Whether you’re new to the healthcare travel life or you’ve got years of experience, you shouldn’t just accept the first travel job offer you receive. As a healthcare professional, you’re in demand and deserve the best of the best. Here are five tips for evaluating your next job offer to make sure it’s the best fit for you.
Set realistic expectations
Before you even look at travel job options, set your expectations and keep them realistic. Think about what matters to you based on your job preference and career objectives. Is it your goal to travel the country? Do you want to enhance your medical skills and move up in your career?
Setting your expectations ahead of time helps you gain a better idea of what type of job will help you meet your career goals and fulfill your personal needs. Once you’ve determined your goals and objectives, prioritize them by importance.
After you determine and prioritize important job preferences and goals, you’re left with a clear list of what’s important to you as a professional traveler. Now when you review potential jobs, you’ll be able to clearly see if it would be a good fit for you.
And remember, keep your expectations realistic. It may take time to find a travel job that gives you everything you want, but the only way for that to happen at all is if your expectations are attainable. Plus, being adaptable in today’s market is key to landing top healthcare travel jobs.
Take note of pay package details
After setting your expectations for what a job has to offer, the next items to evaluate are the details of the pay package. For many people, money matters.
To assess the job’s salary, do some research to ensure the position you’re being offered is competitive geographically, since pay packages vary greatly based on location.
For example, a job in the Midwest may offer a salary that doesn’t even cover the cost of living in a coastal state. So, only compare the salaries of jobs within the same states or regions.
Also included in the pay package should be details about specific agency or facility incentives that boost your salary. These may include sign-on bonuses, referral bonuses, incentives to advance your education, and more. If the details of the job offer don’t include this information, don’t be afraid to ask the recruiter!
Pay attention to benefits
In addition to a job offer’s pay package, you’ll want to pay attention to the benefits package. A high salary is great, but if it's accompanied by weak benefits or no benefits at all, is the job worth it? Again, this goes back to knowing what’s important to you.
For many healthcare staffing agencies, you’re considered a full-time employee, which means you’re eligible for health benefits, and then some. In fact, most travel nursing companies, and other healthcare staffers offer these types of traveler perks:
- The choice between corporate-paid housing or a tax-free housing stipend
- Premium health insurance coverage
- 401k retirement plan
- Weekly pay and direct deposit
- Travel and licensing reimbursements
- Referral program
- Dedicated recruiter and/or healthcare support team
Compare the job offer to the benefits that come with it to decide if it’s worth it to you to accept. Don’t forget to do some research to see if the same job is available under multiple staffing agencies. Then you can decide which offer suits you best.
Consider job locations
One of the best parts of being a professional healthcare traveler is the chance to explore a variety of places in the U.S. With that freedom comes endless choices.
What kind of area do you want to live in? What is the cost of living like there? How far away from your facility do you want to live? There’s a lot to think about.
When you consider job destinations, think about access to public transportation, crime rates, climate, attractions, and the cost of living.
If you’re not driving or planning to rent a car while you’re on assignment, you’ll want to know about the destination’s public transportation system. Do some research to make sure you’re going somewhere that you can easily get around and get to work.
Next, crime rates can be an important consideration to your next travel job. Areas with lower crime rates tend to provide a more positive atmosphere, so before you accept the offer and pack your bags to your new temporary home, check out information about the specific type of crime that occurs in the areas you’re considering.
Of course, the climate plays a big part in whether to accept a travel job offer as well. Would you rather spend winter on the West Coast? Or would you jump at the chance to spend a winter in the snowy Midwest? Professional travel can make that happen.
Lastly, take advantage of your career and check out interesting and historical attractions while you’re traveling the country for healthcare assignments. Consider what kind of attractions and hobbies you’re interested in and make sure the area you’re considering offers that.
Running through all of these factors should help you narrow down the best states for travel nursing.
Compare travel jobs on Fusion Marketplace
Wouldn’t it be great if there was an online job platform that gave you the option to compare all important factors at once? We've got great news.
There’s a lot to consider when accepting a new travel job, like how much money you’ll make, where you’ll live on assignment, how many hours a week you’re required to work, the length of an assignment, and more. With Fusion Marketplace, you can easily compare these factors, and more, with a quick glance.
Although Fusion Marketplace houses job opportunities on behalf of multiple healthcare staffing agencies, most job postings include the information you want to know — required weekly hours, weekly pay, job type, and hiring company. When you find something of interest, the “quick apply” feature does the rest for you.
Make the job search, application, and hiring process easier on yourself and create a Marketplace traveler profile. Once you’ve entered your basic traveler information, dig deeper and customize your profile with specific job and travel preferences like:
- City, state, or region
- Shift type
- Job type
- Minimum and maximum pay range
Your Marketplace account acts as your professional resume on job applications. No matter where you are in your healthcare career, use Fusion Marketplace to accelerate it even further.
Because you’re so in demand, you have many job options as a professional healthcare traveler. Before you make any final decisions about a travel job offer, be sure to evaluate the details all the details to be certain the job is right for you.
