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Taking travel nursing assignments with a friend (or two) ensures you always have someone who can explore the city with you, understand your frustrations and split travel, food and housing costs. Here are some suggestions for making your assignments together go as smoothly as possible.
1. Discuss your expectations and interests with your friend before taking an assignment with her. Traveling with another nurse sounds ideal — unless you realize that your personalities don’t jive. If you plan to spend your days off driving around the area and taking road trips to local attractions, make sure your friend knows that and is either interested in joining you or fine to do other things on her own. Thirteen weeks can become an eternity if one or both of you is expecting to do things together and that simply isn’t happening.
2. Make sure your recruiter knows how you would like to work together. Do you both need to be contacted about jobs? Is one person able to make a decision about submitting your profiles when a job is presented? Will there be one main point of contact? Let your recruiter know your plans so she can ensure that you can get an assignment that works for both of you.
3. Let the nurse manager at your facility know about your travel partner. If you and your friend are both being submitted to the same hospital, make sure the manager knows that he or she also holds a position at that hospital during your interview.
4. Consider working at different hospitals in close proximity to each other. When you’re flexible about the facilities you’ll be working at and not insistent on working at the same facility as your friend, you’ll have more opportunities and increase your chances of getting a position in your top location choice.
5. Be open to suggestions and new ideas. Not all facilities will accept travel teams. Your recruiter may be able to suggest hospitals that have positions for both of you and are willing to accommodate a team. Flexibility is important when traveling as a team.
6. If you are sharing a car, it is important to let your recruiter know. Sharing a car helps you reduce wear and tear on your own vehicle and save on fuel costs, but it can also limit the positions you take if you and your friend have different schedules — and it makes it difficult for you to work at different facilities if you can’t get jobs at the same hospital.
7. Share both of your schedules with your recruiter to make coordinating interviews easier. Your recruiter can help you find positions more quickly if she knows when both of you will be available and what the best method is for getting a hold of you.
8. Remember that your contract will be between you and your agency. Although you are traveling as a team, you still have a commitment to your agency and to the facility where you’ve taken an assignment. If for any reason your travel partner is not able to fulfill his or her contract, your agency and the hospital will still expect you to fulfill yours.
9. Be flexible with your schedules. It is understandable that you may be looking for the same shifts, but requesting the same days/schedule may limit your options.
10. Help each other through the credentialing process. You will both need to meet all credentialing requirements prior to starting your assignment. Check in with each other to make sure you are both staying on track.
With these tips, you’ll be able to find travel nursing jobs that work best for both you and your friend and enjoy your adventures together. Share your suggestions for traveling as a team below!
