Finding a great assignment is both art and science. Chances are that you'll find your next assignment in one of two ways... you'll either know a two or three cities that you'd like to go to... or you'll have to use some sort of process of elimination.
Here are four helpful hints for making the most of Travel Nurse Depot's tools and resources:
Always be upfront and honest. Don't say that you don't want benefits like paid housing if you really do. Tip #3 suggests that you indicate you want benefits but for recruiters to express their bids in terms of the highest hourly figure. This way, everyone knows what to expect.
If you already know where you'd like to go, then the process is pretty basic. If you are dead set on a certain location then you can skip right ahead to the Travel Nurse Depot hospital database and find a list of hospitals in the cities you want to visit. The database makes it easy to find hospitals, get maps, directions, check the weather, find apartments and hotels in the area, and most importantly... see what other nurses have said about a hospital. If you don't see any comments then no one has had the opportunity to review the hospital.
Don't fret if there are no reviews on a certain hospital. With each passing month, you'll see more and more comments on different hospitals. Please be sure to give your opinion on any hospitals that you have traveled to in the past. Your fellow travelers will greatly appreciate it.
At the same time that you're looking at various hospitals, you'll want to visit the Travel Nurse Depot Auction. As a travel nurse, you can create projects (or potential assignments) that you would like recruiters to bid on.
If you're not sure exactly where you want to go then you simply start eliminating states to help narrow down your search.
Try to narrow down your search by eliminating the states that you know you don't want to visit. Consider the type of weather you enjoy. Consider the type of activities you want to enjoy during your time off. If you like hiking in the mountains then Idaho probably isn't the place for you to visit.
The next step is to consider the amount of time you have until you'd like to start your assignment. Then visit the Travel Nurse Depot State Licensing center to see which states would grant you a temporary or permanent license quickly so you don't have to postpone your assignment start date.
Just this step alone should eliminate approximately 50%-75% of the remaining states on your list.
How many states are you down to? Five or ten... ? Fine. But if you're staring at a list of twenty or more states then you need to back up and eliminate more states. Be picky on your preferences and also make sure you are being realistic with the licensing aspect of the search.
For example, if you're considering Oregon but you only have 4 weeks to get a license then you might want to drop it from your list given the fact that they require transcripts sent from your nursing school and they generally take 4 to 6 weeks to get a license application completed. If your nursing school slows the process down then you could be waiting weeks before you actually get to start your assignment.
The final process of elimination comes down to shift preferences and pay. You can determine pay either by researching past projects in the Travel Nurse Depot Auction search page or by posting some projects in the Travel Nurse Depot Auction area. Only when you see bids start coming in will you really know what agencies are willing to pay for certain skills in certain parts of the country.
There's also a rule of thumb that you can use to help narrow down you last remaining choices. In general, the northern states pay better than the southern states. The winter weather in South Florida is usually more appealing to travel nurses than the weather up in Maine. For this reason (and others) the southern states don't have to pay as much per hour to fill their vacancies. There's enough supply without paying astronomical rates.
There are plenty of exceptions to this rule of thumb so do some research to verify the pay rates... if that's a critical factor.
Once you've narrowed down the choices, you can create a handful of projects in the Travel Nurse Depot Auction and see what bids come in. Don't forget to email your project link to any recruiters that you know. Be proactive.
A few cautious words about day shifts
When it comes to shift preferences, you should know what you want, and what you don't want. You should also realize that night shifts are much more readily available than day shifts. Like it or not, permanent staff members at the hospitals will usually get first choice when it comes to day shifts.
Before I go any further, I need to mention that there are plenty of day shifts. If you only want day shifts then you can find them. But there's no denying that there are many more options for a travel nurse that's flexible (to even a small degree) with shift schedule.
Most hospitals think of travel nurses as a "hired gun" of sorts. They have a desperate need and they're looking for an experienced nurse to come in and help them for a short period of time. The hospital is paying a high premium for travel nurse services and many administrators are looking for travelers willing to do night shifts or to be somewhat flexible.
But don't shoot the messenger. If you want day shifts... then by gosh... stick to your guns and go for a day shift. Just understand that there are fewer openings available. Give yourself (and the recruiter) more time to find that day shift assignment. It seems like divine intervention that when you give yourself plenty of time to find your next assignment, several day shifts become available. But when you've procrastinated, it'll seem like all of the day shifts have instantly evaporated.
Actually, it's a good idea to start researching an assignment at least a month and a half before your current assignment ends. That doesn't mean that you should have found your assignment and have all of the paperwork signed, sealed, and delivered a month and a half early... it just means that you shouldn't procrastinate. And the more particular your search, the sooner you should start.
If you are looking for a high-paying day shift position in one particular city and you're traveling with pets, a family, or other travelers, then you should start looking sooner rather than later. If you're flexible on the shift and you have a number of cities and states that you could travel to... you're in a much better position in terms of available options. You should still give yourself time, but the search shouldn't take a long time.
When you choose a recruiter, you'll be expected to be available for phone interviews with nurse managers at prospective hospitals. Travel Nurse Depot has posted a list of interview questions that you might want to consider when you have a phone interview. And make sure that you jot down the answers to the questions. You are interviewing the nurse manager even more than they are interviewing you.
Ask the recruiter and the nurse manager very specific questions about the job assignment. You'll want to write down the time and date of the interview or any discussions that you have with your recruiter. Once you are getting close to making a decision, it wouldn't hurt to fire off an email to the recruiter summarizing the details of the assignment. Give them a bulleted list of things that you expect from the assignment based on prior discussions. Ask the recruiter to confirm the details and send the email back to you.
Taking this extra step will clear up any misunderstandings later.