If you just finished nursing school and are now on the hunt for new grad travel nursing jobs, listen up! As a new graduate student, you most likely want to hit the ground running and start your career. Travel assignments can allow you to do this by offering invaluable experiences and special opportunities for nursing students.
A travel nursing career can offer flexibility, opportunities to explore new places, and even competitive wages! Although there are many exciting perks to travel nursing, it’s important to understand the reality and unique challenges that come with it.
Keep reading to gain knowledge and insights to avoid common mistakes made by new grad travel nurses so they can build confidence and have a successful first assignment.
How To Become A Travel Nurse
As a new grad student, there may be some debate on where to start your career. Build a clinical foundation first or jump right into travel nursing?
There isn’t exactly a right or wrong answer to this question, but it is important to understand the requirements and qualifications a travel nurse must obtain to be placed on an assignment and have the best experience.
Experience & Advanced Certifications As New Graduates
New grad nurses usually cannot start travel nursing immediately after graduation. Instead, many travel nurses need experience in acute care settings, ranging from 1-2 years.
Most travel nursing positions require at least a year of experience, but many facilities prefer two years of experience to be a travel nurse. Alongside this, new grad students must obtain BLS and ACLS certifications.
Travel nursing right after grad school is possible, but building a solid clinical foundation before travel nursing often leads to better assignments and a smoother first assignment experience!
Being honest about your experience, specialties, and qualifications on your resume can help you find the best-fit assignments for your skill level.
Importance of Experience
If you pursue a travel nursing career, you need to understand that travel nurses generally receive minimal orientation before working independently. This is why it is crucial to have some experience before recruiting.
Skills and Requirements
As for skills, new grad travel nurses should be confident in their assessment and time management skills due to the fast-paced, high-pressure environments you may work in. As a new graduate, it’s best to aim for a staff position in a similar setting to your experience level.
Travel nursing also requires strong professional references from recent employers. This further emphasizes the importance of gaining clinical experience before accepting an active assignment.
Travel nursing can offer many flexibilities and benefits that you may not see in a traditional nursing job. For one, depending on your contract, most travel nurses receive health, life, dental, and vision insurance along with housing stipends! Talk about the ultimate combo, right?
In all, there are a LOT of components and moving parts that make travel nursing challenging, exciting, and rewarding all in one!
Biggest Mistakes To Avoid Your First Year
Even experienced nurses with advanced certifications struggle with the new environments that come along with travel nursing, such as new charting systems, intense patient care, and fast-paced hospitals.
This career takes practice and patience, even for travel nurse vets! Whether travel nursing is your dream or just something you’re interested in exploring, avoiding these eight common mistakes can make your first assignment much smoother.
#1: Jumping Into Your First Job Before You’re Really Ready
Rushing into a travel nursing assignment after graduation is probably one of the worst and most common mistakes a new nurse can experience. By rushing, new grad nurses may not feel fully comfortable and confident with their skills.
This is noteworthy because confidence is one of the biggest influences on patient care. The more confident you are in your skills and training, the better the experience the patient will have.
The key is being honest with yourself about your experience and skill level before accepting any job assignment. Don’t rush the process.
#2: Choosing A Job For Higher Pay
Just because you receive one of the highest-paying contracts doesn’t mean it’s always going to be the best. Instead of looking at the hourly pay or income you may generate, evaluate the total compensation package.
Identifying the value behind a hospital’s reputation, unit culture, employee resources, orientation, and even cost of living are all factors you should consider equally with income.
#3: Not Researching Your Facility Before Accepting An Assignment
Most travel nursing assignments last between eight and thirteen weeks. So doing your research on where you will be for that lengthy duration can help you avoid any unwanted surprises.
Reading hospital reviews, evaluating unit expectations, understanding floating policies, and familiarizing yourself with other travelers’ experiences with a given employer can help you determine if that facility is a good fit for you.
Asking your recruiters detailed questions isn’t being “too much”; it’s actually setting you up for success. If you run into a travel nursing assignment that isn’t quite what you expected, check out this TravelNurseSource blog for insights on how to combat those concerns.
#4: Assuming Orientation Is The Same As A Staff Position
Travel nursing requires strong independence and critical thinking skills. When you get to your assignment, your unit and department managers will expect you to adapt and become independent quickly.
This is why many assignments list required experience of at least one year or more on their contracts. Orientation is usually very short because you are expected to come with prior knowledge and experience from clinical rotations or other assignments.
Even though orientation typically has a short transition period, taking notes and asking questions early will help you thrive in your new environment. Answering those questions early and identifying your resources can help you adapt and better understand your role.
#5: Not Communicating With Your Recruiter
Your recruiter should be a resource for you to use— not just someone who organizes your contract. Forming a relationship with your recruiter can make it easier to address concerns, issues, or any other challenges you encounter within your given assignment.
Not having those relationships could create roadblocks down the road. Always remember to treat your recruiter as a valuable resource. You never know when they may come in handy—especially when hiring for future assignments.
#6: Neglecting Your Finances
Travel nursing income fluctuates often and varies from assignment to assignment. Because of this, it’s important to build up an emergency fund while you’re on the road!
Budgeting, planning for taxes, and understanding your stipends are all important factors to consider when choosing an assignment. Having a job on the road makes it very easy to splurge.
Finding ways to still enjoy your time in a financially reasonable way is something valuable to learn and can set you ahead in future financial situations.
Coming out of grad school, you want to make sure you choose a financially reasonable assignment that meets your needs.
#7: Ignoring Self-Care and Burnout
Whether your experience is one to two years or you have significant staff experience, you must remember to prioritize yourself. Constant changes such as new co-workers, routines, and cities can be mentally exhausting.
Your own health matters just as much as your patients. To protect yourself from burnout, don’t be afraid to take rest days, exercise, stay connected with family, and explore the areas around you!
#8: Thinking You Need To Have Everything Figured Out
As a brand-new travel nurse, you are not going to have all of the answers figured out. Instead of overworking yourself and trying to do everything alone, look to your experienced charge nurses or staff nurses for help and guidance.
Working in new hospital settings, such as a med-surg unit, can be intimidating. New equipment, charting systems, and high-intensity patient care can leave you feeling stressed and confused.
With this said, remember that every single travel nurse has been in your shoes. Try to embrace the struggles, ask questions, and make connections with other nurses and mentors.
Each new assignment comes with its own unique challenges that bring different learning opportunities. Through it all, it’s important that you never feel alone.
Mistakes Make You Better
As you can see, there are a lot of different components to think about when looking for a job in the travel nurse industry. Every new nurse makes mistakes, and that is okay!
Making mistakes is meant to help you learn and grow as you progress in your professional career. Instead of dwelling on a mistake you may make, take it as a learning opportunity where you can grow and gain more experience.
Through it all, every assignment you choose to pursue helps you further build your confidence and skills for a travel nursing career— which are more important than the mistakes along the way!
With this insight, you will be set up to better navigate the world of travel nursing!
