I suppose the multitude of companies available contributes to this, and believe me, there are tons of them. After filling out and submitting an online application you will be swamped with phone calls.
Compound the idea that you are leaving the safety and familiarity of home to put yourself at risk in an unfamiliar location, with a company that is new to you does not help alleviate the first time fear.
When I traveled half way across the country with my wife Mary and daughter soon to follow and didn't even have my CA state nursing license yet, I certainly felt some fear.
I remember while waiting in the California license office was a woman from South Carolina who followed instructions from her recruiter yet still didn't have the required papers, and now she was over 800 miles from home and desperately seeking answers from this same recruiter. Not a position you want to find your self in!
OK so what do you do?
First off, I must admit that I enjoy receiving the calls from recruiters. I am easy to talk with and comfortable making conversation. During the call I make a point to learn as much as I can from our conversation.
So what if you are thinking, "Great for you Gary, but I don't talk so easy on the phone and not sure what to ask".
Keep a paper with a list of items important to you handy (an earlier post provides ideas), and review your list with the recruiter. Check off how the company stacks up with those items that are important to you.
Here are just a few quick questions again for you to review.
- Do you have a location preference?
- How much pay do you expect?
- Is insurance important to you?
- What housing arrangements do you expect?
- Is a retirement package important?
First time travel nurses often visit forums as a source to check out other opinions and past experiences with different travel companies.
Here I must provide a word of warning.
Visiting these sites rarely relieves anxiety but rather increases the mood of paranoia. They are full of an "us verses them" mentality and rarely will you find truly useful information when it comes to choosing a travel company. You will however get an eyeful of warnings and "Do Not Use This Company" edicts.
These forums are soapboxes inhabited by complainers full of bad experiences hoping to help you avoid similar traps and pitfalls, but rarely offer constructive information.
When I speak with a recruiter I make a point to give them an email address I have set up to receive their information and ask them to send me the info on the topics we have discussed.
This saves me the time I would otherwise spend wading through various company websites that mostly are just set up in order to garner my personal information.
After you have used your list to narrow your choices down to just a couple of companies you may find that your decision is not so difficult after all. I have noticed that more experienced travelers don't always share the same anxiety as the new ones.
Perhaps because they realize their choice isn't for a life time but for only 13 weeks.
3 comments:
Gary,
Thanks! Great post. Important too. If you have experience, and you can write to new travel nurses (like me), you can pass on knowledge that you have taken from each assignment---and it's in your heart, not just what you learned in nursing or how was the 'vacation' part of the trip. I really understand what you are saying underneath it all. How the forums you speak of were things I was 'guided to', and then found them to be exactly what you are saying; complain, complain complain. I thought, 'wow, why not either move to a different co., or stop traveling! But I know we will find complainers everywhere....
That is where the parallel lines are drawn with your subject, and also mine on our blogs, and many others that write for an audience that needs information, read experience; nothing beats that. Being a nurse, I see the negativity at times towards the healthcare society as a whole, and that gives me a chance to write about the other side. We are not ALL demons and 'ignorers'! ;-)
If I go to a 'support' group for Chronic Pain, and all that people are doing is complaining about the pain, I'd spin around and leave. I don't have time for those negative, bitching people anymore in my life. Must be the old age and almost 20 yrs. in nursing!
The feelings I get from some recruiters/companies in speaking further with them, becomes one of my 'women's intuition', it comes down to not who offers me more, but who suits what I need, then past that is the to be long relationship with this person, and the company. Since so much is done on the net and by phone, (my nursie friends gasp when they hear some facilities interview by phone only and hire from that), we must rely on the unseen feelings. That one right in your gut.
My friends in the Chronic Pain area are supportive, truly care about me, are there when I need them, (and when I 'don't', even they know I need to hear something); and well...look at that...those qualities are the ones that I want from the company I finally decide to go with. They all say they are supportive, they are there when we need them 24 hrs., but is that really true? When we have come to have a nice relationship with a recruiter, and of course the job is great, how do we know that now that 'we are theirs', LOL.. will we hear less and less from our R? Do they truly fulfill the promises and expectations that they give to us?
I imagine that just like with friends, there is a level of trust. On both sides. And that is the fun part of life, for me anyway. Just to see what happens today, and hope there are a net of people around you in case you do fall once in awhile.
Good Post.
Shauna
Shauna,
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment. What a joy to read intelligent feedback!
I had a chance to visit your blog and look forward to hearing more from you.
God bless.
Thanks for the review of their service,if needed i'll go for it.
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