How to Handle References as a Travel Nurse

Professional references are both extremely important and difficult for travel nurses to manage. So, in this article, we’ll cover everything travel nurses need to know about professional references so they can approach this issue with confidence.

Why Are References so Important for Travel Nurses?

Nearly every healthcare facility requires references for travel nurses. In fact, healthcare facilities typically require agencies to complete and submit the reference checks before the healthcare facility will even consider a travel nurse for an interview. Therefore, the reference check documentation is typically part of the submission profile that agencies submit to facilities for interview consideration.

Interestingly, during my time as a travel nursing recruiter, I spoke to many travel nurses who thought no one would ever contact their references. Some believed this because no one had contacted their references for previous assignments.

I assure you that such occurrences are rare. Recruiters sometimes complete reference check forms without ever contacting the reference. They might also create fake references. Again, this is very rare and these recruiters typically get fired.

Finally, it’s important to remember that references are also critical when travel nurses transition back to permanent employment. However, the requirements and challenges related to references are typically different for permanent jobs. We’ll discuss that later in this article. For now, let’s focus on the reference requirements for travel nurses.

Travel Nurse Reference Requirements

Reference requirements for travel nurses vary. For example, it’s common for employers to require a minimum of 2 supervisory clinical references covering a minimum of 1 year of experience within the previous three years in the specialty applied for.

Let’s breakdown each component of this requirement for clarity.

Typically, “supervisor” means a Charge Nurse or higher. However, some facilities are more stringent and require an actual Supervisor or even Unit Manager.

A “clinical reference” is one that has first-hand experience with the travel nurse’s performance in the clinical setting. It’s important to note that the reference checkers typically ask about things like the quality and quantity of work, attendance record and interpersonal skills.

Hospitals almost always require a minimum of 2 references. However, you may need more in order to meet the 1-year coverage requirement.

In fact, I’ve worked with travel nurses who needed up to 5 references to cover 1 year of work experience in the specialty they were applying for.

It’s important to note that some facilities are sticklers that the references must cover 1 year of experience in the specialty you’re applying for. For example, if you sometimes work in SDU and sometimes work in ICU, then the sticklers will only accept references from ICU if you’re applying for an ICU job.

Finally, I’ve learned first-hand that the best facilities tend to have the most stringent reference requirements. For example, some facilities will not accept a travel nurse candidate without a reference from the candidate’s most recent Unit Manager.

Travel Nurse References that Typically Do Not Qualify

For clarity, let’s take a quick look at types of references that typically do not meet the requirements for travel nurse references.

Coworker or peer references are references who have experience working directly with the travel nurse in a clinical setting in the same role. They can share firsthand information about the travel nurse’s job performance, but not from a supervisory perspective.

Agency references are references from healthcare staffing agencies that you’ve worked with. They can include recruiters and managers from the agency. They can typically share information about your responsiveness and contract completion history.

Academic references are references who know you from an academic setting. They can include teachers, professors and teaching assistants. They can typically share firsthand information about your academic abilities.

Personal references are references who know you from your personal life. They can include friends, family and even people you’ve worked with. They can typically share firsthand information about your character.

While these types of references do not typically meet the requirements, they might still help with landing a job. For example, I once submitted a travel nurse to a hospital that required its own staff to conduct reference checks even though the agency had already done so. The hospital staff never got a hold of the supervisor references, but did get a hold of the peer references. They hired the travel nurse based on that.

Why Travel Nurse References are so Difficult to Obtain

It’s important to note that travel nursing references are difficult to obtain for many reasons. First, many employers have “no-reference policies” that prohibit their employees from providing references in order to reduce the risk of liability for defamation, misrepresentation, or discrimination claims.

Similarly, many healthcare employers allow only “neutral references.” This means they will only verify dates of employment and salary.

Meanwhile, all these employers who don’t allow their employees to provide references, still require references themselves!!

Another reason it’s difficult for travel nurses to obtain references is the short-term nature of travel nursing. It takes time to build the rapport necessary for someone to be willing to serve as a clinical reference. Moreover, if you move frequently, then you’ll inevitably need a larger number of references in order to meet the reference requirements I discussed above.

Additionally, as a travel nurse, your references can potentially get inundated with reference requests. Again, you’re typically going to change jobs more frequently as a travel nurse. Additionally, you’re most likely going to work with many different agencies. Each agency would be responsible for checking your references.

Finally, travel nurses will experience the same difficulties with references that everyone else does. For example, some references are difficult for reference checkers to contact in order to obtain the reference.

How to Handle References as a Travel Nurse

Here are some tips on handling references as a travel nurse.

Be a Great Teammate

Obviously, you’ll have a much easier time securing great references if you’re a great worker. So, be your amazing self at work and the rest should fall into place easier.

Build Relationships

When you’re a permanent employee, you should definitely develop close professional relationships with as many supervisory colleagues as you can. Building such relationships is good for many reasons, and besides, this is your healthcare career we’re talking about.

When you’re a travel nurse, building these relationships will understandably be more difficult given the short duration of your employment and your outsider status. Therefore, start building these relationships early.

Remember, you’re looking to build reference relationships with those in a supervisory role. However, it’s also worth your time to build these relationships with other coworkers as well. As I mentioned above, some agencies and hospitals will accept such references in a pinch.

Finally, it’s a good idea to keep these relationships going even after you leave the employer. You can use social media, birthday wishes and other quick alternatives to keep the connections fresh.

Ask for the Reference

Now, it’s important to note that you should actually ask your colleagues if they will be a reference for you. If you think this is obvious, then you’d be surprised how often it does not happen. Asking your colleagues to be a reference for you will ensure that they are prepared and responsive when the call comes.

Use this Travel Nurse Evaluation Form

Next, I recommend asking your supervisors and coworkers to complete a clinical evaluation form for you. Here is a link to an example clinical evaluation form that you may use.

This approach can be a good icebreaker to ask if they can be a reference for you. It also provides you with a hardcopy that you can provide to potential employers, including agencies. Moreover, some hospitals and agencies will actually accept these evaluation forms at face value in lieu of actually contacting the reference.

Such evaluation forms came in handy for me on many occasions when I was a travel nurse recruiter. For example, I once faxed an evaluation form to a nurse supervisor who had no recollection of a travel nurse when I called to check the reference. The document helped the supervisor recall and I was able to obtain the reference.

Ask Your Agency for Copies of Evaluation Forms

It might surprise you to know that your agency might be able to provide you with such evaluation forms. It’s a little-known fact that many of the contracts that govern the relationships between hospitals and agencies include clauses that require the hospital to provide the agency with clinical evaluations for the agency’s staff that works at the hospital.

That said, most agencies do not hold hospitals accountable on this. Also, some agencies will withhold these documents from their travelers. I believe they do this to make it difficult for the travel nurse to leave the agency unfortunately.

However, it’s still worth a shot to ask your recruiters if they can provide you with copies of these clinical evaluations should they exist.

References for Travel Nurses Transitioning Back to Perm Jobs

As a travel nurse, you’ll most likely return to permanent employment at some point in your career. Therefore, you should prepare for the reference requirements.

Unfortunately, there are no steadfast rules when it comes to references for permanent nursing jobs. Therefore, you should do your best to follow all the recommendations we described above. Ultimately, I recommend doing your best to ensure that you have at least one solid reference, if not more, from every travel assignment you work.

This is because many employers do maintain the same reference requirements for permanent staff that they do for travel nurses. These requirements are pretty stringent, so you should be good if you can meet them.

That said, you will find more permanent employers who are willing to accept references from travel nursing agencies, coworkers and others that typically don’t qualify for travel nursing jobs.

As always, I hope you found this information useful!