Best Travel Nursing Agencies
Are you ready to start travel nursing and have reached the point of “which travel agency should I work with” stage? It can be very overwhelming at first. In this article I will talk about what to look for when picking the perfect agency, let you in on which agencies are my favorite, and show you a site that compiles all agencies into one while looking for a contract.
What To Look For
My first contract looked something like doing a google search and clicking the first agency that came up. I, like most of you, put my information in and crossed my fingers as I waited for the agency to get in contact with me. Less than an hour later I received a call and had an interview with the recruiter. This interview was more along the lines of figuring out what I was looking for. Location? Experience? Etc. Less than 24 hours later, he matched me to a facility that fit my time frame. Less than 48 hours later, I accepted the contract. Two weeks later, I started. Though grateful for the opportunity, that contract opened my eyes to many things I wish I checked for earlier.
Moving forward in my travel journey, I realized that some things that were important to me that I didn’t receive through that contract are having a max of 3 shifts a week, smaller hospitals, although I had higher level experience, I preferred not to travel at a trauma center or teaching hospital.
What Matters to YOU?
What about you? Are you traveling strictly for the money? Do you need to be in a specific location? Do you want to travel far or locally? Are there specific units you’d prefer to be on? Is floating okay with you? Do you care about whether overtime will be mandatory? Are you traveling with family? Do you need insurance? Do you need travel reimbursements?
Bonus: I recently discovered that you can be hired by a hospital as an internal traveler. In this role you’d be working on one type of unit, but you’d be sent to different sister locations within the hospital system.
MY Favorites
For pay, it is no surprise that Krucial comes in first place. Krucial is known as the highest paying agency,but they pay well due to the nature of the work. They are known as more of a “crisis” agency. You sign up to be on their list of reserve nurses and when there is a crisis or emergency, they send numerous nurses to the location where they are needed. Typically, you must arrive to the location in 24-48 hours from the first call and you must commit to a minimum of required weeks, however there is usually the option to extend. I’ve seen people remain for the minimum 5 weeks and I’ve seen someone remain for 6 months.
For duration, Fastaff takes the cake. Sometimes you can’t commit to the usual 12-14 weeks, or if you’re new to traveling, you may just want to get your feet wet first. Fastaff offers contracts as little as 4 weeks in duration. They’re not incredibly common, but I’ve seen a good amount during my time traveling.
For location, AMN has amazing options. I’ve had friends, roommates, and coworkers work with AMN for long periods of time and across many state lines. On one of my contracts, I met a girl who belonged to a different agency, but had to work through AMN because the hospital that her agency picked was contracted to AMN only.
How To Find The Perfect Agency/Contract
Hopefully this article gave you a little more clarity on which travel nurse agency could be the best for you. Leave me a comment below and let me know what’s important to you when traveling.
Happy Travel Nurse Agency Hunting!
XOXO, Ki
