5 Challenges Travel Nursing Recruiters Face and 8 Ways to Conquer Them
Several aspects of the travel nursing industry make travel nurse recruiting quite unique relative to other segments of the recruitment industry. The unique nature of travel nurse recruiting poses some challenges when utilizing the two fundamental approaches to agency recruitment. In this blog post, we’ll discuss what makes travel nurse recruiting unique, the challenges recruiters face with the two fundamental approaches to recruitment, and recommend some ways to overcome those challenges.
What makes travel nurse recruiting unique?
Several factors combine to make travel nurse recruiting unique. Some of these factors are present in other industries while others are specific to travel nursing. Together, they make travel nurse recruiting quite difficult to navigate.
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1: The Proliferation of Vendor Management Services
First, the proliferation of Vendor Management Services has increased the number of agencies that a client is capable of working with. This means that more recruiters are recruiting for each client’s open jobs which increases competition among agencies. It also means that communication between agencies and their clients is less effective as there is typically a middle-man to contend with.
2: Short-Term Assignments
Second, the short-term nature of assignments means that recruiters and travel nurses are looking for jobs more frequently than in other industries. For example, the typical contract length in IT staffing is 6 months while the typical length in travel nursing is 3. This means that more resources must be devoted to job searches and candidate turnover is higher.
3: Short Notice of Travel Nursing Assignments
It’s quite common for clients to provide agencies with a very short lead-time to fill their openings. In fact, it’s standard to see recruiters recommend that travel nurses initiate the job search process 4 weeks from their desired start date. And it’s not uncommon to see hospitals requesting travelers in 2 weeks or less.
4: Heavy Submission Requirements
Travel nursing recruiters must submit a sizable amount of paperwork relative to other industries in order for their candidates to even be considered for openings. Recruiters in most industries can get by with a simple resume, but travel nursing recruiters need a full job application, a skills checklist, and references at minimum in the vast majority of cases.
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They’re sometimes even required to obtain copies of licenses and certifications. It’s a tough sell to get candidates to complete all this paperwork and doing so often takes candidates quite some time. So the turnaround time on compiling a submission ready profile can be lengthy.
5: Mounds of Paperwork in Travel Nursing
Meanwhile there is a massive amount of paperwork involved with onboarding a new candidate. And the paperwork burden has only increased in recent years as hospitals have moved toward requiring that their travelers complete paperwork that is similar to what is required for their permanent staff. Sometimes, the paperwork burden requires that agencies work only with their current travelers for certain job openings as onboarding a new candidate would simply take too much time.
What are the two fundamental approaches to travel nurse recruitment?
These aspects of the industry, and others, present challenges for recruiters when attempting to utilize the two fundamental approaches to agency recruiting. But just what are the two fundamental approaches to agency recruiting? The first is to “recruit for the job.” The second is to “act as an ambassador.”
Travel Nurse Recruiting for the Job
Recruiting for the job is a great approach in most industries. Using this approach, the recruiter focuses on finding candidates qualified for a job requisition’s requirements and selling qualified candidates on the benefits of the job.
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The recruiter familiarizes herself with the job and the client. Then the recruiter sources to find matching candidates. The recruiter will then contact candidates and pitch the job. If a candidate isn’t interested despite the recruiter’s best efforts, then the recruiter can ask for referrals that might be interested and inquire with the candidate about their ideal position.
Travel Nurse Recruiting as an Ambassador
That brings us to the second approach, acting as an ambassador. Using this approach, the recruiter focuses on finding candidates first and then matching candidates with jobs based on candidate requirements. In this scenario, the recruiter is pitching their recruitment services to the candidate as opposed to a particular job.
Managing the two approaches as a travel nurse recruiter
Onboarded Candidates are the Best
Both approaches work great for travel nursing recruiters when they already have a candidate’s paperwork completed. For recruiters, the best candidates are almost always those who have already worked for the agency. Using either approach, if the recruiter contacts the nurse with a job they’re interested in, then the recruiter will most likely be able to get the submission profile submitted quickly and stay ahead of the competition.
New Candidates are Very Difficult
The challenges for recruiters are most prominent when bringing on new candidates. And bringing on new candidates is a big part of what travel nurse recruiting is all about. When a recruiter contacts a new candidate and successfully pitches a job, the candidate will need to complete the application and skills checklist. Then the references will need to be checked, the profile will need to be reviewed and enhanced, license verification will need to be obtained, and everything will need to be packaged up for submission. This can sometimes take days, especially if the references aren’t responsive.
Meanwhile, the client is receiving submissions from other agencies and beginning the review process. And in many cases, the job closes before the recruiter can even get the profile submitted. This is difficult to explain to a candidate who has just spent at least an hour completing paperwork for the recruiter. The news is often negatively received by candidates and recruiters know this. So, recruiters sometimes neglect to contact the candidate in a timely fashion which only serves to further frustrate the candidate and sour the relationship even more.
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Acting as an ambassador is a little less challenging for travel nurse recruiters, but still less than ideal. If the recruiter is fully successful with this approach, then they will get the candidate to compete the paperwork prior to an ideal job being open. This way, the recruiter will be able to contact the candidate when an ideal job arises and get their approval to submit the paperwork immediately.
However, the ideal job doesn’t always open up in time. If the recruiter is diligent, then they will maintain communication throughout the process and keep the relationship alive for the future. Unfortunately, this often proves difficult for recruiters as they can get quite overwhelmed with the work required to meet their quotas. In the worst cases, the candidate will lose faith in the recruiter and agency and the relationship will sour.
When acting as an ambassador, the recruiter might fail to reach their goal of getting the candidate to complete the paperwork up front. Again, this is a tough sell to travelers who are constantly asked to complete paperwork and quite often sick of it. Of course, this puts us right back at square one, calling the candidate when the ideal job opens up and hoping the paperwork gets completed in time to get the candidate submitted.
How can travel nursing recruiters overcome the challenges?
Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom for recruiters. While the job does have a high turnover rate, many achieve great success despite these tough challenges. So, how can recruiters overcome these particular challenges?
1: Serve as an informational resource
Travel nursing is very daunting, especially for first timers, but even for veterans. Unlike most other segments of the recruiting world, candidates are walking into a whole different world relative to traditional employment relationships. The pay package is more complex. Tax issues are unique. State licensing processes can become overwhelming. Managing CEUs for multiple states can be confusing. Moving from assignment to assignment is taxing. The more that a recruiter can be a resource in terms of how the industry works and how the traveler can effectively manage their career, the more inclined the traveler will be to work with you.
2: Be an amazing communicator
Travel nurses face a unique set of circumstances with their job searches that can heighten their sense of urgency relative to other professionals. You see, travelers need to maintain continuous employment in order to maximize their earning potential and their work engagements are always finite. It’s also very difficult for them to file for unemployment benefits because they’re always in the precarious position of declining employment opportunities with their former/current agencies when their contracts expire.
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Given these circumstances, it’s understandable that travelers get very frustrated with poor communication. So keep them abreast of your progress. A quick call is always best. When you’re overwhelmed, make use of email or text messages. In fact, you should have canned emails and text messages prepared for quick communication. Such as, “Hey Mary, I hope all is well. Just wanted to send a quick note to let you know that I haven’t received any updates today. Please contact me with any questions, concerns or updates and I’ll keep you posted on this end.” Bottom line, you should never leave a good candidate hanging without an update. Maintaining consistent communication will ensure that the relationship stays strong.
3: Be honest
While this certainly sounds cliche, it is nonetheless relevant. Many travelers comment on social media about their experiences with recruiters who were dishonest when attempting to get the them to complete the agency’s initial paperwork. For example, recruiters might say there is a job open when there actually isn’t, or they may say that they can get a contract in a certain location when their agency doesn’t really have any contracts with clients in the area. Dishonesty not only sours the relationship between the traveler and recruiter, but it potentially sours the relationship with the agency as a whole and may even result in negative press that affects the opinions of other travel nurses. In the end, dishonesty wastes both the recruiter’s and traveler’s time.
4: Remember that travel nurse recruiting is largely a sales job
All recruiters sell jobs, but travel nurse recruiters are also selling locations. Unlike permanent job seekers, travelers are almost always open to travel.
Have you ever worked with a travel nurse who was dead-set on getting an assignment in San Diego, CA only to find out that they took a job in the northern most part of Alaska? If you haven’t, then you haven’t been a recruiter for very long. So it’s important to sell locations as well as jobs, sometimes even more so. While it’s always best to match the candidate with exactly what they want, it doesn’t always work out that way. Travelers understand this and recruiters should too.
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5: Always think about referrals
The first four recommendations are all about being a great recruiter. Once you’ve accomplished that, your clients will be more likely to refer their friends and colleagues to you. And referrals are perhaps the single best way to get new candidates. However, referrals don’t just magically happen. You have to ask for them! So ask for them at every opportunity.
Make it easier for new candidates to work with you
Travel nurses hate filling out applications and skills checklists and why shouldn’t they? The initial application process in healthcare staffing might be the lengthiest process in all of staffing. Studies indicate, and experts assert, that the lengthier the application process, the higher the applicant abandonment rate is. Moreover, lengthy application processes are a deterrent.
Our survey of 300 travel nurses found that 90% of travel nurses do not like completing applications and skills checklists. That should come as no surprise. However, you might be surprised to know that 72% of travelers said they would be more likely to work with a new agency if they didn’t have to complete paperwork at the outset. When 72% of your target customers would be more likely to convert if they didn’t have to do something, then you should probably do something about it.
6: Offer to Help Your Travel Nurses with the Initial Paperwork
Many recruiters already see the opportunity in this negative reality. These recruiters offer to complete as much of the application process for their travelers as they possibly can. They take a traveler’s resume and enter all the data into their applicant tracking system instead of having the traveler do it. They also complete the skills checklists over the phone with the candidate.
I know what you’re thinking…That takes way too much time! But you’re thinking this because you’re not factoring in the huge increase in conversions that you’ll realize by utilizing this approach. Your increased conversion rate will mean that you will have to spend far less time sourcing. In the end, the key performance indicator we’re focused on is submission ready profiles. And you’ll get more submission ready profiles in less time with this approach. Of course, you must remember to qualify your candidates to make sure you are working with viable candidates.
7: Consider Hiring a Virtual Assistant
If you still think that this will take too much time, then hiring a virtual assistant (VA) might be an option for you. You can use freelancer.com, odesk.com, or fiverr.com. Each of these sites has it’s own unique twist. For example, on fiverr, you can hire people to perform almost any task for $5. I once had a VA on fiverr that would enter 5 resumes into my applicant tracking system for $5.
8: Use The Free Tools on BluePipes
BluePipes makes the recruitment process easier for you and the travelers you work with. As a recruiter, you’re able to create a free account on BluePipes and invite your candidates to connect with you. By building a professional network on a site dedicated to healthcare professionals, you’ll open the door for more referrals.
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Additionally, your candidates can use BluePipes to create and control their own travel nursing resume, skills checklists and full job application. When you receive BluePipes documents, you can use them as is for submission purposes assuming they’re in good order. Or, you can enter the data into your own applicant tracking system. If you, or your agency are willing to accept the documents, then you can be added to our list of verified agencies. We advertise this list to our thousands of members and via social media channels. There are over 25 agencies on the list already!
BluePipes also provides candidates with 100 megabytes of free document storage space for copies for their travel nursing documentation. They’re able to email their documents out at their convenience. This way, they can centralize all of their documentation on one platform.
Moreover, BluePipes provides members with the ability to freely update their availability status for future jobs. This allows recruiters stay informed and organized about their candidates’ future employment intentions. As a result, recruiters can easily keep their relationships fresh and relevant.
We’d love to hear your opinions on the challenges facing travel nursing recruiters and any recommendations you have for overcoming them. Please leave your comments in the comments section below!
