How to Find the Best Travel Nursing Recruiters
As we’ve previously written, you will most likely be able to find a large number of travel nursing agencies that can meet all your needs in terms of services, benefits and assignment locations. As a result, you will still be stuck figuring out which agencies to actually work with. That’s where finding great travel nursing recruiters comes into play.
Recruiters can make bad agencies good and good agencies bad. Unfortunately, it can be tough to find really good travel nursing recruiters. So, in this article, we’ll provide details and tips to help you find the best travel nursing recruiters.
What to expect from travel nursing recruiters
Before we discuss how to find the best recruiters, we need to review the attributes that make a travel nursing recruiter great. Of course, opinions will vary on this topic. Ultimately, you’ll need to decide what makes a great recruiter for yourself. That said, here are some attributes that we feel are important:
- Experience or knowledge level
- Responsiveness
- Honesty
- Organization skills
- Tenacity
- Availability
Now let’s take a look at each of these attributes in detail and discuss how you can screen recruiters for each of them.
Why experience is important for the best travel nursing recruiters
We believe that experience is an extremely important attribute for the best travel nursing recruiters. Experience ensures that your recruiter has the knowledge and know-how necessary to guide you through a metaphorical minefield.
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What exactly do we mean by that? Well, supplemental healthcare staffing has way more moving parts than most people realize. For example, travel nursing agencies often work with thousands of facilities. As you know, each facility has a multitude of units. These facilities, and the units that comprise them, can each have different experience, interview, credentialing, compliance, onboarding and operational requirements.
Example consequence of inexperienced travel nurse recruiter
If your travel nursing recruiter is not knowledgeable, then they could end up causing delays or, worse yet, costing you a job. I know this to be true from first-hand experience.
When I was starting out as a travel nurse recruiter, I submitted an ICU RN for a travel nursing job at the Kaiser facility in Redwood City, CA. This ICU RN had graduated from nursing school 15 months earlier and she had worked at her current hospital for a little over 2 years.
At that time, Kaiser required 1 year of experience in the specialty you were submitting for, so I figured all was well. However, I overlooked the fact that Kaiser required that the nurse’s license needed to be active for more than 1 year. The nurse in question had obtained her RN license 6 months after graduating, giving her only 9 months of active licensing. As a result, Kaiser disqualified the nurse. It was then that I learned about another of Kaiser’s policies. When they disqualify someone, Kaiser will not consider them for any job for 6 months from the date of disqualification. Needless to say, I never heard from the nurse again despite my impassioned apologies.
Second example consequence of inexperienced travel nurse recruiter
Shortly after this incident, an L&D nurse and I decided that we’d tell a facility that we already had her scheduled to take an AWHONN Advanced Fetal Heart Monitoring course in an effort to get her a job interview. She was highly experienced and of course got the interview and the job offer which we accepted. Then, we both found out the hard way that getting this AWHONN certification wasn’t going to be as easy as getting a BLS certification. Despite the fact that she lived in Chicago, we were unable to locate a course. We were even unable to locate a course anywhere in the United States in time for the assignment’s start date.
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Ultimately, my agency had to back out. While the nurse and I continued to work together for nearly 2 years, my agency was fined by the hospital per our contract with them. Also, while we can’t be certain, we believe the nurse was made a “DNU” (do not use) at this particular facility. So, you can see that these things matter, and they matter a lot.
Experience is important behind the scenes too
There are also things going on behind the scenes that the nurse may never really know about, but that are nonetheless extremely important. Your “submission profile” is one example.
It’s fairly standard for hospitals to require that agencies provide a job application, a skills checklist, and two references in order for the hospital to accept a candidate for job consideration. The industry commonly calls these documents a “submission profile.”
No offense to anyone out there, but candidates typically do a poor job at filling these out. That’s understandable given the volume of paperwork that travelers endure. Moreover, resumes rarely, if ever, include the details hospitals require, unless the resume came from a travel nursing resume builder like BluePipes.
Therefore, an experienced recruiter will most certainly revise your submission profile to ensure that it’s professional and includes all the information that the facilities are seeking. In addition, they will take every opportunity to make that submission profile shine. The submission profile can make or break your chances at landing a job. There is ALWAYS competition for a job, and the submission profile is the first consideration in determining who will win. Knowing what to look for, how to present the information, and how to gloss over any negatives is the recruiter’s job. Knowing how to do it comes from experience.
How to determine a travel nursing recruiter’s experience level
To determine a recruiter’s level of experience you should first ask them how long they’ve been a recruiter. Of course, they could provide you with false information. Therefore, you should look them up on LinkedIn. Their profile will most likely reveal the true nature of their experience.
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Short of that, you should be able to discern a recruiter’s experience level by the speed with which they answer your questions. An experienced recruiter should be quick to respond and sound comfortable and confident during your discussion. They should be able to provide highly informative and thorough answers to any questions you may have.
Finally, you should be able to tell by the questions they ask you. They should be asking you insightful and probing questions aimed at determining what type of experience you have, and what you’re looking for.
Why responsiveness is important for the best travel nursing recruiters
Next, we believe that responsiveness is another very important attribute for the best travel nursing recruiters. One reason is that speed to market is an extremely important factor for landing travel nursing jobs. When the ideal job opens, you want a recruiter who is quick to take action. That could be by calling you immediately to discuss. Or, it could be by submitting your profile immediately because you’ve already discussed the position with them.
It’s important to note that many companies now have software with the capability to auto-submit profiles when assignments open. Of course, we expect the recruiter would discuss the potential job with you in advance to get your buy in.
Another reason responsiveness is so important is that missing deadlines can be catastrophic in travel healthcare. For example, facilities can push back start dates or even cancel offers if you miss deadlines for compliance documents.
Finally, a responsive recruiter is important for your own peace of mind. When you reach out to a recruiter with an issue, you want to rest assured that they’re on it.
How to determine a travel nursing recruiter’s responsiveness
You can test a recruiter’s responsiveness during the initial phases of your engagement with them. You’re looking for recruiters who answer the phone when you call or respond to calls, texts and emails promptly.
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My own rule as a recruiter was to respond in some way the same day to every inquiry. At a minimum, that response may have been, “I got your message. I’m looking into it. I’ll report back tomorrow.” If a recruiter is consistently taking more than 24 hours to respond, then you need to drop them.
The importance of honesty in the best travel nursing recruiters
Next, we believe that honesty is another very important attribute for the best travel nursing recruiters. I do believe that the vast majority of healthcare recruiters are honest individuals. However, as mentioned previously, recruiting is essentially a sales job.
It’s no secret that there are a lot of sales people out there who utilize disingenuous tactics to close a deal. Travel nurse recruiting is no different.
I’ve heard so many stories from candidates who had a recruiter mislead them that I couldn’t even begin to describe them all here. I’ve heard from nurses who were told they would receive free medical benefits, only to later find that the company charged for them. I’ve heard from nurses whose pay ended up being dramatically less than what the recruiter led them to believe it would be.
How to determine honesty in a travel nursing recruiter
Unfortunately, there’s no perfect method for determining whether or not a recruiter is going to be honest with you about every last detail. However, here a couple of methods that will help.
First, you can improve your chances of finding an honest recruiter by determining whether or not they’re willing to provide you with both sides of the story. It’s pretty rare for something to have absolutely no downfalls. An honest recruiter should be willing to share the positive, as well as the negative.
There are negatives to almost every aspect of travel nursing, so there are plenty of opportunities for the recruiter to reveal their honesty. At the same time, sales people typically don’t provide such information, but you can tease it out of them by asking the right questions. For example: What’s the downside of taking tax free money? Or, you can just ask them point blank to provide you with some negative aspects of the industry in general. Or, ask them about the downsides of a specific job that they are trying to sell you.
Second, you can ask the recruiter if they can provide you with references. Specifically, you’re looking to speak with other travelers that this recruiter worked with. You can contact those references and get their feedback about the recruiter.
Finally, you can utilize the same questioning tactics that many employers use to discern honesty and integrity. For example, you can ask overt questions like, “How far do you agree with the following statement, ‘Taking office stationery home is stealing’.” You could also ask covert questions like, “To what extent do you believe that lying can be justified under certain circumstances?”
Why organization skills are important for the best travel nursing recruiters
Next, we believe that organization skills are another important aspect for the best travel nursing recruiters. To a large extent, a travel nursing recruiter’s organization skills go hand in hand with their responsiveness. The issue here is that a travel nursing recruiter’s job can be chaotic. It’s imperative for their success, and yours, that they be able to organize that chaos.
You can get some understanding of their organization skills by simply asking them some basic questions. Ask them if they use any organization apps or tricks. Ask them how they organize their day. You might also ask more general questions like how they get everything done in a day or a week.
Why tenacity is important for the best travel nursing recruiters
Tenacity is another important trait for the best travel nursing recruiters. Tenacious recruiters will continue to press on account managers, VMS representatives, MSP representatives, nurse managers and anyone else involved in the hiring process to ensure you have the best chance to land the job. Simply put, tenacious recruiters have higher placement rates when all else is equal.
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You should be able to confirm that a recruiter is tenacious by tracking how persistent they are with you. For example, you might notice that they will call, text or email you multiple times if they are not hearing back from you about something they need to advance the process.
That said, please do not confuse tenacity with rudeness. Ideally, you’re looking for travel nursing recruiters who are politely tenacious.
How important is availability for the best travel nursing recruiters?
Finally, most of what you’ll read on the internet and in books written by travel nurses regarding what makes the best travel nursing recruiter tends to focus on whether or not the recruiter is available to meet any need that you may have, at any time of the day, every day of the week. You’ll read stories about a recruiter who saved a traveler during a hurricane by coordinating travel plans and securing accommodations at 3am on a Tuesday morning. Or you may read the story about the recruiter who was always there when the nurse had a particularly rough day at work and needed someone to discuss it with at 8:30pm on a Thursday. While I believe that this type of accessibility is important, I also believe that expectations should be realistic. A also believe the attributes above are far more important considerations when evaluating a recruiter.
Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that you should be able to build a good rapport with your recruiters. I’ve had travel nurses spend the holidays with my family. I’ve volunteered to watch their pets while they were on vacation. I’ve had them stay in my spare room for free while they were working a job with another agency no less! And there are many nurses that I’ve kept in touch with long after they stopped traveling. They’ve become some of my closest friends.
What Constitutes a Travel Nursing Emergency?
You should also be able to rely on your recruiter in time of need and in emergencies. However, this is where it gets a little gray. As we mentioned previously, successful travel nursing recruiters typically put in at least 50 hours per week just dealing with the main task at hand. Additionally, recruiters will need to have a minimum of 15 full time travelers working at all times in order to meet their quota. At many agencies, the minimum is more like 20.
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That said, emergencies should be classified as emergencies only if they are genuine emergencies. A toaster that toasts bread unevenly is not an emergency that warrants a cell phone call at 5:30 am. A paycheck that’s $4 short of what it should have been is not an emergency that warrants a cell phone call on a Sunday. These are certainly valid concerns that the recruiter should address promptly. However, maintaining realistic expectations will ensure that you’re able to maintain a strong relationship with what may be an excellent recruiter.
Conclusion
When you find an experienced, responsive, organized, honest recruiter, they’re certain to take care of you properly. They will know how to best navigate the job market given your unique experiences, background, and goals. They’ll be more effective and efficient. There are also actions that you can take to get the most out of your travel nursing recruiter. Chances are, that if you maintain reasonable service expectations, you’ll build a strong relationship that may even transcend travel nursing.
