Recession affecting our jobs?

[Kdog]

Darlonna,
I'm signed on with 4 companies for med surg and the market is terrible. I've been traveling 4 years and things are very bad now. Very few jobs. I extended at my current travel assignment but don't want to extend again. The competition for a job is fierce in the travel world.

[AmandaWIRN]

Word is that things will improve in the next couple of months. Yes, this year is worse than most, but traditionally, this is a slow time of year for travel assignments- budgets get tight, and hospitals hire less travelers. Then, in a couple of months, when their staff is miserable, the hospitals start hiring travelers again- I've seen it happen year after year- it's kind of a cycle.... By spring time I expect to see some improvements.

[WaddRN]

i don't agree with the statement about nurses needing to be more open with location. i will go anywhere, any state, any shift, pay doesn't really matter either. my assignment ends this week and none of the travelers were asked to extend... there were at least 20 of us. i'm in stepdown/tele and have been submitted to the few positions there are across the country without one interview. i'm also working with 5 travel companies.

[AmandaWIRN]

i don't agree with the statement about nurses needing to be more open with location. i will go anywhere, any state, any shift, pay doesn't really matter either. my assignment ends this week and none of the travelers were asked to extend... there were at least 20 of us. i'm in stepdown/tele and have been submitted to the few positions there are across the country without one interview. i'm also working with 5 travel companies.

So, you stated that you are willing to go anywhere, doesn't that equate to you being more open about location???

Like I said, word is that this that things are supposed to improve in the next few months. In the meantime, there are assignments to be had, just not as many. What companies are you working with??? If you are working with 5 different companies (ones not affiliated with each other) then you should be able to find something.

RN Network currently has 7 tele postings, Clinical One has 6, Nursefinders has 18, All About Staffing has 9, MedStaff has 9... so, I know that you are in talks with 5 different companies, but perhaps you are not speaking with the right ones.

[jacklpn]

I am working corrections and my contract ends 4/10/09. no chance of renewal here in NC. Anybody know of any correctional positions and what company? tks for any help.

[HeyFraydo]

My Take = This is a backlash from the bad economy overall which is less Travel Jobs overall. Many new and old Travelers will get scared and go back to perm or do something else thus thinning out the ranks of potential Travelers.

The hospitals will eventually need to give in to get staff for the amount of sick people. Travel Jobs will increase again and there will be less Travelers than before and more jobs.

Many recruiters keeping singing this mantra and I feel they are using it for manipulation by over-dramatizing it.

Yes you should get registered with several companies you like with a recruiter you like who is flexible and have all of you documents in order and organized.

It's better to have been registered and worked with several companies already than just be registred with several.

Also stay in email contact with many more companies to keep aware of new opportunities as they come in.

Get a new license. Take a job in a compact state (Travel or Perm) set roots there, gain compact status.

Look at Foreign assignments. Do your research. Learn more about
the Travel Biz.

These are things you should do in a good economy too.

Remember the recruiters during this time and how you worked together in bad times.....

I recently was offered a job within a hospital association network by 10 different recruiters from different companies with wide variations in pay packages.

The lower paying recruiters tried to come accross as "I know this is low and I'm embarrassed to offer it to you but things are really bad all over" ....hmmmm.

CJ www.TravelNurseToolbox.com :cool-nurse:

[imported_Aaron C.]

I was pretty ignorant this time around about how much the economic woes would affect the travel nursing industry. The reason for that is that EVERY year around December/January you start finding out that hospitals are crunching.

Budgets get set and the first thing hospitals try to cut is the amount of travel nurses they use. It's easy for hospital administration to look at their budget and knock off a chunk looking at travel nurses. THIS TIME they really are going to make it without them by golly! Well, they NEVER do and a couple months down the road, if even that long, they are usually back to using.

I ASSuMEd that this was just another one of those annual rituals that hospitals go through, and that they'd be back with more positions than ever in no time. I thought it would be a little worse, maybe 20-30% worse than normal due to the economy, but as usual it would pick up.

I'm not so sure now. Everyone I have talked to is experiencing the same thing. From nurses, to recruiters, to Travel Nursing Company Execs, and other nursing website owners. Everyone is experiencing a much greater than normal downturn. A lot of people are pretty worried they may not recover for quite awhile. I am one of them.

[HeyFraydo]

I agree the crunch is going to last longer. The needs are there and the perm staff are carrying the heavy load.

Eventually those needs will have to be filled and there will be a burst of openings March, April , May and throughout the year because amount of sick people to care for doesn't decrease because the economy is bad.

When this happens I bet there will be more reluctant Travelers.

I myself as a Psych RN Traveler which is harder than most specialties to find have seen many assignments come and go in Psych or other specialities. That is because I've always marketed myself to all companies and search everywhere.

The downside is info overload and management. The upside is you get the big picture view of what's out there.

I think for so long many Travelers especially high demand Travelers like ICU etc.. were so use to not having to do this Search & Marketing because 1 or maybe 2 or 3 companies always had an assortment of assignments that was more than enough.

Does everybody want to do what I do? Probably not . I get burned out myself on it at times.

I think when this stimulus package makes it through overall that will inject some optimism in the markets initially but we shall see...

CJ www.TravelNurseToolbox.com :cool-nurse:

[SoldierNurse]

I am working corrections and my contract ends 4/10/09. no chance of renewal here in NC. Anybody know of any correctional positions and what company? tks for any help.

Civilian Correctional RN, wow we could possibly share some stories? At least, your patients speak english.

[cougarnurse]

Not only the recession, but general poop all around. Public Aide is so far behind in payments here, one hospital near by the one I was at nearly closed. They did find a new owner, but many workers went back to their 'old haunts'. Have heard other places are suffering, too. *Sigh*