You need to first ask yourself, “Why are I traveling?” Are you going to travel to see the country, build a bomb or esume? Or is it just to have fun? After answering that question, you will be able to narrow down what kind of agency you are looking for. These were my answers. These are the criteria that I used in order to find the best nursing agency in auckland for my travel goals.

Budget

I get asked a lot of questions, including “How can you support your family with a single income as travel nurse?”. For us, it’s simple: BUDGET! Nick, my husband, and I go through each contract, calculating all our expenses: rent, groceries and gas, phone bill and health insurance, student loans payments, car insurance, leisure, etc. We calculate the weekly expenses by adding up all of the monthly expenses and leaving a little cushion for the unexpected. When I started looking at prospective pay packages, that was the magic number I had in mind. I wanted to exceed it. This led me to have a conversation with my recruiter about what my minimum weekly income requirements were. I stressed that I would support our family of 3 and requested that only packages that meet or exceed that amount be sent to me. Pay packages can be viewed as a piece of pie. The majority of agencies bill the hospital in the same way. However, each agency will pay different amounts depending on what is included within your contract. Hourly pay, travel, overtime, and stipends are all pieces of the same pie. Each can be tailored to suit your needs. Remember that you can’t add to one without taking away another. Pay will vary depending on where you live, what hospital census you are in, and your specialty. It is important to identify your “magic number”, which will help you narrow down your agency search.

Perks & Benefits

It can be hard to narrow down the many travel nurse agencies. To help you compare agencies, I also use their perks or benefits. What does this mean? Health insurance, guaranteed pay (i.e. Guaranteed pay (i.e., pay even if the hospital cancels your shift), sick and sick pay, reimbursements for licensure, travel, certifications, and health insurance. These things may not appeal to all nurses, so they choose agencies that might not offer many perks. My opinion is somewhere in the middle. Because it is cheaper for us and allows me to go between contracts more often, without losing coverage, we prefer to have our own private insurance. The tax-exempt reimbursements for travel, licensure, and certifications that I need for my contract are all things I enjoy. Because I am a working mother, I also appreciate guaranteed and sick pay. It’s possible that you will get sick or have a low-census days. This all goes back to my pie analogy. If you have to pay more for your perks, it may result in less hourly or stipend pay.

Location

As a Pediatric Intensive care Nurse, my primary goal was to travel and work in some of the best children’s hospitals in the country. Many of these are located in large cities. I needed an agency that could work with the hospitals I was interested in. I created a list of 10 hospitals that I was interested in working at, and then compared it with job listings on travel agency websites. Some hospitals have exclusive agreements with specific agencies and will only offer jobs through those agencies. You can find information about specific hospitals by asking the agencies they work with, or looking through one of the many travel nurse blogs. Your specialty can also impact the places you are able choose to travel to. As mentioned previously, PICU jobs are more common in larger cities than those of nurses who specialize in Med–Surg. There is an agency that will get you there, no matter what your motivations are!

Recruiter

Your recruiter is your lifeline as a travel nurse. I was EXTREMELY nervous about having to move my family and take everything with me. And then support them with a job that is uncertain. It was like meeting a new person when I first started to speak with recruiters and agencies.

  • Are our personalities compatible?
  • Is it listening or interrupting?
  • Are they confident?
  • Are they pushy?
  • Let’s see, my first impression is…

This can be very difficult, I must admit. You rarely get to meet face to face. Communication is mostly done via email, phone or text. I sought out references from recruiters at the agencies I was interested in when I found them. It was crucial for me to talk with other nurses about their experiences. Surprisingly only two recruiters were willing to give me references. Given the responsibilities they would be handling, I felt it was fair that they provided me with information about their job performance. A good recruiter must be prompt and responsive, as well as a listener who can get me the contract I want. The recruiter that I found was amazing! She does everything and more. I had the chance to meet her while on assignment in California. We met for coffee, and she brought our daughter a present. Although I don’t expect such things, I feel that she truly cares about my family and works hard for our best interests. No matter how many recruiters you choose, the agency is only good as the recruiter.

Wanderly is another tool that you can use to aid your search. This company allows nurses to anonymously compare their pay packages without having to apply for each agency. They are something I wish I had known about when I first started traveling. Once you have determined your travel nursing goals, and your must-haves, it is simple to find the right agency for you. Like the field of nursing itself, travel nurse agencies offer something for everyone.