Signing on with a travel nurse agency for the first time can be a lot of work. All in all the process can take a couple of weeks depending how fast you get everything done. It gets easier the more times you do it, but it’s a lot of paperwork to work through. There are also ways to be proactive to help make it easier, but in general it’s not the easiest thing to change agencies frequently. As with everything in travel nursing, it’s give and take, and if you don’t like the agency you’re with it’s probably worth it to switch. Just be prepared for the upfront time and effort you’ll have to put in.

I realize using the phrase “signing on” could be a little bit misleading. You don’t need to sign a contract or anything like that to start working with a travel nurse agency. You aren’t bound to them nor are you unable to work with other agencies simultaneously, so you may “sign on” with multiple agencies but obviously only one will end up providing you with the actual contract you commit to. However, there is a substantial amount of onboarding that you have to do in order to begin working with an agency, in order for them to start submitting you to contracts. That’s what I mean by “signing on,” simply deciding to go through that effort to have that agency start submitting you.

choosing an agency

So far, Dan has worked with three travel nurse agencies to varying degrees. The choice of which agency to go with is an intimidating one, even more so than which agent to go with (at least in our opinion). There are hundreds of agencies of all different sizes and specialties in the United States, and depending who you talk to you’ll here wonderful and terrible things about each and every one of them. Our biggest advice is to do your research and then trust your gut, knowing that you can always change agencies down the line.

Check out our blog post on How to Pick a Travel Nurse Agency That’s Right for You here. Let me know if you’d be interested in a part two to that post!

picking a recruiter

The same goes for recruiters! It’s a common saying in the travel nursing world that your recruiter can make or break your experience. Some say that the choice of recruiter or agent is even more important that what agency you go with. We’ve started to second-guess that second proposition, though the heart of it makes sense. There are genuine differences in agencies, but if you have an agent who works hard, listens, and truly advocates for you, you’re in a pretty great spot. That said, if you’re unhappy with your recruiter, you can always ask the agency for a different one. However uncomfortable that may be, it’s more important that you have a good recruiter who does ALL of the three things I mentioned above.

Check out our blog post on Three Things to Look For in a Travel Nurse Recruiter here.

onboarding

Now onto the less high-pressure, more busywork kind of tasks. When you sign on to work with a new travel nurse agency, or your first one, there are quite a few onboarding assignments you’ll have to get done before the agency can start submitting you to contracts.

credentials & resume

The first one should come as no surprise. The way it works when a travel nurse agency takes you on and submits you to contracts, is that they make sure they have everything ahead of time that the hospital they’re submitting you to could need. You won’t need to send anything to the hospitals yourself, just your agency before they even begin submitting you so they can mass apply you to a bunch of positions.

You’ll need to make sure your resume is up to date, professional, concise, and includes all of your credentials. By this I mean your licenses and certifications not just to work as a nurse, but BLS (Basic Life Support), ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support), NIHSS (National Institute of Health Stroke Scale), etc. You’ll need to provide your agent with official copies of all of your licenses and certifications.

references

Another one you probably could have guessed, references! From Dan’s experience, most agencies only require two references, but having three can’t hurt. These need to be people that you worked with (or for) within the last year, preferably supervisors. You’ll need to provide their email and phone number…once you get permission from them to share that of course. It’s also not uncommon to need to provide new references for each contract you get even if you’re staying with the same travel nurse agency, it depends on the hospital. So, with each contract you work it’s a good idea to keep in mind who you may be able to ask for a reference down the line.

skills checklist

Next up is what agencies call the skills checklist, which is just a self-evaluation questionnaire about your experience. It’s not standardized across agencies, but generally will ask about your experience working with patients with different conditions and the skills that go along with that. It’s essentially marking your experience in different clinical areas. This can range anywhere from basic assessment items like listening to breath sounds to assisting in procedures such as a thoracentesis. You’ll be asked to rank yourself ranging from no experience to expert and then to list the frequency that you’ve worked in that area/exercised that skill.

training/competency exams

Depending on your agency, you may also be asked to do yearly training or competency exams. Dan has been working with Jackson Nurse Professionals for just about a year now and is being asked to do these exams again as the year mark approaches. They tend to be short, doable in a day, and cover a range of topics similar to the NCLEX. The style of the exams and questions are also similar. Much more training exams and modules will be required when you actually sign on to a contract with a hospital, but those are coming straight from the hospital, not your agency.

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As I said, when you sign on to a contract with a hospital there will be much more onboarding to do, but this offers a look at what the onboarding will be like when starting to work with a travel nurse agency. Depending how efficient and organized you are, you may be able to get it all done in a few days and then you’re ready to be submitted! Throughout this process you’ll also be talking with your agent about what kind of contracts you want to consider and where so they can get the ball rolling and ready to go for you once you finish the onboarding.

what travel nurse agencies have you worked with?