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Destination Anywhere! The Traveling Nurse

A traveling nurse has much control over their life. They choose where they want to work and what assignment they want to work for, but do not let that fool you. There is a process to being accepted for the assignment you want to obtain.
Once you have joined with an agency that you feel suits you best and have been hired by the agency you will be assigned a personal recruiter who will help you obtain the assignments that you wish to be employed for. Discuss with your recruiter exactly what you are looking for in an assignment and the destination where you want to be employed. It is your recruiter’s job to help you obtain those assignments. She will then match you with the best assignments suitable for the skills you have already obtained and the choices that you have stated.

When choosing your destination your possibilities are endless. If you are looking for warmth and beaches you can ask for destinations to be along the west coast or if you are looking for snow, skiing and the mountains you can request specifically by state and request that your assignment be in say Colorado. If you are more of a country girl at heart you can ask for assignments in rural communities and small towns or if you want nightlife, glitz and glam your choices are endless with the
top biggest cities that our country has to offer.

After your recruiter has found you an assignment that you feel will suit yours wants and desires you will then do a telephone interview with the hiring facility. Your recruiter should help you prepare for your telephone interview to help you obtain the assignment that you have chosen. Your recruiter will help you so that you will be prepared and have the best chance to obtain this assignment.

Once the facility has accepted you for the assignment the fun begins! The next step will be for you to obtain any of the licensure process or credentialing requirements that you may need for your assignments state. Most states offer a temporary license that is fairly easy to obtain quickly. Remember your travel nurse agency has been working with nurses, facilities and different states for as long as they have been in a business and the top agencies will know exactly what you need to do and how to go about getting the work done so that you will have no problems in obtaining your license in the state of your assignment.

After your acceptance your housing will start to be worked out so that when the times comes for you to go on to your new assignment your utilities will already be on and your new home during the assignment will be ready for your occupancy. Your travel nurse agency will help you with any details or problems that you will have a long the way to make sure your move into your new assignment goes as smoothly as it possibly can.

Along the way your private recruiter or someone from your agency will be keeping in touch with you to make sure everything is working out smoothly for you. Remember you are not a long and your agency is always a phone call away.

Travel Nursing With a Friend

Working as a travel nurse can be a fun career that is filled with new faces and exciting adventures. Working as a travel nurse can also be a very lonely profession.

Travel nurses are nurses who make a living traveling from hospital to medical facility, moving from state to state. Traveling nurses temporarily fill positions at hospitals and medical facilities for a short period of time. Typically travel nurses work at an assignment for three to six months before they move onto another position. If a travel nurse works several back to back assignments if can be years before they get back to their home town to spend quality time with family and friends.

One way to alleviate the loneliness is to work tandem with a friend. Two nursing friends, often a pair who went through nursing school together, joins a agency that specializes in finding positions for travel nurses at the same time. Once their applications have been accepted at the agency the two friends scan the agency’s available jobs and find two assignments available at the same hospital or medical facility. If they are unable to find jobs in the same facility the friends might be able to find assignments in the same town.

Travel nurses that work in pairs know that when they leave on a new assignment that they will see at least on friendly face when they get to a new town in a new state. When they start their new job they know that there will be at least one person who is willing to listen to them complain or rejoice about their new co-workers. Travel nurses who work together are able to offer each other a shoulder to cry on when everything seems to go wrong.

A benefit to friends working together as travel nurses is the ability to share travel expenses. Most travel nurses shun flying, preferring to drive from a completed assignment to their new assignment. Driving from assignment to assignment means that travel nurses came save the expense of renting a car. Friends that are both travel nurses can drive together to the new assignment can split the cost of gas and share hotel rooms.

Friends who work together as travel nurse can also save money by sharing living expenses. Not only can the friends split the cost of the monthly rent, the pair can also split the utilities and the cost of groceries. When you are going to be living together tell your nursing agency and let them know that you will be sharing the housing, this could mean that the agency looks for a bigger space. If you are going to be rooming together remember that the apartments nursing agencies generally find for their travel nurses are small. Be prepared for tight living quarters. The space becomes even tighter if one of you has a pet.

Having a friend with you will give you someone to go out with while you are in an unfamiliar city. The experiences you share will strengthen the bonds of your friendship.

Some nursing agencies report that they have had a great deal of success with spouses who work and travel together as travel nurses.