the first 14 steps of the Ultimate Travel Nursing Checklist you should have already explained where you want you to go, any travel nurse housing, pay, unit and assignment requirements and preferences you have and your travel nursing recruiter should have a good sense of what you need next in your travel nursing career and a good understanding of your nursing skills. It is this part of the process that is out of your hands that makes the prep work so important.

Now, travel nursing companies may differ here in how this process works. Some recruiters may also be contacting the hospital on your behalf while other companies may have these roles split out between two different departments. There are advantages to both systems, which I will be writing about in a later post, but basically one set up will be able to make the claim that the person selling you to the hospital will know you better, while the other will be able to promise that they will know the hospital better and their needs better and thus give you and the hospital a perfect fit. So if this difference is going to be important to you then you will want to find out how the travel nursing agency you choose to travel handles this.

Some companies are going to be very selective in where they submit you, while others may be more scatter-shot in where your profile is submitted. Good travel nurse companies will be the selective ones, I have heard of unhappy traveling nurses who have been called by hospitals they didn’t even know they were being submitted to in locations or hospital environments that they are not particularly interested in working in. Find out up front how the travel nursing company you are looking at handles this process, so you don’t have any surprises.

What you really need to do at this point in the travel nursing process is really just to prepare for the next step, the travel nursing interview.

Travel nursing checklist item #14 – Knockout resumes hospitals love

Jeff — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:55:27 +0000

At this point in the travel nursing process you will be asked to submit a travel nursing resume. Some travel nursing companies will write your resume for you; either based on the information you supply on a resume you have already written or you list on your application. A good resume is very important for a travel nurse. The competition for travel nursing jobs can be intense for the really good locations and hospitals so you want to make sure you stand out. The style is important (and may even be changed to match the company’s look anyway), but nowhere near as much as the information on it and making sure it is presented in a clear and easy to follow format. Some of the key information every good travel nursing resume should have includes:

All certifications,
All licensures,
Locations of previous work history
Complete start and stop dates
Job type (travel assignment, perm, PRN, contract)
Any degrees you may hold
Locations of any school/college you attended
Dates you attended those schools

Your travel nursing company should have a lot of experience and knowledge about what hospital hiring managers want to see on a travelers resume so check with them and make sure you are providing all the information they need to build a competitive resume for you. But some other things you may want to add are a summary of qualifications and any volunteer work or non-profit organizations you belong to.

Also don’t worry about going too far back in your work history. It may be one of the older positions that is the selling point on your nursing skills. Also the travel nursing company you are working with may have a preset policy about how far back they go in your nursing job history.

Overall the biggest ingredient to a good resume is attention to detail and thoroughness. If you have those two aspects handled you will have a winning resume.

Travel nursing checklist item #13: Completing a skills checklist

Jeff — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:59:51 +0000

At this point you will start the process of working with your recruiter to find your travel nursing job. This is a process that can vary depending on the company. At some companies your recruiter will also be the one who contacts the hospitals trying to find you a job. At other travel nurse companies this job is handled by a separate department that is able to focus on it much better, making sure you get the best customer service possible by your travel nursing recruiter who is able to focus all their efforts on meeting your needs.

The first thing your recruiter will ask you to do will probably involve completing a skills checklist so they can assess your competency level. Some of these can be dauntingly long, but remember this is one of the main ways travel nurse companies can determine if you are the right fit for the available jobs; it doesn’t do you or the travel nursing agency any good to match you up with a job you are not comfortable with.

Here areÂ a few quick tips for completing the skill checklist:

Take your time; rushing through it may make you miss something and then you will need to go back in and complete it or even worse do it all over again
Don’t be nervous; if you are honest in what you communicate to your recruiter what your skills are then you will be just fine
Be honest; an accurate skills checklist with some skills not as strong as others is better for you, the travel nursing companyÂ and the hospital than one with over exaggerated skills that promise to a hospital more than you are able to give
Always work on expanding these skills; travel nursing can really help you do that by opening up so many new areas for you to work in, be sure to mention to your recruiter that you are willing to work in areas you are unfamiliar with, a lot of times this can help you get the travel nursing job you want

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #12: Interviewing your recruiter

Jeff — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:29:29 +0000

In the last section of the Ultimate Travel Nursing Checklist I talked about what makes a great travel nurse Recruiter, now I am going to give you some tips to help you find a one. For starters ask around. Being referred to a good Recruiter by a travel nurse who believes in them is by far the easiest way to end up with a great Recruiter yourself.

However, if you are in a situation where you are working with a new company, it is a little more difficult to guarantee which Recruiter you end up with. Often when you call in you will be forwarded to a Recruiter who you have never met before. SheÂ will try to strike up a relationship with you. It is important that you feel comfortable. Often a Recruiter is the face of the company to travel nurses like you so one bad experience may turn you off to a particular company. That is why in this situation it is best to do some research. Spend some time online in nursing forums and nurse social networking sites asking for the names of good Recruiters and good travel nursingÂ companies. Ask around at the hospital too. Most likely your hospital has travelers in it who can fill you in on rn travel companies and nurse recruiters for the good or bad.

Another thing to keep in mind is to find out, when you first start talking to a company, whether or not you will have the same Recruiter for your entire career with that company or if they will move you from Recruiter to Recruiter depending on where you are working. This is defintely a situation you want to avoid, otherwise you will have to build a new relationship with each travel nursing assignment and in travel nursing the nurse/recruiter relationship is too valuable to need to be rebuilt with every change of region.

Once you are finally on the phone with the Recruiter, this is your chance to interview them. Pull out your checklist of items that you have pre-written (see Travel nursing checklist items #3, 4 and 5). Ask a lot of questions. Ask them until you feel comfortable. Find out how much they know about your specialty because your needs may be completely different than someone who has a different nursing specialty. Try to spend some extra time trying to get to know them on a personal level. It will help if any tough situations arise knowing you have a friend on your side.

Remember this is probably the most important part of the travel nursing process so take the time to make sure it is done right. For the rest of the Ultimate Travel Nursing Checklist click here.

Travel Nursing Checklist Item #11: What makes a good recruiter?

Jeff — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:36:30 +0000

Once you have submitted your application online you can literally sit back and wait for a recruiter to call you. Thanks to the nursing shortage, qualified nurses looking to travel are in high demand. That’s why I’m going to break this post up, for now I will just cover what makes a good recruiter and in the next post I will tell you how to go about making sure that is what you get.

The relationship you have with your Recruiter, or Placement Specialist, or whatever the company you are working with calls them, will be one of the most, if not the most important relationship you will have during your travel nursing career. That’s why it is important that you find one that you not only get along with, but can also trust. Your recruiter will be your source of information throughout your assignment. They should work with you, you should not feel like you work for them (even though technically you do), it should feel more likeÂ a partnership where the two of you work together to achieve your career goals.

You may have decided to be a travel nurse for a variety of reasons, but whatever your reason is make sure you let your recruiter know, that is the only way they will be able to truly help you. Whether it is to get out of a stressful situation, expand your horizons by exploring a new specialty or just to get out and have an adventure the more your recruiter knows about your situation the better.

Ultimately, because the Recruiter plays such a large part in your travel nursing life you want to feel like they are more than just a business associate, they should feel like a friend. SomeoneÂ who checks in on you to see how you are you doing, someone you can call when you need someone to talk to, someone who can offer some advice and once in awhile make you smile after a long day on your feet. If there are issues you want a Recruiter who will go to bat for you.

Remember, in the next post I will tell you some tips for landing that perfect recruiter. For the rest of the Ultimate Travel Nursing Checklist click here.

Travel nursing checklist item #10: Applying for travel nursing jobs

Jeff — Mon, 12 May 2008 01:16:50 +0000

Sorry it has taken me awhile to get back to this, but things haveÂ been pretty hectic the last couple of months.

OK, so you have all your paperwork lined up and organized. You have done your research and spent time online looking at all the different companies. You’ve compared what they offer to what you want out of a travel nursing job. The next step then is to actually apply online for the travel nursing job you want. You can also call the company right off the bat, but I will cover that later.

When it comes to applying online you actually have a few options. You can apply individually to each site or go to anyone of the several available job boards that allow you to apply to more than one company at a time. Each of these options have advantages and disadvantages.

If you apply to just one company at a time it will obviously take you longer, depending on how many you apply to. Also if youÂ limit yourself to few companies you may need to expand your search if none of them meet your needs.

If you apply to a job board, like RNVip.com or Absloutley Healthcare, you can be prepared to be contacted by all the companies that pay for access to that site. Often these sites can also take you longer than the individual websites do because they are trying to pass on only the best candidates to the affiliate companies.

No matter which path you choose or combination of both be prepared to be contacted quickly.

Oh and one last piece of advice to make this easier for you, make sure you use your “AutoFill” tool on your Google toolbar. It will help you fill out a lot of the basic info on online apps with the click of a button.

Click here to read the entire Ultimate Travel Nursing Checklist.

Travel nursing checklist item #9: Dealing with paperwork

Jeff — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:01:24 +0000

OK, so you would think that the next step is to apply online, but slow down. Before you start applying for any position or contacting any travel nursing company, you will want to make sure you have all your paperwork lined up. The paperwork you will need includes, but is not limited to:

An up to date Resume
A copy of your Nursing Licenses (especially for the state you want to work in)
The certifications needed for your specialty
Your Driver’s License
Your Social Security card (front and back)
Your BCLS (front and back)
Two references from your supervisory or charge nurse at your most recent clinical experiences
And all your immunization records, include the following
MMR & Rubeola Titers /Vaccinations (New rules state that MMR be no more than 10 yrs old.)
Hepatitis B Titers/Vaccinations
Varicella Titer or Varicella History
PPD within the last 12 months or Chest X-ray
Physician Statement or physical completed with the last 12 months

You can make paper copies of all of these, but even easier is having them all in a digital format. If you don’t have a scanner at home you can run to any FedEX/Kinkos, CopyMax or something similar and have them handle it for you. It may seem like an extra step, but it will make the process easier in the long run.

Travel nursing checklist item #8: Researching travel nursing companies

Jeff — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:14:30 +0000

The next step in your travel nursing career is to research the travel nursing company you want to work with. There are companies of all different sizes and most have a website you can look at. If you have competed the first seven steps in the Ultimate Travel Nursing Checklist you will know exactly what you are looking for when you begin the company research process. To the find the company that is right for you take your time and spend some time on their website. You want a company that takes the time to provide you with the info you need and one that has an extensive FAQs section that answers all your questions. You also should look for one that provides you with all the resources you need to begin working with them and makes it easy to contact them.