post written by Dan Kashulines

In my last blog post about travel nursing, I listed a couple tips about picking the right travel nursing agency. I thought it might be helpful to add a precursor to that discussing the initial process of becoming a travel nurse in a little more detail, along with some of my personal recommendations. 

Education

First thing’s first, if you want to be a travel nurse, you have to become a nurse first. My recommendation for this is to aim straight for getting your bachelors in nursing (BSN). While I do believe it is possible to travel nurse as an LPN, the job market is much slimmer and your chances of landing the job you want are less likely. Similarly, if you have your associates degree, you may be able to travel nurse, but your options are likely to still be limited as it’s pretty competitive especially right now. Having your bachelors degree helps you to stand out immediately to potential hospitals and will give you more freedom to go where you want. That said, if furthering your education is not in the cards for you right now, you can still go for it, you just may need to be more flexible. 

Experience

Once you have received your education (and your license, ideally in a compact state), it’s time to make sure you have experience. If you’re a brand new nurse, I recommend starting out as a staff nurse in a Med/Surg role. I have to admit, when I was that brand new nurse I was opposed to this idea, but I’ve come to realize how foundational it is to being a well-rounded nurse. Whether you’re a new nurse or not, the minimum experience you should have is one year in your given specialty if you want to start traveling. Obviously, the more experience the better, as you’ll stand out more and are more likely to land a contract. 

Credentials

After you have established the basics of education and experience, it’s time to invest in some extras. First, I recommend getting credentials through the American Heart Association (AHA). The first and most basic is BLS CPR certification (which you probably already have if you’re working as a nurse). After this I recommend getting other credentials the AHA offers. These would include ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support), PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support), and NIHSS (National Institute of Health Stroke Scale). Even if you don’t plan to work in critical care, pediatrics, or neurology, these credentials are fairly easy to obtain and give a helpful boost to your resume.

After this, I would also recommend getting officially certified in your specialty through the ANCC (American Nurses Credentialing Center). This typically requires more experience than one year in your specialty, but it’s just another way to stand out from other potential candidates. Having that leg up could afford you more control over the details of your travel nursing contract (pay, day vs. night shift, unit, and location).

Marketing

After doing the former things, you’ve laid a solid foundation and are ready to start travel nursing. The last thing you need to do is market yourself. If you want to be seen as the valuable asset you are, then you need to put in the work to present yourself as such. The basic way to do this is to develop a succinct and organized resume. Keep it simple, one page, highlight your education, professional organizations, work experience, and current credentials and training. After this is done, I recommend putting yourself out there with online career profiles. A few worth mentioning are LinkedIn, Indeed, and Monster. I recommend creating a profile on all of these and updating them at least once a year, this keeps your visibility high and your experience up to date.

Another thing to keep in mind, some agencies like Triage and Trusted Health have their own online resume where you can plug in all the above information, so that the info is gathered and ready to be submitted to hospitals. You will also need references for each travel nursing agency that you start working with, so keep in mind while you’re still a staff nurse who may be able to provide a reference. The onboarding process can be quite rigorous and it can be difficult to get your first contract largely depending on your experience, so if possible budget some extra time for the onboarding and for the waiting.

And that’s it! If you’ve done all this, you can check out my other blog post on picking the right travel nursing agency for you. Best of luck on your adventures!