The world of healthcare is experiencing an unprecedented shortage of workers, due to a confluence of issues largely related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, all industries are experiencing issues with staffing, as the “Great Resignation” and “Quiet Quitting” continue unabated. In a field like healthcare, where lives are on the line, staffing is especially critical, and that’s where a healthcare staffing agency steps in to plug the holes.
Long-term care and skilled nursing facilities have always suffered from issues with staffing and patient-to-caregiver ratios, but the problem has gotten even worse. Many healthcare workers have left the field due to stress from the pandemic, vaccination requirements, burnout or fatigue at work, and an increased rate of overall illness due to exposure to pathogens. Healthcare staffing agencies offer a way to fix these problems, keep facilities running, and ensure that patients receive the care they need.
What Does a Healthcare Staffing Agency Do?
When worker-to-patient ratios are poor, the quality of care suffers. When the quality of care suffers, innocent people can be forced to go through humiliating issues, medical procedures they wouldn’t have otherwise, or painful issues like bed sores. Along with being a job, healthcare is an obligation to protect the neediest and most vulnerable among us.
That’s why the responsibilities of a healthcare staffing agency are so great, as it can make the difference between life or death, or suffering and comfort. Let’s take a look at some of these responsibilities.
Understand the requirements of a given facility
One of the most important jobs staffing agencies do is to evaluate the needs of a facility, what special requirements they have, and the number of staff they will need. Some skilled nursing facilities may be short on CNAs, while a certain hospital may be desperately in need of respiratory therapists. That’s where the agency comes in and does the research to provide an accurate and effective workforce for the company.
Recruiting and interviewing
Often, nursing homes and other facilities will advertise and recruit on their own, but they still often fall short and there’s very little else that can be done other than contact a recruiting agency.
In addition, the interviewing and screening process will be done by the staffing agency, which takes a load off of the facility. They can be sure that the person they are getting is qualified and able to do the job as stated. An important part of this process is background checks and previous employment history, and staffing agencies are experts at making sure these are done correctly.
Drafting contracts and dealing with legal issues
Contracts are a huge part of the staffing agency’s responsibilities. They have to be accurate and carefully checked over, and agreed upon by all parties. Without the right contract, the worker will not know how long to stay or may have issues understanding their job duties.
Another benefit to the facilities is these staffing agencies are in charge of looking at and dealing with legal issues that may arise during the employment, or any issues with payment or salary. This allows the facility to focus on other matters and frees up time for the administrative staff.
Making sure the employee is trained
The key factor for healthcare staffing agencies is that their employees must be certified, licensed, or otherwise legally allowed to work, and that they have been trained on the specifics of the job. This allows the agency worker to hit the ground running, and begin filling holes as needed on day one. The ability to utilize trained and qualified workers to deal with problems on demand is a major benefit and responsibility of the staffing agency.
Follow up on the employee’s performance.
One area that is often overlooked is the responsibility of the agency to follow up with the facilities and make sure their workers are performing well. A part of this is terminating or firing employees, which must be done carefully to prevent legal issues. A staffing agency that follows up can trim off bad workers or dead weight, and make sure that their workers are always up to par.
Healthcare Heroes
The healthcare field is changing in many ways, but at its heart, it will remain about one thing – patient care. Healthcare workers are healers and caretakers, but they are also often the only friends many of their patients have. People in hospitals or skilled nursing facilities can often be at one of the worst, most painful, and most stressful periods of their lives, and they need workers who are compassionate with them.
Healthcare staffing agencies fulfill this moral obligation and legal requirement to provide care, as when staff-to-patient ratios are poor, everyone suffers and the quality of care drops. It’s a great responsibility, and the best way to meet it is to contact a healthcare staffing agency today.
Within the professional world of healthcare, staffing issues and finding the right staff for a facility are some of the most common and difficult problems to solve. From the Covid pandemic to overall societal issues causing a “Great Resignation”, businesses around the country are struggling to find workers that can fill critical positions and perform job duties that must be done. Rather than let patients suffer or lose out on revenue, many healthcare facilities have turned to temporary or travel nurses, who provide many important benefits to those utilizing their services.
If you’re involved in the healthcare field and have been struggling to fill open positions, you may be wondering where to find workers like this that can come in, do a job with minimal training, and complete critical tasks that would otherwise be left undone. In this article, we’ll cover some of the best ways to find travel nurses and other medical staff that can fill in some crucial holes your organization might be looking to fill.
Staffing Agencies
By far the most common, popular, and efficient way to find travel nurses is through staffing agencies. In fact, using the services of these staffing agencies is so ubiquitous that many travel employees refer to themselves as “agency workers” or “agency employees”. This is the simplest and most efficient way to fill spots that need to be filled as quickly as possible.
There are many benefits to utilizing the services of a staffing agency, such as:
They provide workers as needed, quickly, and on demand.
Sometimes, especially in healthcare, you need to fill a role with no delay. While a typical hiring process can take a long time, have many delays, and sometimes leave positions unfilled for weeks or months, staffing agencies specialize in providing workers ASAP, right when they are needed. In a field like healthcare, this can literally make the difference between life or death for patients, and can save a facility from expensive or difficult legal issues that can arise from improper staffing ratios.
Hiring traveling nurses reduces stress on other staff.
To reduce the need for traveling nurses, you’ll want to take steps to ensure that your full-time or regular staff don’t suffer from burnout. Hiring traveling nurses can take a critical load off of your other staff, leading to overall higher retention rates. Greater employee satisfaction and job enjoyment translate into a better workplace for everyone, whether that’s administration, kitchen staff, or housekeeping.
Travel nurses save money on benefits, PTO, and overtime.
While the salaries of travel nurses can be higher than other employees, in the end, they are a cost-effective way to fill holes in the schedule. They are overall a less-complicated employee to have on payroll, as the staffing agency will usually deal with their salary and other requirements.
Other Options
If you or your facility don’t wish to utilize the services of a staffing agency, your options for finding and recruiting travel nurses are much more limited. These agencies are the primary way that travel nurses find work and land contracts, and without them, you will be limited to advertising on job sites like Indeed or Craigslist. Advertising for jobs this way can lead to many of the same problems as trying to hire regular employees: listings that sit unanswered for weeks, leaving positions unfilled, and workers with unusual or specific demands to come work that makes recruiting more difficult.
Another way is to network within the healthcare field, by contacting professionals you are friendly with, sister organizations, or other facilities within your same company. However, this isn’t a sure bet, and many other facilities will be struggling with the same staffing issues you are. Healthcare is suffering from a massive wave of resignations largely spurred on by stress due to the Covid pandemic, with about 3% of the healthcare workforce quitting each month.
This problem isn’t likely to resolve itself anytime soon, leaving healthcare recruiters and staffers with few options. To help with recruiting travel nurses, always make sure to provide a job listing that is as detailed as possible, listing all requirements and certifications that are needed along with accurate and informative job duties. If you find someone that’s interested, don’t waste time – reach out quickly and schedule a phone interview, as traveling nurses have a lot of options and will move forward quickly with other contracts.
Buying Time
Although hiring travel nurses might not be preferable to hiring and retaining quality full-time employees, it is often the best option for organizations that find themselves in a pinch. While working on building a strong internal recruiting infrastructure, using the services of a staffing agency is the best way to buy yourself time to find qualified professionals to fill open positions. Reach out to a staffing agency today and make sure that your organization, and patients that rely on your care providers, won’t suffer.
The modern world is full of opportunities and challenges for human resources and hiring managers, which can be utilized to achieve an overall more productive and satisfying workplace. While global issues have caused a labor shortage in recent years, there are also technological solutions to this problem that can give companies willing to try them out a leg up over the competition. One of these solutions is using the services of staffing and recruitment agencies, but it’s important to understand the differences between the two.
Both recruitment and a staffing agency serve critical and indispensable functions for businesses, especially in fields like healthcare with high turnover rates and employee retention issues. For businesses looking to retain and keep the highest quality employees for a long period of time, using these services is an excellent way to bypass traditional methods, and recruit from a larger pool of potential employees with more room for long-term growth and company stability.
What Does a Staffing Agency Do?
A staffing agency is primarily concerned with temporary workers, who can fill in gaps in schedules as needed. In healthcare, this is usually realized as travel nurses or CNAs, who can work or cover while the company finds permanent workers to fill these spots.
For example, if a healthcare company has a desperate need for workers that can quickly come perform the job, a staffing agency provides them the means to quickly and easily fill these spots, without expending the capital and resources necessary to hire full-time workers. In some locations, the staffing agency may be the most economical and practical solution to filling out schedules temporarily.
There are many benefits to utilizing a staffing agency, such as:
- The agency will take care of vetting and interviewing the candidates for you.
- You can select applicants from a much larger pool than traditional methods of finding workers like posting ads on Craigslist.
- Staffing agencies can advertise with a much larger reach than most companies.
- Staffing agencies can provide highly specialized workers that are difficult to find
- Working with staffing agencies gives you a way to see the employees in action, on the job, before committing to hiring them full-time.
- Staffing agencies work quickly, saving valuable time when employees are needed desperately.
It’s easy to see why many healthcare companies, along with those in other fields, rely on staffing agencies to keep things running. It’s an excellent way to save time, money, and effort, along with getting a valuable chance to see potential long-term employees in action.
What Does a Recruitment Agency Do?
On the other hand, a recruitment agency is more like the traditional “head-hunter” type of job. Recruitment agencies typically look for those who are willing and looking to commit to long-term jobs. This will usually take the form of management or administration staffing, although this isn’t a rule.
Usually, those who are hired through recruitment agencies are looking for somewhere to look for a substantial period of time, or indefinitely. This is because, for these jobs, turnover is something that can have catastrophic effects over time for a business. A skilled nursing facility can survive a high CNA turnover rate for a period of time, but if management or administration is constantly changing, it is hard to keep things running smoothly.
Recruitment agencies typically provide what is called Retained Recruitment, in which the agency will charge a percentage or portion of the workers’ salary as a retainment fee. This helps ensure that the agreement will be upheld by both parties, and that stability and commitments are the primary focus of the worker.
While the agency is in charge of vetting, interviewing, and hiring potential workers, the company will be responsible for all benefits and salaries once the process is complete. This leads to higher retention rates and overall job satisfaction for both the worker and the company that is involved.
Recruitment or Staffing?
If you’re a hiring manager or HR professional, you may be wondering which of the two options is the superior choice. The answer is neither one, they both perform important and indispensable services to businesses. Which one you should use just depends on what type of worker you are looking for.
If you need to simply fill in the gaps in your schedule to keep the business running until you can hire a full-time staff, a staffing agency is an excellent choice to buy yourself some time to hire. However, if you’re looking for upper-level management or people to fill positions that need consistency or long-term workers, a recruitment agency is the way to go.
Either way, the important thing is that the agency will provide professional and reliable workers that show up on time and can alleviate stress for you. Contact the right one today and watch your business grow and succeed, now that the agency can help with the stressful work of vetting, interviewing, and hiring workers.
Nursing is one of the oldest, most dignified, and most helpful professions in the history of humanity, and one that we all depend on to keep us safe or to help us when we experience injury. However, as a career, nursing is known for the same pitfalls as education: wages that are too low for the work that is being done, poor administration, overworking, and understaffing. One way that many nurses overcome these issues is by working with various agencies to become travel nurses which affords more control, flexibility, and higher wages.
Due especially to the Covid pandemic, nursing jobs are in extremely high demand across the country. For those with the right qualifications and experience, travel nursing represents an excellent career choice.
Nursing Careers
As anyone who has worked in the medical field knows, nurses perform a lot of functions and have a wide variety of job types. Nurses can be found anywhere from pediatric oncology wards, to schools, to ICUs, to emergency departments, to long-term skilled nursing facilities. All of these nurses will perform different job functions and duties, although the basics remain the same.
The basic skills of travel nursing that any nurse needs to know are:
Bedside Manner
Comforting and caring for patients is more than just a routine job like performing maintenance on a vehicle. Patients are human beings, and must be treated with dignity and respect. The ability to bring calm and peace to those who are suffering, along with interactions with their family, is a valuable skill that should never be overlooked.
Med-pass
The core routine of any nursing job is to go around their patients administering medications, injections, eyedrops, or any other form of treatment. It’s absolutely essential to be on the top of your game here, as dosages and medications can never be altered. Part of completing a successful med-pass is counting through the pills and medications you are left from the last shift and ensuring that there is an accurate count when you leave.
Charting
Computers play a huge role in modern medicine, as most jobs have transitioned from paper to electronic medical records. Charting serves several key functions, such as making sure that patients got the meds they need, documenting your work in case you need to prove you did something in the future, shielding you from liability, and creating a record that other medical staff like therapists, doctors, and CNAs can use to understand the type of care required.
Skin/wound care
Your skin is the largest organ in your body and presents numerous unique challenges and risks in a healthcare setting. Those in long-term care settings are vulnerable to pressure ulcers from laying in the same position too long, and these need to be carefully treated. More importantly, pressure ulcers can be prevented by a nurse making sure that their CNAs are on top of rotating and moving the patient or using pillows to alleviate pressure.
On top of this, nurses are also responsible for treating any other wound, burn, or abrasion that patients may have. This can often involve unpleasant smells and sights and can be uncomfortable or painful for the patient. Wound and skincare is an essential part of a nursing career, especially in nursing facilities or retirement homes.
Benefits of Travel Nursing
Many traditional staff nurses experienced burnout or fatigue during the pandemic, and either quit their job or became travel nurses. This has created an environment where the worker holds more power over the employee and can negotiate for better salaries or benefits. In this world, nurses are needed more than ever by facilities and hospitals, so there’s no reason not to take your career to the next level and make the most of it.
Many news sites reported during the pandemic that travel nurses were making $5,000+ a week. Because of this incredible opportunity for travel nurses, many are quitting their jobs and choosing to work with agencies. This leads to even more staffing shortages, meaning wages for travel nurses go even higher. Each state pays differently for travel nurses so it is best to research beforehand.
Besides the salary, there are other benefits too. Becoming a travel nurse allows you to have a degree of flexibility and control over your life that most can only dream of. Let’s say you want to move to a beach, or always wanted to live in one particular city – as a travel nurse, you can do that.
That’s not to say there are zero drawbacks. Some find that the lack of stability causes anxiety, and often, you’ll be thrown into a fast-paced and chaotic environment with little training and expected to catch on quickly as a self-motivated learner. However, many may find this challenge exciting and interesting, and find that the other benefits of travel nursing far outweigh the drawbacks.
Nursing is always an excellent career choice and staffing agencies can help you. With the aging population, there is sure to be no shortage of nursing careers that will allow you to live a fulfilling and enjoyable life while simultaneously helping those who need it the most.
With an increasing demand for healthcare staff, partly attributed to the COVID 19 pandemic, getting the right employees can be challenging. The demand is increasing with new waves coming up, and medical organizations find it hard to get the right skill for the job. It is no wonder there is a switch in the recruitment process with organizations tasking staffing agencies to do the job.
A healthcare employer switching to a staffing agency in 2022 will reap several benefits, including a faster hiring process. These agencies also reduce the administrative effort that hiring takes on an organization. The result is a lower overall work pressure on your current team as you can get fully licensed and qualified medics when you need them.
Read on to find out why you need a healthcare staffing agency in 2022.
Broader Reach to Qualified Candidates
The demand for medics in a world battling pandemics makes clinicians and nurses want to access the available opportunities in the easiest and safest way possible. While your internal hiring process can work, you may not reach individuals all over the county.
Hence, consider medical staffing agencies, as they will reach many potential employees given the industry networks, enabling you to get a perfect fit for the position you want to fill.
Healthcare staffing agencies guarantee you the best talent as most professionals that use established agencies are on top of the line. Hence, for maximum benefits, consider a staffing agency with a good reputation in terms of pay and opportunities.
See Past the Resume
When working with a staffing agency, you will get more information on the candidates beyond their resumes. These agencies can access an applicant’s work history, enabling you to learn how reliable the applicant can be. This way, you will be smarter in your hiring decision.
Reduces the Workload
As stated earlier, switching to a healthcare staffing agency in 2022 will reduce the administrative burden. The agency does this by taking up this burden and finding someone that fits the qualifications you need. This way, you will get the best qualified and licensed talent, enabling you to focus less on training.
In addition, some healthcare staffing agencies will select and onboard candidates. This will take the hiring pressure off your chest as you need not arrange interviews and peruse dozens of applications. Also, through healthcare staffing agencies, you can explore the service upgrade option through automated contracts, reports, and invoice services.
As you save your time the time you would otherwise use in recruitment, you can focus this effort on other important business tasks for more profits.
Reliability
Given the competitiveness in the healthcare industry, it is safe to have a reliable system that you can rely on when you need it. A staffing agency will come in handy during a seasonal surge or pandemic, enabling you to have relevant staff filling the positions. You can accomplish all this without interrupting any of your routines.
Fit Into New Healthcare Models
The pandemic brought many changes, and healthcare providers are switching toward employers with new models such as value-based care. This shift poses a challenge in the recruiting process for productivity-based organizations, as the healthcare providers enjoy focusing more on patient care.
This shift in the industry means that productivity-based organizations will have to be more creative during recruiting and focus more on what makes their organization unique. This includes the culture, mission, and environment. Therefore, a staffing agency will come in handy, communicating these effectively to prospects for successful recruitment.
A Partner that Cares
A staffing agency will not only give you a candidate but will stick with you to understand your needs. Thus, the next time you reach out, they will be readily available to provide on-the-spot support.
Flexibility in the Short Run
The COVID 19 pandemic is a perfect example where access to healthcare professionals proved challenging. This season required qualified staff in large numbers to meet the high demands in hospitals. As such, hospitals and healthcare institutions were facing recruitment problems, especially for permanent positions.
Adopting a staffing agency for medical staff needs in such a season could provide short-term employees to meet the demands within the pandemic period.
Reduced Risks
Being an employer comprises legal responsibilities, including taxes, insurance, and compliance with labor laws. Hiring also comes with a financial risk, especially for unexpected leaves and firing. Fortunately, using a staffing firm will save you most of these risks as the firm will take up most of the liabilities.
Avoid Administrative Hassles
Finally, using a healthcare staffing agency is beneficial in saving costs and cutting down operational costs. You will also access highly qualified and licensed professionals, ensuring quality service delivery. Hence, for maximum effectiveness and to relieve your administrative employees of heavy hiring tasks in 2022, consider a staffing agency near you.
Many individuals often ask what the highest paying cities are for travel nurses. We get why that is; everyone wants to make the most money. Travel nursing openings allocate different salary ranges for the same job, so researching is important to get the best deal. This article shares information about states that pay the highest for travel nursing in the United States.
Understand that being a travel nurse comes with many benefits, including high pay. Being a travel nurse affords you the resources to buy Bitcoin Cash and invest in other ventures that interest you. However, an essential thing you need to decide is the location that suits you the most in your profession. Below is information about travel nursing, what they do, what affects their pay, and other important things to know.
What Do Travel Nurses Do?
A travel nurse is a professional registered nurse (RN) who works in a short-term role at a clinic, hospital, or other healthcare facility. Travel nurses fill gaps in healthcare facilities where there are nursing shortages, so travel nurse salary is often high. With everything going on, more nurses are thinking about becoming travel nurses to help areas that need their expertise. Travel nurses are not employed by a single hospital but by independent travel nurse agencies.
Since nurse staffing agencies employ travel nurses, they can travel as far as different countries. A travel nurse can also work in a local hospital where the service is urgently needed. Many of those who go into travel nursing do so for the many perks that go with the profession. Some of those perks include exploring new places, making new friends, competitive pay, and experiencing diverse practice environments.
Travel nursing isn’t influenced by education or experience level; a travel nurse with two years of experience can earn the same as one with fifteen years. This makes travel nursing a great fit for new nurses looking to make more money and pay off student loans.
However, travel nurses need to fulfill a few requirements to be considered for travel nurse jobs, including being a registered nurse. A registered travel nurse with a license and two years of experience is valuable to healthcare facilities.
What Factors Can Affect a Travel Nurse’s Salary?
Although travel nurses typically earn high pay, your location, among other things, ultimately determines how high. Apart from the crisis the world is facing right now, other factors that can influence your pay as a travel nurse include:
Your Location
Location is one of the major factors that affect the pay of a travel nurse. The pay rates often reflect regional trends and the cost of living in that area. Thus, location is an important factor you should consider when deciding where to render your services as a travel nurse.
Agency
Several agencies specializing in healthcare staffing services are available in the US. They are responsible for paying travel nurses’ salaries, and their pay differs from one agency to another. Therefore, your wage will depend on the staffing agency that employed you.
The best travel nurse companies offer perks like company-paid housing and transportation, among other things.
Shift Assignments
As a nurse, you must know that night shifts are more prevalent in travel nursing. An upside to that is that many hospitals offer higher pay rates for their night shift assignments.
You can work night shifts if you want to earn more as a travel nurse, but only if it is your thing. Otherwise, you might want to stick to day shifts; your body and patients will thank you for it.
Your Specialty
Experience doesn’t always influence your pay as a travel nurse, but specialty determines how much a travel nurse makes. Specialized nurses often get paid more than non-specialty nurses because their skills are highly sought after.
Non-specialty nurses like psychiatric, medical, or surgical travel nurses are paid a lower rate than specialty nurses. Specialty nurses have the credentials that open them to endless opportunities and more lucrative pay.
What States Have the Highest Travel Nurse Pay Rates?
The first step toward becoming a travel nurse is learning how to become a travel nurse. That includes understanding the profession’s requirements, the criteria for becoming one, the pay rates, and the best locations to practice.
If you’ve taken all the steps and are a registered travel nurse, the next thing is choosing where to offer your services. Here are some US states with the highest travel nurse pay rates.
New York
New York has an annual wage for nurses rated at $85,610 at $41.16 per hour. The city is replete with large hospitals and smaller facilities which are often short-staffed, creating a demand for healthcare travelers. However, New York isn’t a member of the nurse licensure compact. Nevertheless, nurses who have fulfilled similar requirements in other states may quickly obtain proper licensure.
New York is an exciting destination for travel nursing, with many things to do and places to go. If you get a travel nursing job in NYC, you’ll have other things to do when you’re not working. That includes visiting museums and attraction centers and sports, outdoor, and nightlife activities. Plus, other places around New York like Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo may be worth visiting.
Arizona
As a Nurse Compact State, Arizona gives travel nurses from other compact states jobs without applying for licensure. However, the candidate will need to apply for the licensure if they plan to make Arizona their primary licensing state. Arizona’s mean annual wage for nurses is capped at around $77,000, at $37.02 per hour.
Arizona is a fun and interesting place to visit whether you’re there to work or on vacation. The state has several top medical centers, from Phoenix to Sedona, that could use the help of travel nurses. When you’ve taken a break from work, you can visit famous sites like the Grand Canyon, Desert Botanical Gardens, and Petrified Forest.
California
California is often a choice destination for travel nurses and one of the highest paying states. California pays its nurses an annual wage of $106,905 at a mean hourly wage of $51.41; Northern California tends to pay more. However, understand that California also has one of the highest living costs in the US. Being a travel nurse in California requires that you’re a registered nurse or licensed professional nurse and possess a California nursing license.
Licensing in California can take time; the fastest way is by visiting the state’s capital Sacramento in person. You’ll go with the required documentation, submit it directly to the Board of Registered Nursing, and complete the biometrics process. Most travel nurses get their licenses when they follow this procedure; California has the highest pay rate on this list. The state has three major hospitals and smaller healthcare facilities looking to hire travel nurses.
Hawaii
Hawaii is another high-paying state in the US, with a mean annual wage for travel nurses at $98,080 at $47.16 per hour. However, like California, the cost of living in Hawaii is also high; the best thing is to take a housing stipend.
You’ll enjoy Hawaii more as a travel nurse if you live in less tourist-heavy destinations like Oahu over Kauai or Big Island over Maul. Hawaii is a beautiful place with beautiful sightsee-worthy islands, exquisite waters, and outstanding natural beauty.
To work as a travel nurse in Hawaii, you must be a registered nurse. Meanwhile, if you are a licensed nurse in another state, you may be able to receive a Hawaii nursing license by endorsement. You may also obtain a temporary permit while waiting to complete the licensing process. Hawaii is the place to go for desired and competitive cushy travel nurse assignments, which means it’s hard to land.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts may not be the first destination that comes to mind regarding the most appealing places for travel nurses. However, the state ranks high on this list of the best travel nurse states, and it also pays nurses well. Massachusetts offers a competitive mean nursing wage of $92,140 per annum at $44.30 per hour. To land a travel nursing job in Massachusetts, you must be a registered nurse or a licensed professional nurse.
Massachusetts is not included in the nurse licensure compact that allows nurses to practice in states outside their licensing region. Thus, licensed travel nurses who wish to work there must obtain a Massachusetts nursing license; LNPs may get a Massachusetts license by endorsement.
Meanwhile, they must have graduated from an RN or LPN program approved in the US territory. Otherwise, they must have withdrawn from an RN program in good standing and passed the required licensing exam.
Now that you know the states that pay high to travel nurses, you can pick your destination and start applying. However, note that the highest paying travel nursing states often change, if not daily. Don’t rush when choosing your destination; consider other secondary factors like weather, culture, outbreaks, and living costs. Since you’re taking a big career-impactful decision, you want to take your time to make the most beneficial one.
If you work in the healthcare industry, you’re likely familiar with the fact that staffing issues are a commonplace and universal issue with facilities and healthcare providers, one that consistently affects the quality of life and care for those in our society who need it most. Healthcare staffing agencies represent the frontline effort towards combating this issue and are an invaluable and indispensable resource for those companies who need to fill positions quickly. For workers, going through a staffing agency is an excellent way to achieve higher pay, better benefits, and a lifestyle that provides more freedom and personal agency than a traditional hiring process.
Everyday Heroes
A common mantra repeated in the healthcare industry, often a fast-paced and stressful job, is to remember: “What if it was your grandma needing care?” While we cannot always live up to this, it’s a noble goal and one that provides most people who work in this field with the motivation to get through the day. Few workers within this industry do it for the money, as there are far more lucrative and easy jobs available.
Healthcare staffing companies provide the means to accomplish this, as no one can reasonably perform to their best ability working in a facility or building that is chronically understaffed or short-staffed. More importantly, it presents serious and very real issues of personal dignity and suffering for those who are placed in the care of a hospital or facility. Many organizations rely on staffing agencies or travel agencies to fill critical positions that need to be filled, sometimes immediately.
Types of Healthcare Jobs
While many think of the nurse, doctor, or CNA when they picture a healthcare worker, it is a common misconception that these are the only critical workers in the healthcare field. Many other types of professionals and licensed individuals are necessary, such as:
- Information Technology (IT) workers
- Janitorial/Laundry staff
- Public Health government jobs
- Administrative/secretarial work
Without these critical components to the healthcare industry, the whole process would lose its momentum and collapse. While the direct patient care staff, such as nursing, represent perhaps the most visible and directly interactive jobs, positions such as tech support, janitors, and clerks or secretaries act as the lubricant, or “oil”, that keeps the engine of a hospital or facility running. Without these dedicated workers taking care of paperwork, washing bedsheets, taking out the trash, or dealing with phone calls, the nursing staff would be sorely lacking and would find themselves having an extremely difficult time completing their jobs and taking care of patients.
How Staffing Agencies Provide a Better Life for Workers
Besides these excellent reasons to contract through staffing agencies, along with wider opportunities and greater convenience, staffing jobs can provide a higher quality of life for the worker. These agencies can allow you to choose where you want to work with a greater degree of flexibility and can facilitate a smoother transition between jobs if you find yourself unsatisfied with your current one.
For example, if you are willing to work with a staffing agency and become a traveling nurse, your average yearly salary jumps from around $80,000 per year to over $100,000, according to Indeed. This is because any hospital or facility contracting through an agency is likely more desperate to fill the position, and you will find yourself working a job that was sorely needed. Specialized workers in the healthcare field are becoming a more and more scarce commodity, and you should always be paid what you are worth.
Additionally, these agencies allow you to have more freedom where you live, and can facilitate a lifestyle that, while not for everyone, is extraordinarily free and simple. If you’ve ever dreamed of being able to simply pick up and move if you want to, and maybe even have housing provided for you through your work contract, a healthcare staffing agency is the best place to start. Additionally, these agencies provide services such as online medical certificates, further enhancing convenience for both employers and employees.
Finding Fulfillment
The healthcare industry is full of surprises – just ask any CNA or nurse, and you will find that is true. It’s not an average job, and it takes a special kind of person to handle it. However, if you find yourself with the credentials or certifications to do it, then contacting a staffing agency is the best way to make sure you are being paid what you are worth and living the life you deserve. If you’re reading this and don’t have any credentials or certifications, don’t sweat – many facilities will offer to pay for Nursing Assistant training for you, usually provided you work there for an allotted period of time.
This is an excellent way to get your foot in the door to a career you can be proud of, and that will offer you a higher quality of life, pay, and benefits.
Sometimes you need a recruiting company to help you with your brand. You might require additional resources to help you get the ideal employees for your brand. Think about why you want to use different services to grow your company. Here are some reasons to use a staffing service.
Helps You Save Time
You might be in a pinch and don’t have the time or resources to scout people for your job. Some admin staffing can help you review resumes, perform background checks, and find qualifying candidates. It’s imperative to have some assistance because you might miss the little things.
You can’t run a brand then skip the small details. You may neglect the best candidates for the position because you don’t have time to look at the fine print. Also, you’ll save time to do other things in your company.
You have a better chance of building a successful brand when you put the time into things you excel at in your company.
Better Use of Money
You might need temporary staff to handle a project for a few months. While you can use your current employees, you might not have the time and money to train them. Also, it can add up to overtime and other things that cost.
However, a temporary staff gives you flexibility. Quality workers can do the required assignment and help you reduce your costs. A staffing agency can help you hire these people on a needed basis.
You won’t have to worry about workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, or payroll taxes because they’re under a contract. Also, you don’t have to worry about firing them because they’ll leave once the agreement is complete.
Choosing specialized staff helps reduce your overhead and get you what you need immediately.
Find Permanent Employees
Even if you hired a temporary staff, you might want to put them in your brand for the long term. They may have great chemistry with your full-time employees. Also, the new energy allows you to get a competitive edge against your rivals.
A recruiting service can do all the groundwork for you to help you gain the ideal workforce. Think about how this can be a long-term payoff to ensure that your brand stays relevant.
Build a strong relationship with a staffing company to help you build your resources to help your business sustain for years to come.
Things continue to be up in the air as far as work during this pandemic. Some employers want their employees back in the office and others are fine with them being remote. It’s hard to keep them all happy, but something should be done.
When it comes to covid agency jobs, here are some things to keep in mind when it comes to employee satisfaction.
Be More Flexible
We are well into the 2020s and technology exists to allow people to work remotely. Internet speeds make this a largely painless experience and employees also like saving on gas and tolls. It is easy to set up teleconferences.
Interpersonal communication is largely electronic now and the need for being in the same office, especially with something like covid, lessens. If the job can be done at home, consider offering that. Of course, there are some jobs that need to be done in person and employers should think of other ways to satisfy their employees.
Keep Their Workloads Reasonable
One thing that can get employees sick is if they are tired and run down. That will suppress their immune system. Carefully look over at their schedules and make sure that you are not putting too many hours on their plate.
Yes, there may be some jobs that require more hours, but consider staggering that work more among other people. Otherwise you will possibly face a shortage when people get sick and miss work.
Be Sure They Have Safety Equipment
This is important if you do have to have them in the office. Make sure they have protective things like hand sanitizers, masks, and gloves. Your bathrooms need to be stocked with copious amounts of soap so that they can do important hygiene measures.
Also, check your ventilation systems. If air is improperly circulating, then that can also increase people’s chances of getting sick. Their work environment needs to be a safe one or everyone suffers.
It is still unclear when this whole pandemic might be considered to be “over” and when it is in a situation where it just needs to be managed. Your employees are valuable and you want them to know that they are seen as people and not just statistics on a spreadsheet to be moved around. If you do the above, then chances are good that your business will be fine.
In today’s market, the job-seeking individual has two, basic options when it comes to finding work.
The newest and most well-known tradition (that has taken over since the birth of the internet) is when the potential employee would (completely on their own accord) go ahead and search through a seemingly endless list of job postings across a plethora of available internet job boards.
Of course, if you are a bit more old school, you might still utilize the local newspaper (and still nothing really compares to beating the pavement in the hopes of finding ‘Now Hiring’ signs.)
But genuinely employable job-seekers across the country have found, depending on the job board of course, that these postings tend to include a large amount of what I like to call ‘spam-work’, or jobs that make certain promises they have no intention of fulfilling.
Things like ‘work from home’, ‘remote work’ and ‘sales positions’ are, a lot of the time, completely dishonest, and never what they are touted up to be.
Rest assured, the second option we, thee employable, have at our disposal not only eliminates otherwise deceitful and dishonest job ‘opportunities’, but also eliminates a lot of the stress that comes along with job-hunting.
A staffing agency can help.
What Is A Staffing Agency?
A staffing agency works as a hiring organization that operates in between a company and a job-seeker, thus allowing both employer and employee to remain confident in getting and receiving exactly what’s being promised.
These companies are paid by the employer, the amount typically dependent upon the hourly pay rate the employee will be receiving upon hire.
Staffing agencies serve as the medium. They do the necessary research of the job position (what it entails and exactly what is being asked of the worker) and they do the necessary research of the potential employee (drug screening, online application testing, intensive interviewing and researching of references).
The benefit to the employer comes from the staffing agency’s expertise on human resources, and their ability to evaluate each and every individual whose resume comes across their desk. Their value comes specifically from putting the right people with the right positions, regardless of job type – permanent or temporary.
The Benefits Of Using A Staffing Agency To Find Work
- They will assist you with the formulation of your resume and cover letter, potentially creating multiple documents specific to each potential hire.
- They will find you work based on your specific skills, experience and abilities.
- The staffing agency will break down exactly what is expected of you, creating a job contract that goes over in detail the sort of relationship you will have with the company you will be working for.
- The potential for a temporary job turning into a full time job exists, as you are technically an employee of the staffing agency.
- An employee can be staffed at different locations and at different companies altogether, allowing for new learning experiences and training, and a generally diverse work environment.
- You can build a relationship with a staffing agency that allows you to find work during any season and within a specific mileage from your home.
Here is a link to an article that breaks down even further specifically what a staffing agency does.
