In our experience, travelers know what they want – that’s why we built Marketplace to be a traveler-first job platform. Empowering travelers to choose a career where they’re needed and where they want to go means treating them the way they want to be treated.
A recent survey about travelers’ experiences with agencies returned over 500 responses, and a whopping 350 mentioned their recruiters. That relationship is crucial to their experience – so here’s how to encourage your recruiters to become traveler-first.
Over 20% of travelers surveyed specifically mentioned recruiter responsiveness and overall response time as a key factor they cared about. When travelers work with agencies and/or recruiters who make timely responses a priority, it’s both noticed and deeply appreciated.
This works in both directions – when travelers feel that they are receiving slow responses (or worse, their contact doesn’t get back to them at all) it drastically impacts how they feel about their time at that assignment and with that agency.
Simply getting back to travelers quickly is the single biggest thing recruiters can do to make them know that their needs are not only being considered but are a priority. The same is true for travelers who are able to reach a real person at every point in the communication process – it helps them to feel valued.
Although travelers had plenty of praise for agencies and their staff who were knowledgeable, educated, and helpful, a recurring sentiment was that they understood recruiters can’t know everything. Travelers highly praised recruiters who were honest that they didn’t have the answer to their question, and then went above and beyond to find it.
The answers travelers are looking for may not be attainable with motivation alone – while many recruiters are independent high achievers who pride themselves on hard work, it may be necessary to remind them that it can be the best, most efficient path to ask someone else for help. In fact, many of the survey responses called this out specifically. Many of the positive experiences travelers felt were memorable involved recruiters who didn’t necessarily have all the answers, but knew where to go to find them.
“Helpful” was another trait travelers praised in their recruiters, but especially the ones who did more than they were asked. Being proactively helpful by offering assistance they haven’t even asked for can be the cherry on top of an excellent working relationship.
Transparency is one of Marketplace’s key values, and it makes sense that travelers consider it an essential, too.
Honesty, integrity, transparency – whichever words are used to describe it, the sense that you can trust the people you’re working with can make all the difference for travelers. These values are easy to define as just not being intentionally dishonest, or even just making sure to tell the truth, but our survey responses show that there’s an additional step recruiters can take.
Much like the concept of being proactively helpful, travelers appreciate transparency ahead of time. Instead of being honest once something is a problem, make the reality of their situations clear upfront. This approach also helps avoid disappointment – under-promise and overdeliver, if possible.
The honesty that travelers are looking for helps agencies and recruiters establish themselves as trustworthy. That perception can be tested when it comes to travelers feeling like they are being advocated for.
Travel nurses and other traveling healthcare professionals can be put in situations where they need additional assistance, which fall on a huge spectrum. Recruiters should consider themselves the main support for travelers on assignment, who can feel let down if they ask for that support and do not receive it. Whether this means speaking with a facility, looking up time-sensitive information, or simply lending an ear for someone who needs to vent, this can be a make or break moment for a traveler-first recruiter.
Everybody likes to feel like they’re a valued member of the team. A little bit of effort and a little bit of organization can go a long way toward a traveler-first recruiter relationship.
Taking notes to help remember travelers’ preferences, opinions, and other little details doesn’t need to be confined to the professional relationship, either. It’s significantly easier for recruiters to support a travel nurse on assignment or talk to them about the next job available when they aren’t also trying to wrack their brain for the names of the travelers’ family members.
This personal attention to detail also helps when it comes to things like having a frank discussion about the options for an upcoming assignment. Every request isn’t always possible, and truly knowing the travel nurse means a recruiter can suggest alternatives for good reasons, not simply “well, we need the job filled.” It’s discouraging to feel like just a number to your employer – avoid that feeling by prioritizing personalized relationships between recruiters and travelers.
A great time to showcase this knowledge and information is checking up on travelers – a quick check-in with something of substance will always mean more than a vague, default message.
Travelers appreciate feeling like a friend or close family member has their back, especially when they’re going through a tough time (either professionally or personally). But that doesn’t mean they don’t also need professionalism from the people they’re working with.
Ensuring that not only is your team fostering a friendly environment, but one that respects the traveler as a fellow professional will help make sure this facet of a traveler-first relationship can thrive. Staying on top of communication, deadlines, and questions is key here.
Along with understanding who the allied health traveler or travel nurse actually is, a traveler-first recruiter will do their best to be flexible with their wants and needs. Some travelers might want nonstop assignments for six months and then want a six-month break – that isn’t an invitation to be pushy with their boundaries.
Good recruiters already know that an overly aggressive sales tactic can lose a good traveler – and respecting their wishes can create a loyal bond with someone who knows the goal is for everyone’s success, theirs included.
Recognizing that lives change and embracing that fact can make a recruiter really stand out among their peers – and keep a travel nurse coming back to work with the same agency. Offering kindness, understanding, and flexibility is essential to delivering a good experience.
Finally, one of the last main points travelers made in their survey responses was the energy of their recruiters mattered. Upbeat personalities who seem happy to make a connection are drastically more appealing than someone who emanates boredom, or someone who acts like reaching out is a chore.
It’s impossible to always be having an excellent day, and it’s unreasonable to suggest that anyone should be in a good mood all the time – but knowing that it can completely change the trajectory of another person’s day, week, or even the entire assignment might make it a little easier to take a deep breath and look for the positive.
The results show an overall trend that shouldn’t be surprising – travelers want to be treated with respect, with kindness, and with a smile. At Marketplace, we believe that a traveler’s career path belongs squarely in their own hands, and it’s our responsibility to help them get where they want to go. Internal processes can always change – how can you put your travelers first?