Why Travel Nurses Should Control Their Travel Nursing Submission Profiles
As a travel nurse, gaining control over your Submission Profile is a great way to gain control over your travel nursing career. A Submission Profile is the set of documents that an agency is required to submit to a hospital in order for the agency’s candidate to be considered for an open job. The standard Submission Profile includes a resume, a job application, a skills checklist, and references. Hospitals will almost never accept a candidate for consideration without an up-to-date Submission Profile.
Problems with the travel nursing job application process
Meanwhile, travel nursing jobs are filled very quickly. They’re sometimes filled within a few hours and candidates stand very little chance of landing an assignment if they haven’t been submitted within one week of the assignment’s announcement. The high speed-to-fill is due largely to two factors.
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First, the proliferation of Vendor Management Services has allowed hospitals to efficiently work with a large number of competing agencies, sometimes hundreds of agencies at a time. Second, while hospitals are certainly looking for the best candidates, they are also looking to fill their jobs quickly. Remember, this isn’t a permanent hire, so the same commitment isn’t involved. This all means that quick submissions are an urgent matter for both the traveler and the agency.
Every Travel Nursing Agency Requires the Same Documentation
The problem for both travelers and agencies is that each agency has its own set of documentation to complete. This means that travel nurses must complete tons of paperwork just to be considered for a job.
Moreover, travelers are always better off working with multiple travel nursing agencies in order to gain maximum exposure to the job market because different agencies tend to work with different hospitals. As a result, travel nurses are stuck filling out mounds of paperwork for multiple agencies.
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The worst part is that the paperwork is nearly all the same.Travelers Want to Know There is a Job before Completing Paperwork
Travelers Want to Know there is a Job before Completing Paperwork
Of course, nobody wants to spend their days completing paperwork for nothing. Therefore, many travel nurses refuse to fill out the paperwork until there is a job opportunity that they’re interested in. This makes it very difficult for recruiters to convince travelers they should fill out their agency’s paperwork over another agency’s paperwork. Moreover, waiting until the job is available is most often too late. It takes time to complete the documentation and the submission profile can’t be sent to the hospital until the agency has verified the references and conducted a thorough screening of the profile to ensure that all the required information is in order.
Each Profile must be Updated Regularly
This problem persists even after the profile has been completed with an agency. Profiles must be kept up to date. This means that work history and references must be updated continuously. Meanwhile, skills checklists expire annually so they must be updated as well. As a result, if a significant amount of time has passed since a nurse has worked with an agency that they’ve completed paperwork for, then the nurse may be required to complete additional paperwork to bring everything up to date.
Travelers and Agencies Miss Opportunities
This paperwork nightmare also creates additional problems. First, travelers may miss out on their ideal jobs because their Submission Profile isn’t ready in time. We alluded to this previously but it’s important to add clarity here.
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For example, there is more competition for jobs in the most desirable locations, like San Diego, CA, so you want to make sure your Submission Profile is ready at all times for such opportunities. Similarly, the highest paying travel nursing jobs are also in high demand so your Submission Profile needs to be ready at all times for them as well.
Job Options are Limited
Second, the current system has a tendency to limit job options. Completing yet another Submission Profile for yet another agency can eventually become so repulsive that canddidates simply choose not to do so. In essence, they’re choosing to accept the limited options offered by the agency they’re currently working with in lieu of completing more paperwork. And who could blame them?
Travel Nurse Negotiating Power is Limited
Third, this scenario tends to limit the travel nurse’s bargaining position. In an ideal market, you want to create as much competition for your services as possible. If agencies know that you can be submitted in a flash by competing agencies, then they’ll work harder to keep your business.
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For all these reasons, controlling your own Submission Profile is the means to gaining full control over your career as a travel nurse. BluePipes provides you with the ability to do just that…for free! BluePipes‘ patent pending Self Directed Career Management System provides members with all of the tools they need to create and control their own Submission Profile. This way, you won’t have to complete so much paperwork and they’re submission profile will be ready to go at a moment’s notice so they can land their ideal jobs.
