TTATN 027: High Paying Travel Nursing Jobs and How To Land Them

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Hey everyone! Welcome to The Truth About Travel Nursing Podcast. This is Kyle Schmidt and I’m your host. Thank you so much for joining me for episode 27 of the podcast. In this episode we’re going to discuss the highest paying travel nursing jobs and provide some tips for landing them. [Please note that this is a transcript of a podcast episode. As such, grammar and spelling are not optimized for written content.]

For starters, it’s important to know that the highest paying assignments are high paying because a premium is being offered for some reason or another. In other words, in order to be considered “high paying” the job will almost always be worth more money than the same job, at the same hospital, under normal circumstances. For example, the normal bill rate for an ICU travel assignment at Hospital X might be $68 per hour. But for some reason, Hospital X has decided to increase the bill rate to $82 per hour for an ICU assignment. This means that agencies staffing this position have more money to work with and therefore more money to potentially pay the traveler.

Hospitals With Higher Than Average Travel Nursing Bill Rates

Now, this isn’t always the case, but it’s almost always the case. I mean, there are instances where a certain hospital in an area has much higher bill rates than the other hospitals in the same area. So, assignments at that hospital should pay much better rates than the others. These assignments are sort of unique but in the end, all the same rules apply when it comes to landing these jobs. So, why don’t we start by taking a quick look at these jobs first, the jobs that have higher rates than others on a normal basis.

First, what are we talking about when we say they’re paying higher rates than normal? Well, I’ve always thought that things start to become noticeable when the rates are $5 an hour higher or more. For example, if most hospitals in an area are paying around $65 per hour for ICU travelers and one of them is paying $70, then there should be a noticeable difference in the pay package.

I mean, it’s actually quite tangible if you project it out over the course of a contract. For example, the standard contract is for 468 total hours. So, an additional $5 per hour comes out to $2,340 over the course of the contract.

With that in mind, how much higher do such assignments actually pay? Well, there is really no telling, but I doubt it would be much more than $12 per hour. For example, there used to be a hospital in the San Jose, California area that had a bill rate of $75 per hour. The average rate in the area was probably somewhere closer to $65 per hour for the same specialty. That’s a $10 per hour difference. That was the biggest difference I’d ever seen.

And again, remember that we’re talking about the hospitals’ normal bill rates here, not special rates. So, at the end of the day, there really isn’t much of a reason for a hospital to pay that much more than the other hospitals in their area. In fact, it’s interesting that some hospitals pay bill rates that are $8 to $12 more per hour than the hospitals in their area. I’m not quite sure why some hospitals do that, but they do.

So, the main thing for travelers to know about these assignments is that they tend to get filled really quickly. Recruiters tend to jump all over these contracts when they’re first announced. Recruiters come to know which hospitals they work with have the highest bill rates. So, when they see one of those orders pop up, they’ll immediately drop everything and submit their interested candidates.

I mean, recruiters know these hospitals so well, that they’ll often pitch them to their travelers in advance to get the travelers’ approval to submit if a job opens up. If they haven’t done this already, then recruiters will drop everything to call the candidates they’re working with to let them know about the position and see if they want to be submitted. Bottom line, people get submitted quickly for these jobs.

Travel Nursing Jobs With Bonuses

Okay, so another type of assignment that pays more than usual is what we’ll refer to as a bonus assignment. These are assignments with some sort of bonus attached to them. And there are several things that you need to consider when it comes to these assignments.

Agency Bonuses vs. Hospital Bonuses

First, it’s really important to know that bonuses are sometimes offered by hospitals in addition to their normal bill rate, and sometimes bonuses are offered by agencies as some sort of lure or incentive to make a contract appear more interesting to travelers. Now, there aren’t defining terms that are used to describe these two types of bonuses, so we’re going to call the bonuses offered by hospitals “hospital bonuses” and the ones offered by agencies “agency bonuses.”

Travel Nursing Agency Bonuses

Okay, so when it comes to agency bonuses, they’re simply calculated into the value of the pay package which means that they’ll reduce the value of the pay package in some other area. For example, the agency might reduce the taxable hourly rate by $2 to offer a $1,000 completion bonus for the contract. The point is that there is no additional money being offered.

However, it does make the contract more appealing to unsuspecting candidates. They hear that $1,000 bonus number and they lose sight of the bigger picture. It’s really easy to get caught up in this trap.

This is why it’s really important to evaluate all bonuses as you would any other pay variable and make an attempt to determine whether or not it is in fact of any additional value. Remember from episode 3 of the podcast we discussed the best way to evaluate and compare travel nursing pay packages. We discussed the importance of getting all the variables of a package to be represented in one common denominator. And that’s because all the variables are quoted in different denominations so it’s difficult to make comparisons.

For example, taxable base rates are quoted by the hour, the M&IE stipend is quoted by the week, the lodging stipend is quoted by the month and so on. Well, bonuses are typically quoted as an amount for the entire contract. For example, you might be quoted a $2,000 bonus for completing the assignment.

In order to evaluate a bonus like that, I recommend breaking every single compensation variable down to an hourly figure. Please listen to episode three for a detailed breakdown of how to do that, but for a contract bonus, you’re simply going to divide the value of the bonus by the total number of hours in the contract. For example, the typical travel nursing contract is for 36 hours per week and 13 weeks which is 468 total hours. So, divide $2000 by 468 hours for $4.27 per hour.

Again, you’ll want to do this for every compensation variable in the pay package. By doing this, you should be able to easily compare packages with one another and get a good idea of how much assignments are paying in any given area. Simply compare a few assignments to do that. Then, you’ll be in a better position to figure out if this is a hospital bonus or an agency bonus.

Travel Nursing Hospital Bonuses

Okay, so that’s agency bonuses. When it comes to hospital bonuses, these are bonuses that hospitals offer as an incentive because they really need to get the position filled for some reason or another. The bonuses are usually paid on completion of the contract, so they’re called completion bonuses. There was a time when hospitals paid sign-on bonuses for travelers, but that’s really rare these days. There was a problem with bonuses getting paid, but then the assignments wouldn’t get completed for one reason or another, so they stopped offering them. Sign-on bonuses are much more common with permanent employees, not so much with travelers.

Anyway, these hospital completion bonuses can be anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000, maybe more, maybe less, but that’s the most common range I’m familiar with. And that reminds me, this is another way that you can potentially tell if the bonus is a hospital bonus or an agency bonus. It’s pretty rare for hospitals to offer $1,000 bonuses. That’s just not much of an incentive. Agencies are the ones who typically do this. That’s not to say that hospitals don’t ever offer smaller bonuses or that agencies don’t ever offer bigger bonuses, it’s just something to consider as a part of your evaluation.

Travel Nursing Bonus Terms

Okay, so the main thing to watch out for with bonuses in general, and that’s all bonuses, is the terms. You need to know how you qualify to receive the bonus. Some hospitals and agencies have very strict rules that every hour of the contract must be worked in order for the bonus to be paid out. So, if you’re asked if you want to go home early one shift and you agree, that may negate the bonus payout.

Also, you want to know when the bonus will be paid out. Often times, agencies don’t want to the pay the bonus until the bonus is paid by the hospital. And hospitals can take forever to pay the bonuses. Remember, it could take the agency 30, 60, or 90 days to collect the payment under normal terms. If the hospital is delinquent, then there is no telling how long it will take. The solution is to get it written into your contract exactly when the bonus will be paid. And don’t settle for “when the hospital pays”…the agency doesn’t wait to collect the bill rate from the hospital before they pay you your weekly check, there is no reason for you to have to wait on them for this. It’s the agency’s job to worry about collecting from the hospital, not yours.

Rapid Response and Crisis Rate Travel Nursing Jobs

Okay, so that’s pretty much what we need to know about bonuses. I know that we talked about them a little in episode 17 when we discussed bill rates, so you might want to check that out as well. For now, let’s move on to the third type of high paying travel nursing job, rapid response assignments, which can also be called crisis rate assignments.

There actually might be a difference between crisis rate assignments and rapid response assignments, but they’re pretty close. Technically, a rapid response assignment should require you to start really soon, maybe within 2 weeks of interviewing, sometimes even sooner. A crisis rate assignment might not have that same stipulation. You may be able to start further out.

Either way, the point is that these assignments have significantly higher bill rates than normal. Typically, these bill rates are already built in to the contracts that agencies have with hospitals, it’s just a matter of the hospital approving the bill rate for specified assignments. The bill rates can be anywhere from $5 per hour higher to $20 per hour higher. And these days, with the hot travel nursing job market in 2015, I’ve heard of bill rates as high as $110 per hour, which would be $40 or $50 higher per hour than normal. Now, these assignments are the exception, not the rule, but either way these assignments have the potential to pay a lot of money.

So, many travel nurses question whether or not something is wrong at the hospital when they’re offering crisis rates. It’s good to question why a traveler is needed. I mean we always recommend asking why a traveler is needed when considering an assignment. However, it’s rare that there is something wrong at the hospital when it comes to crisis rates, that it’s a total disaster to work at, or that the hospital treats its employees horribly.

Instead, there is usually some legitimate reason like a sudden spike in census. The hospital might be opening a new unit, or expanding a unit, or expanding their entire facility. They might have an EMR conversion going on. There are tons of perfectly legitimate reasons that these rates are offered. It doesn’t hurt to ask, just don’t assume that something is wrong because you could end up missing a great assignment.

Okay, so these assignments are also hot commodities, just like the others and for the same reasons. Recruiters love to recruit for them because it’s always easier to sell higher paying assignments than it is to sell average paying assignments. So again, these assignments tend to close more quickly than average assignments, so that’s something to remember.

Strike Nursing

Let’s move on to the fourth and final type of high paying assignment that we’re going to discuss here and that’s strikes. Many people don’t consider strikes to be travel nursing assignments, but that’s exactly what they are. Sure, local nurses can work a strike, but a strong percentage of nurses who end up working a strike come from outside the local market and need to be housed in order to meet the demands of the job, so they’re travelers for all intents and purposes.

That said, strikes are unique in many ways. First, they get called off way more often than they go through. As a result, you’ll hear chatter and rumors about strikes way more often than they actually happen. This makes it really difficult for both agencies and travelers. So, often times there is a payment guarantee that kicks in if the strike is cancelled within a specified timeframe, usually one week. For example, the contract sometimes stipulates that if the strike is cancelled within a week of the scheduled start date, then the hospital has to pay the agency a portion of the total amount that would have been owed if the strike had gone through. So, it’s possible for you to get paid something without even working.

The second difference is that strikes are often logistical nightmares that can end up affecting you as a traveler. The hospital and agency are on-boarding so many people at once, that there are bound to be some things that fall through the cracks. Your transportation from the airport to the hotel may get forgotten. You may show up and they don’t have a record of you being expected. All these things will get ironed out; it’s just that it can be quite frustrating.

But it can be well worth the hassle. I used to see hourly rates as high as $80 per hour and that was with free housing. So, for working 36 hours, the gross pay check would be $2,880. That’s pretty good. Oh and another thing to point out is that once the strike begins, there is often a guarantee that you be paid in full even if the strike is cancelled.

So, the money can be really good, but it’s important to note that you most likely wouldn’t be able to rely on strike nursing alone for regular income. You could work PRN and work the occasional strike to supplement your income though.

Agencies That Staff Nursing Strikes

Okay, so let’s take a look at some recommendations for landing these high paying assignments. While the subject is fresh, let’s start with a recommendation that’s specific to strikes. It’s a good idea to get your documentation together with agencies that specialize in staffing for strikes. You see, not many agencies want to deal with the headache of staffing strikes; it really is a logistical nightmare. And it takes up a lot of resources, so it’s really difficult to focus on both strike nursing and travel nursing. Most agencies just aren’t interested.

Now, sometimes these agencies that don’t normally staff strikes can help you, but that’s just because they signed on as a sub-vendor with one of the agencies that focuses on strikes. So, their ability to help you get involved regularly is limited.

There are four agencies that I’m aware of that focus on strike nursing. They are Huffmaster, Healthsource Global, US Nursing which owned by Fastaff, and Nurse Bridge which is owned by Medical Solutions. We’ll link to them in the shown notes for this episode.

Travel Nursing Paperwork

So, that tip is pretty much specific to strike nursing. I think the rest of these tips will apply to all the high paying nursing jobs we’ve discussed here. And the first tip is to make sure that you have your paperwork ready to go when the time comes. As I mentioned earlier, all the high paying assignments are really competitive to land. And the strike assignments usually pop up at the last minute and you can’t work if you don’t have your paperwork together.

So, when it comes to paperwork, having copies of your licenses, certifications and clinical records ready to go is a big help. It can mean the difference between getting the job and not getting the job. It can also ensure that you don’t get cancelled for not having paperwork together in time. This happens more often with the highest paying assignments than it does with the average assignments. Agencies and hospitals simply have more interested candidates when it comes to the higher paying jobs so they can be more stringent.

Now, we talked a lot about documentation in episode 12, so it’s worth your while to review that episode to get tons of tips on how to simplify the maintenance of your travel nursing documentation. For now, let’s just say that you should save everything you can get your hands on. That includes documents that agencies pay for when you take assignments with them. Remember though, agencies are under no obligation to provide copies of those documents, but the healthcare providers that administered the exams are. They can charge a nominal fee for the documents, and it’s always best to get them or request them when you’re on the spot at their office.

It’s also good to have a great travel nursing resume ready to go including every last detail that agencies or hospitals may require. We have blog post outlining 33 items to include on your travel nursing resume. These are items that either hospitals or agencies require. The idea is that you want your resume to be acceptable to everyone.

So, for example, some hospitals require that you include the trauma level of the facilities that you worked in, others don’t. But if you have it on your resume, then it’s acceptable to both hospitals. We’ll link to that blog post and you can review all the details there to get your resume set up.

BluePipes Can Help Travel Nurses

Or, if you want to make all of this even easier, then you can just create your free BluePipes account. The profile builder was designed to help you recognize and record all the details that agencies and hospitals typically require. You can then download your profile as a resume and/or as a complete job application with all the standard signing statements and background questions typically required by agencies and hospitals.

You’ll also have access to skills checklists that you can complete, save and download at your convenience. You can also store copies of your documents on BluePipes and email all your documents to anyone you want at your convenience. And remember, BluePipes does not sell your contact information or access to your personal contact information to third parties. Instead, agencies and recruiters are only able to contact you through the website’s messaging platform. Only you can grant access to your information, so your privacy is secure.

Getting Licensed for High Paying Travel Nursing Jobs

Okay, so the next tip for landing these high paying jobs is to get licensed in as many locations as possible. Of course, being licensed in many different states can be quite a headache. You have all the costs and you have to keep up with the CEUs. So, you have to consider that, but at the end of the day, you can’t get one of these assignments unless you’re already licensed in the state.

So, California is always a good state. They have strong unions there, so they might go on strike a little more often. But whether or not that’s the case, California just has more hospitals period. Texas is another good state. I used to see bonus assignment there all time. Of course, having a compact state license is a major help. If you’re ever interested in relocating your tax home, then you should definitely look into relocating to a compact state so you can get one of those licenses.

Let Your Travel Nursing Agency Know!

Anyway, another tip to help land these jobs is to let your agency know that you’re interested. I know it sounds crazy, like you shouldn’t really have to that, but it could make all the difference. Let’s say you’ve made it clear to your recruiter that you only want to go to Florida for the winter. When a high paying assignment opens up in Arizona or Southern California, they may be discouraged from contacting you even though you actually might be willing to consider it. I mean, if you’re open to it for the money, then you should let them know that they can call with any high paying opportunities in the states you’re licensed in.

Also, if you really want to go to a specific area, then ask your recruiter to run down the pay rates for the highest paying facilities they have in the area. The recruiter should be able to do that because the bill rates should already be programmed into their system. The recruiter might tell you they don’t have any open jobs but that doesn’t matter. You’re asking for the future. Essentially, you’re looking for that first type of high paying assignment we discussed; the hospital that has higher rates than all the others in the area.

If any of the rates strike you as appealing, you can let the recruiter know that they can submit your profile immediately if an assignment opens up matching the rest of your criteria. Essentially, you’re getting a head start on the submission process. This ensures that you get submitted immediately and stand a better chance at landing the job.

But, there is a downfall to this approach. Let’s say the hospital opens a job with a crisis rate or a bonus. You’ve already indicated to your recruiter that you’d be willing to work for the hospital’s normal rate. While that may be a good rate, it’s most certainly not as good as it would be with a crisis rate or a bonus. So, you’ll be counting on your recruiter to play it straight with you. To work around this, you can just ask your recruiter point-blank if anything has changed with the bill rate or pay package since you discussed it previously. This is usually enough to force the recruiter’s hand for fear you might find out that something has changed if they tell you it didn’t.

Push The Limits But Watch Out!

Okay, so the last tip we’ll discuss is wait until the last minute to accept assignments. We discussed this approach in episode 21 when we talked about the hot travel nursing job market. This approach is risky for you. You may end up missing a week or two of work which is really costly. But remember, many of the highest paying jobs are rapid response. They need someone in there really fast. So, if you’re available then you get the assignment. This approach works a little better when the market is hot, like it is now in 2015, because there are just more assignments available in general. But either way, it’s risky, so watch out.

All right, so that’s probably a good place to wrap up this episode. We covered a lot of information about the various types of high paying assignments you can find. We also discussed some tips for landing them. We hope this information helps you get some high paying assignments!

As always, all the links we discussed will be up on the show notes page along with a transcript of the episode. The show notes will be at blog.bluepipes.com/episode27. We also welcome your questions and comments regarding this topic on the show notes page. And please, let us know if we missed something so we can add to the information and help more travelers benefit from the information.

Again, thank you so much for listening. Your feedback and support are greatly appreciated. If you’ve been enjoying the podcast, please provide us with rating on itunes or stitcher or whatever platform you’re listening on. It really does help us out a lot. And thanks to those of you who have already left a review, you guys rock.

Okay, so until next time, have a safe and prosperous travel healthcare adventure!