Tuesday Tips: How to Find Work as a Traveling Nurse

Health care may be one of the most recession-proof industries out there, but hospitals and other care-providers are not immune to the current economic situation. In fact, the American Hospital Association (AHA) recently reported that nine out of ten U.S. hospitals have made financial cutbacks since the start of 2009, and almost half of them have had to reduce staff.

Want to stay above the budget-cutting fray? If you are a nurse, a great way to make yourself (as) immune (as possible) to the bottom line is to work as a travel nurse. Traveling around the country may not work for every nurse in every situation, but if you think a bit of adventure and a lot of opportunity is up your alley, the Onward Healthcare blog has three great suggestions for landing a job:

1. Be flexible

What’s most important to you? Destination or salary? If you are a stickler for one, then be a bit more flexible on the other.

2. Be Licensed

Keep your current licensure up-to-date, and work toward additional ones at each new position.

3. Be positive

The impression you make on your current assignment will impact your ability to land your next job. So keep that impression professional, competent and positive. Be the nurse that everyone loves to work with!

Also be sure to check out Onward’s awesome list of Travel Nursing Links. While we didn’t make their list (maybe next year!), we think that our blog post profiling Travel Nursing Jobs is pretty darn helpful, too!