Staff nurses counting down to travel: do you really need two full years?
Discussion starterThe question
Most agencies answer this question, and most agencies are selling something, so we're asking it here instead.
If you started travelling, how much experience did you have in your specialty when the first contract came through? Did float pool, per diem or a second unit count?
And if you're counting down now, how far out are you, and what are you doing with the months in between?
The conversation
2 repliesThe two-year line comes from the hospitals, not the agencies. A facility paying travel rates wants someone who can take a full assignment after a short orientation, so most contracts ask for one to two years in that specialty, and the specialty is the part people miss. Two years split across three units can read as less than eighteen months on one.
What helps in the countdown: stay on one unit long enough to be the person who gets handed the hard assignment, take the certification your specialty respects if you can, and keep a list of the skills you do without thinking. Recruiters ask for that list and most nurses can't produce it on the spot.
When you do start comparing packages, compare the weekly total after housing, not the hourly rate. Look up the federal per diem rates for that city on the GSA site and you'll know whether the stipend in front of you is the full amount or a trimmed one.
What would you tell them?
Answer from what you have seen. It posts without your name.
