Now, how do you find a travel nursing agency? You can literally go on google.com and type “travel nursing agency”. You can go on indeed.com and find travel nursing positions. Personally, I love to use Facebook. Facebook has many groups- many travel nursing groups, LPN travel nursing groups, RN travel nursing groups, and CNA travel nursing groups. I think I’ve joined about 10 travel nursing groups on Facebook.

Find Agencies Through Facebook Groups

I love joining travel nursing Facebook groups because it’s easier to maneuver. You can literally search your specialty (PCU, ICU, NICU) in the box and see what positions are available. You can post a state or city that you’re interested in working in and see what positions are available. There are so many different recruiters and travel nursing agencies on Facebook. I recommend working with multiple agencies because different agencies will have different contracts. If you want to work in California, for example, that particular agency may not have California contracts, or if you want to work in Hawaii, another agency may have Hawaii contracts.

Work with at least three agencies at the same time to see what they can offer you. You can compare packages, pay packages, and you can compare site pens.

The Recruiter

Once you’re working with an agency, you will be assigned a recruiter. Basically, you work alongside the recruiter to tell them exactly what you’re looking for. You can let them know if you want to work 36 hours a week or 48 hours a week or 60 hours a week. You can let them know if you want only to work the day shift or if you only want to work the night shift. Your recruiter is going to look to find what contract works for you. Then you can let them know your non-negotiables e.g, contract block scheduling.

Block Scheduling

Block scheduling is basically when you work your shifts back to back to back so if you’re scheduled to work three shifts, they’re gonna put you three shifts in a row. I prefer block scheduling because I wanna work Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday night – let me work my shifts in a row, and then I’ll have a long stretch off.

You can also let them know how comfortable you are with floating and whether you are okay with floating to lesser specialties. I know ICU nurses will sometimes float to Med Surg or PCU, and PICU nurses will sometimes float to NICU. Some hospitals will float you three times in a shift. That’s not okay.

Once you find a facility you like, your recruiter will let you know what it takes to seal the deal. Some facilities may want you to do an interview (a phone interview) or questions that you answer virtually on a computer before they’ll hire you.

Now, some facilities need a body. They trust that the agency did their due diligence in vetting you and you’re hired. Once you sign that contract – you are hired. Once you’re hired, your recruiter will review all the requirements you need before you can start. They’ll let you know if you have to do modules.

Modules

Modules are pretty much like virtual learning. You’ll look over the hospital policies. Some hospitals need these modules done before your start date so that they may send them to you a week before your start date. They may ask you to do a dosage calculation test.

Tests

They may also require you to do a health assessment test within your specialty because they want to make sure you say you know what you’re doing they want to make sure you actually know what you’re doing. Every facility will want you to have a drug screen, or your agency will make you do a drug screen. They’ll definitely want you to do a physical. Your recruiter will pretty much let you know everything that the hospital requires.

Travel Nurse Housing

Some companies will provide housing where you don’t have to come out of pocket, and they cover your housing for you. Other companies will give you a tax-free housing stipend, so pretty much you find your own housing, and they give you money towards it. You can maximize your savings by finding cheaper housing than the stipend you’re receiving. If you’re receiving a $1,200 stipend a week (around $4,800 for the month), of course, you’re not gonna get housing that’s $4,800. Yes, we love the luxury material grill and tick-tock, but at the end of the day, we have to be smart financially and make smart decisions.

So how does one find housing?

You can use Airbnb to find your housing. There is also a site called Furnished Finder, which is specifically for travel nurses or even travel healthcare professionals. Then there’s Craigslist.

I’ve used Airbnb before, and I’ve also used Craigslist. You have to be really careful with Craigslist because there are people who will try to scam you.

What I basically looked up on craigslist? I just searched short-term rental or month-to-month lease. If you sign a 13-week contract and this has happened before, and you get canceled halfway through the contract, or you sign a 13-week lease, some owners may not be generous and refund you the remaining amount that you’ve already paid. I’ve had a situation where I signed an eight-week contract, and then my work contract was canceled two weeks early. Now, it was fine because I was working six-seven shifts a week, so those last two weeks, I was already burnt out. They literally did me a favor. I just spent the last two weeks sightseeing, lol :).