3 Signs Your Travel Nurse and Recruiter Relationship is Healthy
You’ve likely heard the complaints from another travel nurse: “I can never get in touch with my recruiter when I need her. She only calls when it’s time to find my next job.” Or the equal but opposite complaint: “I can’t ever get my recruiter off the phone. Doesn’t he understand that I’ll call him if I need something?” The travel nurse and recruiter relationship, like any other relationship, is whatever the participants make of it, and it only works if both sides are happy. So, while each traveler may have their own preferences around style and frequency of communication, there are a few higher-level hallmarks that a successful recruiter-traveler relationship is going to have. Open and honest communication Not every job is going to go well, you and your recruiter hope that it will, but they don’t always. When you have a good relationship with your recruiter they can help with that. Maybe it’s just having someone to vent to, release some of that frustration so you don’t explode. But your recruiter can be more than a sounding board. They can communicate your concerns or frustrations to the hospital and be your champion. They can help you turn around a bad situation. Or, if it comes to it, help you get out of your contract without ruining your reputation. Like-mindedness There’s nothing like having that person who knows what you’re thinking without you having to say it. It’s great in a spouse. It’s great in a friend. And it’s great in a recruiter. It comes from a like-mindedness that cuts out the round and round that too often happens when it’s time to find your next placement. When a travel nurse and their recruiter are on the same page, you won’t get those jobs that seem to come out of left field. You see jobs that your recruiter knows you’ll like and meet established criteria, not because it’s going to pay them well if they fill it. Availability Your recruiter should be available when you need them. And they should be ready to communicate in the ways that you prefer. But whether that’s through a text message, an email, or a phone call, your recruiter should be responding to you in a timely manner when you try to get in touch. If they don’t get back to you or are never available, it’s a sign that maybe you aren’t as valuable to them as you should be. How do you get these 3 things? It’s pretty simple: Set expectations at the beginning. A recruiter can’t read your mind, so tell them to what it will take to make you happy. Help them help you. Let them know how you prefer to communicate. Maybe you want a weekly call to check in. Maybe you only want a call as your contract wraps up. Maybe you don’t want calls at all and prefer text messages. Tell them early, that makes open and honest communication much easier. Tell your recruiter what you want from an assignment. Let them know what you want to be doing and where you want to be doing it. Let them know what will make you happy. This builds like-mindedness and allows them to look for those things in your next placement, so you spend less time saying no and more time working.
First-time Travel Nurse? Don’t Delay Compliance
You’ve graduated school. You’ve earned your license. You’ve worked a couple years in a permanent position. You’re ready to transition to travel nursing. Time to find an agency. Time to find a recruiter. Time to find a job. And it’s time to start collecting your compliance documents. Really? Before you have a job? Yes. Really, especially if you’re a first-time traveler. Tackling compliance early can ease headaches later There are a couple of reasons to start now. First, you’re going to have a lot to gather, and it’s going to take a little bit of time. You are going to need to provide documents that you haven’t had to access since you started working at your permanent job. You are either going to need to locate copies of things like college transcripts and shot records or you’re going to have to request those documents and wait to receive them. And other aspects of compliance–things like background checks and drug screenings–could take extra time to complete depending on how in-depth the hiring facility or VMS requires them to be. So don’t wait to begin the process of gathering documents. It’s about controlling the things you can control. You can make sure you have all of your documents together. You can make sure you’ve submitted background paperwork promptly. You can make sure you’ve scheduled a time to complete vaccinations or blood draws for screenings. How long it takes to complete those background checks or drug screenings is out of your hands, but you don’t want to be the reason things get held up. Compliance documents to collect So what do you need to have copies of? It will vary by assignment, but you can start here. A copy of your nursing license A copy of your diploma or a transcript that shows you earned your degree A copy of your annual physical Shot records showing you’ve had your: Annual tuberculosis skin test MMR vaccines (2) or positive titer Varicella vaccines (2) or positive titer Hepatitis B vaccines (3) or positive titer Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (Tdap) vaccine — within 10 years Seasonal flu vaccine (issued between October 1 and March 31) Copies of any certifications you’ve earned Copies of identifications (driver’s license, passport, Social Security card) A voided check to set up direct deposit with your bank Organizing your compliance documents And where should you keep these compliance documents? There are online tools, like cloud storage sites, that you can use. But maybe the simplest option and one that doesn’t require you to remember passwords or worry about a site’s security being compromised is a dedicated flash drive where you keep electronic versions of everything. Take it with you when you go to the doctor for a physical or to receive vaccinations, and they should be able to put a copy of any documentation onto the drive for you. Now, these won’t likely be all the documents you’ll need to be compliant at every hospital. Each facility and each VMS has its own requirements. If you do have these documents, it’ll cut down some of the hustle you have to do before a new assignment.
Cancel Your Travel Contract Without Ruining Your Reputation
Sometimes you need to cancel your travel nurse or allied contract. Maybe an illness forces you to have to leave early. Or a death in the family. Or it could even be that the working conditions have become unbearable, and you aren’t able to finish out your travel contract. It used to be that canceling a travel nurse or allied contract came without much consequence. That’s not the case now. Canceling a contract early can get you blacklisted by hospitals, by hospital systems, and, in some cases, at any hospital that uses a particular vendor management system (VMS). It can ruin your reputation and kill a travel nurse or allied healthcare career. It doesn’t have to. There are things you can do if you think you might need to cancel your contract that can keep you from the “do not hire” list. Lean on your recruiter. Start the process by talking to your recruiter. Have them look at your contract so you understand your options and the potential implications of leaving early. Fines, for instance, that you may be responsible for. They will be able to talk you through the process and help you think through whether or not canceling makes sense. Also, recognize that there may not be anything you or your recruiter can do to avoid a black mark on your record. Sometimes, especially with VMS programs, it’s impossible. And, yes, you can cancel your contract if the facility isn’t living up to the contract it committed to, like floating you to areas where you aren’t competent or moving your shifts. If that’s your situation, this may be when you need to lean on your recruiter most of all. Let them talk to the hospital. Let them start the process for you, initiating the possibility of canceling if problems aren’t resolved. Be communicative. If you know that there’s a possibility you’ll need to cancel, tell people early. Let them know that it’s a possibility, then keep them updated as your situation evolves. If your recruiter knows that you might need to be replaced, they can get to work lining up someone. If your facility knows you might have to leave before the end of your contract, they can have time to make contingency plans. Put in a proper notice. When it becomes clear that you need to leave a contract early, put in a proper notice, whether that’s two weeks or 30 days. Provide a professional statement to anyone who needs one: your supervisor, the head of nursing, human resources. What is required to cancel will be included in your contract. Refer to it. Work every shift to which you’ve committed. Just because you’ve given your notice doesn’t give you the OK to cut out early. Even if everything about your early termination has gone smoothly, skipping out on that last shift can kill any goodwill you might have established.