If you’re in the market for talented healthcare professionals, you’ve come to the right place. Marketplace is an online platform where national staffing agencies can connect with thousands of high-quality healthcare travelers from all divisions and specialties. A traveler-driven market, Marketplace creates an easier job search experience for travelers to reduce barriers preventing them to enter the industry.
When you become a Marketplace partner, your staffing company gets unlimited access to professional travelers in search of their next healthcare assignment. Everything you need to hire the staff you’re looking for is available within Marketplace. With better resources, the relationship between your staff and travelers will strengthen and your recruiters will have the tools to help travelers advance their healthcare careers.
Axis Medical Staffing paved the way as Marketplace’s first agency partner. As they continue their commitment to provide travelers an enhanced level of transparency and ease in the search for their next travel assignment, Axis shared exclusive information and advice on industry trends, common traveler questions, benefits of a traveler-first Marketplace, and more.
Axis isn’t your average “big box” staffing company—they joined the healthcare staffing industry 17 years ago in 2004 and have been placing top talent in adventurous careers ever since. The company vows not to waste traveler’s time with gimmicks and keeps their word with effective communication, so healthcare professionals always know what they’re signing up for with an assignment. With real folks working for the best interest of professional travelers, Axis Medical Staffing connects with healthcare workers on a personal level.
Megan Bebout: Why should travelers choose to travel with Axis?
Charity Crawford: I could certainly sing the praises of Axis all day, but I think a more meaningful approach from the traveler's perspective would be to talk about what other travelers say about us in their reviews of Axis. When you read about us on various online sources like Facebook, BluePipes, and Google, you will see that travelers appreciate that we don't treat them like numbers. Responsiveness, excellent communication and support, transparency, industry knowledge and experience, and having the traveler's best interests at heart all key reasons why travelers come back to us.
We're not trying to be one of the "big box" corporate-type companies. We want travelers to feel like they're part of a family. We want to make sure they're given the best care from us so that they can focus on providing the best possible care to their patients. They can enjoy their travel assignments to the fullest.
MB: Tell us about your traveler benefits.
CC: Axis offers competitive and customizable pay packages, weekly pay with direct deposit, comprehensive health insurance, personalized and pet-friendly housing options, a company 401k with an excellent match and immediate vesting, and reimbursements for licenses, certifications, travel expenses, and much more. We have an in-house clinical liaison with years of nursing experience available to help answer questions related to clinical concerns or issues. We have a 24/7 on-call support team ready to assist outside of business hours for urgent or emergent issues.
You will also have a dedicated recruiter with Axis, who is your "one-stop-shop" when assisting you with questions or concerns and helping you before, during, and after the placement process. You don't have to call different departments in the same company to get help. Your recruiter is your go-to person.
MB: Can you explain the travel process at Axis?
CC: Once a traveler has submitted a quick application on our website, they are connected with a recruiter. This recruiter will reach out to them and schedule a call or video chat to go over any questions or interests they have or communicate via whichever method the traveler prefers. During those initial conversations, we determine what is most important to the traveler in terms of locations of interest, start timeframe, pay and benefits, shift or scheduling preferences, etc. Based on this information and any other criteria of importance to the traveler, we get to work on finding the best travel positions that match as much of those criteria as possible. The traveler will submit a profile to the agency, including an application, skills checklists for the specialty, and references.
If there are job matches that the traveler wants to be considered for, the recruiter submits the travel candidate's profile to those positions. Recruiters then follow-up with the client/hospital and the traveler often regarding any feedback on the profile or ETA on interviews. The recruiter will also walk the traveler through the interview process and advise of any next steps.
Following job acceptance, the recruiter and compliance specialist will work with the traveler during the onboarding and compliance phase. The recruiter supports the traveler during this entire process, from start to finish.
MB: Are there any networking events Axis will be a part of in the upcoming future?
CC: Not at this time, though don't be too surprised if your recruiter shows up at your assignment location and tries to treat you to a good time! It's been known to happen...
MB: What trends are you seeing in the healthcare staffing industry?
CC: The hot topic of discussion at the moment seems to be post-pandemic travel nursing trends. We see shifts in what are considered the "hottest" specialties, as well as some fluctuations with the rates, which seem to be trending toward pre-pandemic levels. I believe we'll continue to see travel nurses taking extended breaks and/or moving into non-bedside roles. A lot of my travelers have been asking about cross-training opportunities into other specialties. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Delta variant and how hospitals/facilities respond to nursing burnout over the next several months.
MB: What types of jobs are you seeing a high demand for?
CC: At Axis, we primarily staff Registered Nurses (RNs), but I certainly see an uptick in demand for all types of specialties—licensed practical nurses (LPNs), certified nursing assistants (CNAs), allied health professionals, you name it.
MB: Where across the U.S. are you seeing strong demand for healthcare workers?
CC: The high demand is certainly on a national level. Still, as far as where I'm seeing the most significant needs at the moment, I'd say coastal locations due to the post-pandemic surges in tourism. We also have constant needs in areas throughout the Midwest, such as Michigan and Missouri—two states that have struggled with COVID-19 spikes in recent weeks and months. Axis is based in Seattle and we continue to maintain a strong client base in the Pacific Northwest, so we tend to staff a lot of healthcare professionals within Washington, Oregon, California, etc. We also love this region of the country because the number of traveler-friendly hospitals is higher here than in other states.
MB: What advice would you give to first-time healthcare travelers?
CC: I could write pages about this, but I'll narrow it down to two big pieces of advice. First, try to be as flexible as you can be, particularly for your first assignment. The more specific you are in what you're looking for, the smaller your pool of options to choose from becomes. Many places like to see previous travel experience, so having more of an open mind for that first go-around will help you get that travel experience under your belt, which makes you an even more desirable candidate for future positions.
Secondly, please take your time when finding the right recruiters to work with. If you've read any online reviews of agencies, you'll find that a lot of times, whether a travel experience was positive or negative, typically comes down to the recruiter. I get asked regularly about what jobs we have, what are benefits are, how much we pay, etc. These are, of course, important topics to ask about. I'm not as often asked about my experience as a recruiter, how I support travelers, how accessible and available I am outside of business hours, what happens if something goes wrong on the contract, how responsive I am, etc. In my mind, these are also essential questions to ask. Still, many travelers (especially first-time travelers) don't think to or know to ask them. The last thing you want is to be on an assignment away from home, something goes wrong, you can't get a hold of your recruiter, or you're waiting day after day for some resolution.
MB: What are some common questions you hear from travelers?
CC: Starting during the pandemic until now, I get asked a lot about contract cancellations—how often does it happen, is there a chance of it happening to me, etc. Fortunately, I don't see nearly as many contract cancellations nowadays. Still, there was indeed a higher risk of that happening with the crisis positions that were prevalent during the pandemic.
I'm often asked about getting licenses as a travel nurse, as well. Many people have a compact or multi-state license, of course, but maybe they want to travel to California someday, and they're not sure how that works and how they go about getting licensed. Some travelers aren't fortunate enough to reside in a compact state, so they have to obtain licenses in every state they want to work in and they're not sure about getting licenses in other states.
I also tend to hear a lot of questions about doing local assignments. Many travelers need to stay close to home for whatever reason, so they're unsure about what their options are for doing that. Some travelers want to start close to home for the first assignment and then eventually branch out once they've gotten their feet wet. They want to know what's entailed with working locally and if that's a viable option for them.
MB: Why is transparency so important in this industry?
CC: Travelers want and expect transparency because there is a ton of information circulating throughout our industry. They want to be able to trust the data they're hearing and seeing. They want to be able to make the best and most informed decisions possible. Being transparent saves the traveler (and the agency) time in determining if what the agency has to offer is truly a fit for the traveler's needs and if the traveler is truly a fit for the agency. Not every traveler has the exact same wants and needs as other travelers. I prefer to focus my attention and efforts on those who might genuinely benefit from what my particular agency has to offer.
As the healthcare staffing industry evolves and expands, it’s important for your company to stay up-to-date with the trends. Maintain your top-tier agency status and partner with Marketplace for access to better tools, lower costs, and happier travelers.
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