You’re a travel therapist on the prowl for that ideal job in the setting and location you most desire, which lucky enough for you shouldn’t be terribly difficult to find; you have the skills and experience required, and you’re looking in a market where there are a lot of opportunities. This should be easy. You apply for a number of positions with a bunch of agencies only to find out that the positions have already been filled. What gives?!
The truth is that hot jobs move fast, yet getting credentialed for them can be a slow process (unfortunately, this is unavoidable in healthcare – especially in California). This is particularly true if the facility in question has credentialing requirements that extend beyond the standards of The Joint Commission. There is a simple solution to this “chicken or the egg” conundrum though; you need to be “profile ready”.
“Profile ready” means that (first and foremost you have found an agency that you want to work with) your state board license is already on file, you’ve taken your TB test and your physical, proof of your vaccines have been submitted, your references have been checked, etc., etc., and your recruiter or agency has it’s ear to ground for you, and is ready to submit your profile to that awesome job as soon as it becomes available. It is true that staffing agencies in general are competing with each other to fill a lot of the same jobs – that’s not true of all jobs, but there are a lot of positions that are open to several agencies, which means that the first qualified candidate to be submitted to that position will have the best chance of getting the job. If you wait until you see an agency post a position that you really want before you apply, the chances may be very high that by the time you get through the credentialing process the position will already be filled. The reverse is also true – several new jobs will open while you’re getting credentialed, so new opportunities will be available by the time you are profile ready.
Therefore, the key components that must be in place are as follows: The first thing you need to do is find a good staffing agency and great recruiter to work with (a good rule of thumb is to look for Best of Staffing Awards, Joint Commission Certification, and check their online reviews such as Google). Secondly, get your paperwork out of the way, get credentialed, and be profile ready. Then sit back, be patient (perhaps take on some per diem work if you’re looking in a tough market), and let your recruiter do the dirty work for you. That’s it! It’s not really much of a secret, but it honestly is your best bet for landing the perfect travel therapy job… taking the reactive approach by waiting until the right job posting surfaces to apply to an agency will likely take you much longer! Good luck, and happy job hunting!