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Finding a travel nurse staffing agency can feel overwhelming. One solution? Find a company that experienced travel nurses choose to work with and consistently go back to. Once you find a travel nurse agency that you feel ticks all the boxes of what you’re looking for in an agency, you may want to stay with them.
Here are some nurses who started their travel nurse career with RNnetwork, and many adventures later, they’re still working with us.
1. It’s not just one individual; it’s a team
Matt Pietraszewski chose emergency nursing because it seemed less stressful than the career he was pursuing at the time. For one thing, he liked the three-day schedule. More than that: not having to worry about what was happening in the office when he wasn’t there — a situation that had become something of a downer for Matt at his job. “They give you a laptop,” he remembers, “and inevitably you’re working at home on your sick days because you have a laptop now.”
Still early in his career, Matt chose travel nursing for one reason. “I don’t want to have any regrets. Eventually, everyone is going to want to settle down, but I want to explore while I’m still young and can enjoy it.”
Matt considers himself good friends with the RNnetwork recruiter he works with, and he loves the consistent communication. “Honestly, if I got a job and no one from RNnetwork called me the entire contract, I would be completely fine with that — but they always check in at least once every other week just to see how I’m doing and if there are any issues.” Ultimately, it’s his relationship with the entire organization that keeps him coming back. “There’s a whole team,” he says. “If I can’t get a hold of one person, there’s at least two other people that can help me.”
2. They took time to really get to know me
PCU/step-down nurse Sara Cox saw travel nursing as an opportunity to begin a new chapter in her life. “I packed up my cats, and we moved to Tennessee. That’s where I got started in travel nursing,” she says.
Sara’s first travel assignment wasn’t arranged by RNnetwork, and, unfortunately, it wasn’t a good experience she says. Eventually, she was introduced to a recruiter from RNnetwork, a person she felt an immediate connection to. Then the recruiter changed jobs. Sara was in the middle of an assignment, and she wondered what would happen next. To her amazement, her recruiter set her up with another recruiter at RNnetwork — someone Sara says is a perfect match because her old recruiter found someone who fit Sara’s personality and situation. “We’re like two peas in a pod,” says Sara. “I couldn’t have asked for a better recruiter.”
Looking back, it was the thoughtfulness of the first recruiter that still impresses Sara. “Having somebody think that much of me,” she says, “and try to match my personality and energy level so perfectly, that’s what made me stay. That’s when I knew that I made the right decision switching to RNnetwork.”
3. They streamline obstacles and make the move easy
Dialysis nurse Wendy Devine worked with Kristin — the same RNnetwork recruiter she started with — for nearly a decade, until one of the hospitals she’d been working for as a travel nurse offered her a full-time position. It was in a location she wanted, with the schedule she wanted, so she took it. If not for that, she might have turned nearly a decade into two.
Now and then colleagues suggested she was doing things the wrong way. “I had a lot of people telling me that they would go with two or three different companies,” she says. “I didn’t want that, though, because I know when you get a relationship with somebody who’s very outgoing and big-hearted, and you just hit it off.”
“When I first looked into travel nursing, I was terrified!” Wendy shares. “But my recruiter at RNN spoke with me for two weeks straight, answering my and my husband’s questions before I took an assignment. I couldn’t have asked for a better recruiter.”
The fact that Wendy chose RNnetwork wasn’t a rushed decision. “The conversations happened on almost a daily basis,” Wendy says. Wendy’s husband had questions too, so Kristin spent time talking with him, too. Ultimately, Wendy’s RNnetwork recruiter helped her believe that travel nursing was something she could succeed at. “Kristin told me, ‘Whatever you do in Kentucky at your unit, Wendy, you’re going to do the same thing in Virginia Beach.’ She was like, ‘We’ll take care of you. We’re going to get you an apartment.’ Actually, the little stinker got me a condo on the beach. It was amazing.”
4. When things get tough, they stand by me
For dialysis nurse Lorena Gibby, becoming a full-time travel nurse was just a matter of timing. But even when the timing seemed right, it almost didn’t happen. “I’ve always wanted to travel as far back as I can remember,” says Lorena. I wanted to wait for my kids to grow up. But once they did, and just when I thought I was ready to start, my mom was on hospice.”
What Lorena says was so great about the recruiter from RNnetwork was that she considered Lorena’s unique situation and found compatible opportunities. Fortunately for Lorena, the recruiter has previous experience with nurses who specialize in dialysis. “At times, it’s like she can read my mind,” Lorena says. “She knows what I’m looking for. I can explain what I want, and she actually understands — and listens.”
Recently, Lorena had an experience that showed her just how important working with the right agency was. Something in the assignment wasn’t working, and it was clear Lorena wasn’t going to be able to finish. “Everyone at RNnetwork was very good about helping me,” Lorena says in retrospect. “She helped to get me out of there, and I was able to move forward and put the experience behind me.” She knows the situation could have very easily gone in the other direction, but thanks to her recruiter at RNnetwork, she says it didn’t.
Get the ball rolling: Contact an RNnetwork recruiter today
If these stories have any common threads, it’s that in the world of travel nursing, the experience, concern, and know-how of your recruiter can help turn a typical assignment into a great assignment — and that the recruiters at RNnetwork are very truly a cut above the competition. Today is a great day to start a conversation.
If you have questions or want to learn more about travel nursing, just give us call: 800.866.0407.
