RN’s to the Rescue: Traveling Healthcare Opportunities

Are you a person who is impelled by the untrodden paths in life? Do you like to change your surroundings every so often to keep your life fresh and exciting?

Getting a job as a traveling nurse may be exactly what you were looking for.

Although, you need a couple of years experience as a nurse under your belt before you can consider traveling, this may be a great opportunity to see the country, meet new people, and earn a higher paycheck.

Here are some things to keep in mind when considering this as a career:

POSITIVES

· Seeing the country: Excellent opportunity to see the country and experience all it has to offer. You have the luxury of having your job follow you.

· More compensation: Most travel nurse positions earn more than a permanent nurse. A few factors that increase your paycheck are tax breaks, contract completion bonuses, and loyalty and referral bonuses. Weekly pay is offered by most companies as well.

· No “Politics”: Typically an assignment as a traveler will last about 13 weeks. So not only is there not enough time to get sucked into the negative dynamics that can take place amongst a hospital staff, if you don’t like it you can just move on to the next one.

After seeing the positives, you might think how could there be anything better than that? For some these are great but there are those who don’t like certain aspects of traveling.

NEGATIVES

· Traveling light: With most assignments lasting the standard 13 weeks, you must be able to get up and go very quickly. The constant packing and unpacking may wear down on some.

· Hit the ground running: Hospitals expect the traveling nurse to get acquainted with the job right away and will not invest a lot of time adjusting the nurse to their changed surroundings. Therefore, the position itself may be extremely stressful for the first couple of days or weeks.

· Promotions: Traveling nurses tend to do more of the hands on nursing, making it difficult to advance in their positions.

If you think you might want to consider being a traveling nurse and have any specific questions about it there are plenty of forums, such as allnurses.com, that you could look at or submit an inquiry.

Have you considered this career option? What other things do you think are important to consider? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for HealthcareJobsiteBlog. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

5 Steps to a Rewarding Health Career

by Alex A. Kecskes

If you want your career in health care to be rewarding, you need to be proactive and take certain steps to keep yourself employable and promotable. Here are 5 things you should do to achieve those goals:

1. Update Your Resume Often. You should review your resume every six months and update it once a year, even if yours is a secure position with a clear advancement track. In these days of downsizing and mergers, you never know who your boss will be or where you'll be assigned. Your resume should reflect your ability to do the job your boss is doing. The opportunity to move up may someday just fall in your lap and your resume should be ready. Remember, luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

2. Network Constantly. Exploring and touching base with contacts in and out of your immediate sphere are proven ways to keep your career from stagnating. Join and use social and professional Internet networks. Connect and participate in medical blogs. Contribute articles to medical sites. Keep your ear to the ground for any opportunities that may come up.

3. Join Professional Healthcare Associations. It's a great way to stay up to speed on the latest trends and developments in your field or subfield. If you're a nurse, join the American Nurses Association and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Professional associations can provide information, support and vast networking opportunities.

4. Befriend a Skilled Healthcare Recruiter. Experienced medical recruiters can be a valuable asset. Get to know one or two by their first name. And let them know what you're doing and where you want to take your career. Recruiters know when jobs open up before they hit the grapevine or career page advertisements. Remember, you don't have to change jobs, but the steady stream of information and job openings can give you a leg up when you're ready to advance.

6. Find a Mentor. Connect with a successful healthcare professional, someone who has more experience than you or is one or two rungs up the ladder from you. A mentor can show you the valuable two Ps (procedures and politics) if you're just starting out. Or they can give you a clear view of the terrain if you're considering moving up.

For a guide to healthcare advancement, check out Managing Your Career in the Health Care Industry by Shelly Field.

For more information on health careers, visit http://www.healthcarejobsiteblog.com/

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients.