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How to Choose the Right Travel Nursing Agency

How to Choose the Right Travel Nursing Agency

Choosing an agency as a Traveler can make or break your experience to travel.  You should feel as if the agency is like family to you.  There are hundreds of agencies, that would love for you to work for them.  When choosing your agency, you need to feel confident that you will be supported every step of the way from start to finish. Here are top 4 factors to consider when choosing a travel nursing Agency:

  • The Recruiter
  • Compensation
  • The Benefits
  • Destination

The Recruiter
As a travel nurse your lifeline is your recruiter.  The recruiter is the most important part of the puzzle when it comes to choosing an agency.  There are many different companies to choose from, but your recruiter will differentiate one travel nursing company from one another and can ultimately make or break your experience.  As stated above, the relationship between you, and your recruiter needs to feel like family, and you to have a sense of trust that they will do anything for you.  From start to finish by helping and guiding you along your journey.  When going through the list of agencies you carved out, the next step is speaking with a recruiter.  When talking with different recruiters, there are some key points to look for.  Do you feel a personal connection with them?  When you call, are they friendly? Caring? Do they ask about your current situation, asking about your family, pets etc.  These are basics questions a recruiter should ask because they all impact your travel experience.  When speaking with a recruiter are, they listening to you? Or are they constantly interrupting.  When speaking with a recruiter they can only know what you want if they are asking you the right questions and listening intently to your answers, your concerns and the questions that you have for them.  To learn more about choosing the right recruiter reference our article: Choosing the Recruiter that Fits You.

Nursing Compensation
Comparing travel nursing compensation packages can be very difficult.  The most appealing advertisement used by Travel Nursing Agencies to get nurses in the door is the pay rate that they have to offer.  These compensation packages come in all shapes and sizes.  Looking at travel nursing pay, you need to visualize it as a pie.  The pay rate is just one piece of the pie, many pieces are used to create the entire pie.  There are multiple variables that comes together to give a travel nurse their total compensation.  All the pieces that create this pie are; Taxable Base Pay, Non-Taxable Pay (Stipends, Per-diem, reimbursement), Bonuses and Traditional Benefits.  To learn more about Travel Nurse pay please reference our article: Understanding Your Travel Nurse Compensation.

Benefits
Many travel nursing agencies offer health insurance for travel nurses at reasonable rates, but most of the time you’re only covered while you are working on their assignment. Gaps in coverage can be incredibly anxiety pressing and are very possible.  Make sure you know the details of the coverage the agency is offering and when they come into effect.  Important questions to ask:

  • Are medical and dental insurance included?
  • How soon do insurance benefits take effect?
  • Do travelers qualify for life and liability insurance?
  • Does the travel company offer 401(k) opportunities?

Travel Nursing Destinations
The number one factor in choosing the right agency is the destination.  You as a traveler need to have a few destinations in mind that you would like to be in.  When looking at agencies to work with, doing your research is key.  Ways to conduct research and to see what agencies are in your desired destination, is to look at the company’s website.  Check if the agency you are considering working with, will have your desired travel destinations.

Fusion HCR Healthcare Travel Nursing
We hope this helps give some insights into how to choose the right agency.  If you are interested in learning more, or have questions about travel nursing agencies, please call us at 937-572-7902.  We are happy to help!