Tips for Landing Your Dream Assignment
By Melissa Wirkus, contributor
Ready for a new career opportunity? Your skills are in great demand across the country, which means you have plenty of options of where to work—so consider travel nursing. Here are a few tips to get you started on landing a plum new assignment.
Travel nursing is like a competitive sport—in order to excel you must be flexible, quick on your feet and ready for any curve ball that may get thrown your way. And like any baseball or football draft, a nurse who wants an assignment with the highest pay and in the best location must bring their “A” game when searching for that next travel nurse assignment.
So how can a nurse be best prepared to land that dream job?
Travelnursing.com spoke with a few coaches (a.k.a. recruiters) to find out the secrets to getting the most coveted travel nursing assignments out there.
Although more assignments continue to become available as the economy begins to recover, the competition is still stiff, with several nurses applying to the same position. Dana Bluestone, recruitment manager for travel nurse staffing company, NursesRx, an AMN Healthcare company, tells her travelers to research licenses before they start looking for an assignment and to be prepared with all required documents to have the best chance of landing the next assignment.
“Always keep your certifications and skills checklist up to date. We want your most recent skills checklists on file and most updated certifications showing on your resume. It is important to both NursesRx and the facilities that we work with that we are following Joint Commission guidelines and not letting certifications expire.”
Travelers who have all of their documentation ready to go when their file is submitted to a facility will have a better chance of getting the assignment than a traveler who is not prepared.
Sesselja Cody, senior placement consultant with NurseChoice, an AMN travel nursing company that specializes in quick-start, short-term assignments, urges travelers to also have the most updated references on file when going after their dream assignment.
“A nurse manager is going to take into account your skills that match the unit’s needs, references from previous supervisors and the most current skills checklist and work experience you have. If you learn something new on an assignment, I suggest filling out a new skills checklist as soon as possible to note that experience for the next nurse manager to see,” Cody explained.
Both recruiters also emphasize the importance of the interview in the application process. Conducting a successful interview could be the difference between whether you get your next assignment or not.
“Since you will not have a face-to-face interview, your recruiter has spent the time to put your best foot forward when your file goes to the interviewer. But the opportunity to get a phone interview allows you to express what isn’t already in your file on paper. This is the time to display your personality, enthusiasm and passion for your line of work and also expand on any key questions the interviewer may have,” Cody said. “Keep in mind when on a phone interview it’s important to treat it as an interview—you should be in a quiet place where you can focus on just the interview at hand, and also to speak slowly and clearly.”
Although many travel nurses may have a clear idea of what their “dream assignment” may be, it is also important for nurses to be flexible and open minded when looking for that next assignment.
“I would make a list of a few ‘dream assignments,’ so you aren’t putting all your eggs in one basket,” Bluestone recommends. “You don’t want to miss a great opportunity while being stagnant and hoping for something else to come along. You will be surprised about how much of our beautiful country you have never seen. Utilize your recruiter and his/her experience—this is what we do every day!”
Cody has found that the nurses who are the most nimble have the most success on the road. “Even before this economic time it is important for flexibility and open-mindedness, just more so now than ever. It’s the true definition of a travel nurse—someone who is poised for travel at a moment’s notice, competent in their skills, and ready to fill in where a facility has a need when they have a need.”
Recruiters are the best resource a nurse has when looking for their next assignment. Not only can they provide insight and tips on the travel nursing world, but they can also point you in the right direction on which cities and states have positions open in your specialty.
“I suggest talking to your recruiter and finding out how the trends are looking for you particular specialty,” Bluestone said. “Depending on the time of the year, the high-needs state may change. However, states like Texas and California almost always have positions, so those are always good bets.
Regardless of whatever dream assignment you have in mind, being prepared, acing the interview and remembering to stay open-minded will have you booking your next assignment in no time!
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