Frequently Asked Questions

One way to think of it is like good old-fashioned temp work. Yes, the Kelly Girl has come to nursing. The difference is, you can obtain assignments all over the country and be provided housing, travel expenses and other extras. Healthcare hiring managers at hospitals sometimes have no local alternative so they contract with travel nursing agencies to fill their needs. Learn More

Do you have to have a resume? Eventually, yes. But we can start without it.

If you do have one you can send it to me personally Send Email

If you do NOT have one, the easiest thing to do is take 4-5 minutes and fill out my MINI RESUME form.

Travel nurses are contracted for short-term assignments through agencies that specialize in travel nursing. They are the actual employer. The agency provides the travel nurse with housing and travel expense, help with licensing, benefits and payroll services. The hospital gets a turn key solution to their staffing problem and the nurse gets paid great wages and benefits to work and live in a new place.

Everybody wins. Especially the nurses! Learn More

This is why we created TravelnursingUSAcom, to make it easy to explore the idea of travel nursing. We have developed a very simple form asking about you, what sort of job you might want, where you’d like to go (don’t worry if you don’t know yet), and what your experience is.

We have partnered with many different travel nurse agencies in hiring right now. We provide them your information to look over and decide if they have something you might be interested in. If they think they do, they will contact you to talk about the opportunities available. Learn More

Normally a travel nursing job lasts 13 weeks. This can vary so be sure to nail this down with your recruiter. Travel nursing jobs can be renewed (and often are) if both the nurse and the facility agree. You might be able to negotiate a renewal bonus with the agency. Often this can be done for up to a year. I’ve seen assignments as short as 8 weeks and as long as 26 weeks.

Many times the answer is yes. If the hospital still has the need they’d rather not go through orienting and training a new employee. From the agency’s perspective, they have a satisfied employee in place generating profits. Simply put, it is better for everyone so It is very common for them to pay the travel nurse a renewal bonus to extend.

Travel nursing primarily began due to a shortage of registered nurses. The supply versus demand aspects of the registered nursing profession simply don’t exist for LPNs for the most part. Occasionally there are needs for LPNs that outpace the supply. At TravelnursingUSA.com we don’t see a whole lot job postings for LPNs from our travel agency partners so my recommendation would be to contact individual agencies and get your name into their system to be notified when something comes up.

Another avenue you may want to explore is one of the online RN Degree programs that are available for LPNs and LVNs. These programs will allow you to obtain your RN degree completely online while you can continue working. Learn More

This is all included in your contract with the travel nursing agency. Normally you are provided with furnished housing. Sometimes you are given a housing allowance and assisted with finding local housing of your choice.

Think about it. It is in the interest of the agency to make this whole experience as positive for you as they can. The travel nurse is a treasured asset of the agency and they would like you to keep accepting assignments over and over. They will make sure you are taken care of. That’s how agencies make their money and nurses wanting assignments are

As for travel expense, it will be handled by the agency. Some will fly you to the assignment, some will give you a mileage reimbursement. All of these things will be spelled out very specifically, in advance, in your contract with the agency.

You may want to get our free publication Five Things You Should Know About Travel Nursing. It will guide you through what questions to ask before you decide on a particular travel

Well, the short answer is yes. It complicates things a bit but agencies and anxious to make you happy so they will go out of their way to find housing that can accommodate you. You should consider whether the housing situation is the right fit for your pet, of course but that is up to you. The bottom line is, you don’t have to reject the idea of travel nursing if you have a pet.

This varies widely with geography but you can expect the pay rate for these assignments to be above normal. All of the usual things come into play. (Area of expertise, experience, and shift). The bottom line is this. With benefits such as housing paid for and a pay scale above the norm you should have a lot of extra income in your pocket to take advantage of your travel adventure.

There are also commonly a variety of bonuses available to you. Be sure to ask.

You may want to get our free publication Five Things You Should Know About Travel Nursing. It will guide you through what questions to ask before you decide on a particular travel nursing job.

Virtually all travel agencies will provide health, dental and workers compensation. Most even have 401 Ks and other types of retirement plans. There is a large garden variety of benefit plans available and it would be wise to look this over carefully and compare. You may also want to check with your personal financial advisor on what sort of individual retirement plans are available to you. Your extra compensation might provide you with a way to enhance your tax favored retirement savings.

You may want to get our free publication Five Things You Should Know About Travel Nursing. It will guide you through what questions to ask before you decide on a particular travel nursing job.

The agency you contract with will pay you. Ask in advance for the details on pay periods and how you will receive your check. Consider direct deposit if it is available. Be sure to ask very detailed questions about pay.

You may want to get our free publication Five Things You Should Know About Travel Nursing. It will guide you through what questions to ask before you decide on a particular travel nursing job.

This all depends on the agency you select. Some will pay referral bonuses if you send them a candidate that actually signs up with them and completes an assignment. There are also completion bonuses paid sometimes for the successfully completion of your contract. Extension bonuses are another common one. As with everything else in travel nursing, the time to nail this down is when you are choosing an agency and when you are signing your contract.

The short answer is yes. It is not a travel nursing license, it is a regular state license.

You need a license to be employed as a nurse in every state in the union. Keep reading.

There are ways for you to work in a state you are NOT licensed in yet. What I really mean to say is that there ways to share your existing license and work in another state and there are states willing to issue you a temporary license (based on your current license) and let you work while they go through the process of getting you your permanent license. Let’s look at the two.

Nursing Compact. A number of states have banded together and agreed to accept each others’ licenses. This is called Nurse Licensure Compact. At this writing there are 25 states that are part of this. The best way to confirm who is and who is not is to go here. There is also a good explanation of the whole concept there.

Walk Through States. These are the states that speed up the process of getting you to work by issuing a temporary license while you are applying for your permanent one. Some of them issue them in 3 days and some of them issue them in two weeks. Your agency or recruiter can help you with this. You can also email me at conrad@travelnursingusa.com for a quick answer that is current and up to date.

Finally there are some states who simply are not bending on this. You have to go through the normal process and it can take time. California is notable as one of these because it is such a desirable travel nursing destination. I am trying to put together an assistance program to help you go through the process there as quickly as possible and if you would like more information on it, send me an email at conrad@travelnursingusa.com.

Here is the bottom line. Your agency, recruiter or consultant can help you and is motivated to because they want to put you to work. So just because you do not have a license in a state you want to go to don’t sit on your hands. Do something. There is a lot of help out there.

If you would like help exploring the world of travel nursing you can fill out this short form and I will personally make sure you get that help.

Experience always enhances a resume. Working as a travel nurse automatically exhibits your ability to be flexible and adapt to new and changing environments. The longer you work in this arena and the more assignments you show on your resume will only serve to make you look more attractive to future employers.

As with any job, this is a wide open question. Generally speaking employers and agencies like to see one year of on-the-job experience. It is becoming more common to ask for two. Because of training and orientation very few agencies have new grad travel openings. The best thing to do is to check with the individual agencies.

Travel nursing is a very competitive business and agencies do everything they can to make themselves known. If you have a friend or co-worker who has worked a travel assignment ask them for a recommendation. All of the nursing publications are awash with ads. And of course, there is the Internet. Far and away the easiest way though is to fill out our request form.

That information, which includes your preferences, is then instantly sent to many different travel nursing agencies. They examine your credentials and your wishes and if they think they have a fit for you, they will contact you with further information. Rather than going from agency to agency filling out applications, you can fill out one and sit back and look over the offers. Learn More

If you have more questions you can contact me personally via our Contact form. If you would like to go straight to the Information Request form, you can do that too.

TravelnursingUSA.com has significant traffic and one of the more popular destinations is our job posting page.

If you are an agency and would like to post jobs or be part of our “Weekly 25” newsletter that goes out to over 10,000 prospective travel nurses each week please go to our Contact  form.