But there’s a catch: you’ll need two years experience first. Here Jeff Long,  marketing manager of Medical Solutions, a staffing company that places nurses in travel nursing jobs, talks about what you need to know and can do now to be ready for your dream job tomorrow:

Why aren’t new nurses hired for travel nursing?

This is one of the strange things about travel nursing. Nurses with the lifestyle that would allow them to travel easiest are new grads. However, a travel nursing career requires a nurse to immediately step in with less orientation than a permanent staff nurse. That’s why both hospitals and staffing companies tend to hold to a two-year experience minimum.

This works in the best interest of all involved: a hospital wants an experienced nurse, the traveling nurse doesn’t want to be in over her head, and the staffing company wants both to be happy with the match.

Is there anything new nurses can do now to prepare for a travel nursing job two years from now?

Be ready. Right now with the travel nursing job market down like it is, it is important to be organized and have all your certifications, licensures, vaccinations, etc. in one easy to access location (a three-ring binder is an easy way to do this).  And make sure everything is always up to date. Keeping these things organized is easier the sooner you start.

What areas of the country do you find more jobs than applicants?

At this time we are not seeing any area of the country with more jobs than applicants. This is due primarily to the overall shortage of jobs in the industry and the unwillingness of travelers to work wherever they can. The majority of our placements have been in the Midwest (Kansas, Texas) and California over the past six months.

What questions must new nurses ask recruiters?

Travel nurses should exhaust their recruiter with questions, but overall they should dig into six key areas:

• Housing and location
• Recruiter
• Company
• Compensation, costs, and expenses
• Benefits
• Specifics of the job he/she will be doing.

There are a lot of good resources online and books written by travel nurses with lists of questions that you should ask. These resources can expand on the six areas I mentioned.

What are the qualities of a good recruiter?

It really comes down to a relationship.

A good recruiter is not only knowledgeable about the industry, but she should be genuinely interested in you and your career. If you feel like you are being treated like a paycheck by the recruiter, then you probably are. It may take working with a couple of different recruiters to get a feel for what is a good. Sometimes you’re lucky and find a great one right off the bat.

Generally, though, you want them to be honest and up front, just as a recruiter wants that from you.  Neither of you want surprises during the assignment.

Why do nurses fail at travel nursing?

There are a variety of reasons, but the most common are:

• Homesickness;
• Preference for more stability;
• Not mentally strong enough for the challenge;
• Conflict with staff/doctors, didn’t like the hospital or area, or weren’t a good fit for the unit;
• Personal issues/events (death in the family, sickness, etc);
• Not skilled enough to hit the ground running in their modality;
• Not strong enough personality to break the ice with the perm staff or get used to being treated different from staff and management in some cases; and,
• Difficulty staying out of the hospital politics.

Do recruiters value nonprofit medical nursing experience (like mission trips, service nursing)?

Most travel agencies don’t look at volunteering as part of the two-year experience requirement, and we have never seen a hospital ask for it. While it probably does not hurt, it does not really help either. It really comes down to skills and years of experience in their specialty.

I’m fessing up: I did not pass the NCLEX the first time.  I had heard from teachers and nurses alike that the exam could potentially shut off at 75 questions, 240 questions or somewhere in between.  If it shut off at 75, you either passed with flying colors or you failed miserably.  If it shut off at 240, you barely passed or barely failed.  Mine shut off at 75 on the dot.  Two days later I found out that I failed the NCLEX exam.

The days that followed, I was disgusted, disappointed, depressed, and any other “d” verb you can think of.  I seriously wondered, Am I cut out to be a nurse?  Have I just spent all this time in school and still don’t know or understand enough to be a nurse? I despaired.

That’s when my aunt, who was a nurse, offered a story about a nurse she once knew.  This particular nurse was one of the best she had ever seen as it pertained to the care of patients.  An example to follow, emulate. Someone who understood the dynamics of health care and what it took to be not only a nurse, but one of the best.

Then my aunt laid the bombshell: This nurse had failed the NCLEX SIX TIMES!  Here I was fretting over one bad exam, and this poor nurse had to take it SIX TIMES before she got it right.

That story was motivation enough for me to reconcile my differences with a teacher of mine in college and ask for help.  I can honestly say my time spent with this teacher tutoring me made the difference.  It gave me motivation to strive for a goal that obviously I wasn’t able to achieve on my own.  The second time around I was ready. And this time the test went to question 76.  After 120 questions the test ended.

A seemingly infinite two days later I found out I passed!

The best advice I could offer anyone out there who has yet to take this exam isn’t fresh; it’s as old as the advice your 9^th grade geometry teacher gave you: Study your hind end off!  Don’t listen to those who tell you how the test was that have taken it, or those who took it years ago and speculate what it might be like today. Expect your case to be unique; expect it to be tough.

So, study hard, set a goal, partner with a tutor, and always remember that nurse who failed six times. Because if she can succeed after that many failures, you can too.

I remember one of my clinical instructors praising me for a care plan I had written; it received the highest grade that particular week.  Her caveat: listen and learn during clinical so I could improve.

Laziness prevailed.

The next week, I wrote essentially the same care plan. This time I earned the lowest grade of all the care plans.

I didn’t learn, I didn’t listen, and I paid for it.

And, if I embraced that “know enough” attitude, I think in the long run the patient would have paid for it, too.

Florence Nightingale pioneered the art that is nursing today, but she was never a “true” nurse.  As my current nursing education instructor says, Ms. Nightingale, one of the first nursing administrators, adhered to the policy that nurses could never stop learning.  If a nurse thought they had learned all there was to know, she frowned upon them.

To stop learning was to stop caring-and to stop being the best patient advocate.

As a nurse, you have the unique opportunity to daily learn something new. Some days you may simply rethink a concept you already thought you mastered-and apply it in a completely new way.

In this way, learning is cyclical.  The things that are taught in school never go away; they just take on a new form.

As a student, I remember fussing about clinical instructors teaching me how to chart the way they did back in the 1800s. I wondered, How can this possibly relate to my current job, now that charting is electronic? Yet, I learned, after some foibles, that I should’ve heeded the advice. Charting follows many of the same guidelines as centuries ago-just in a different medium.

Change doesn’t necessarily mean different, it just means a different way of doing the exact same thing.

And as you put forth effort to learn-as well as allow yourself to be taught by some of those seasoned nurses who you swore you’d never talk to-you’ll grow, you’ll thrive, and you’ll care for your patients better.

But what do you believe?

1) Always be the needy one. If you’re always the one needing help with getting everything done and never offer to help someone else, the other nurses will eventually resent you.  Now, that doesn’t happen right away. New grads will always need help, and that’s fine.  But as soon as you have a spare minute, don’t keep it to yourself; offer it to someone else who may need a hand.

2) Don’t own up to a mistake. If you mess up, AND YOU WILL, confess the problem before someone else brings it up.  A good learner recognizes a mistake and takes responsibility for it before it’s called to their attention.

3) Get involved in the drama. Once you’re in, you’re in, and it’s very hard to extricate yourself.  Just try to avoid getting involved in whatever soap opera of the month is taking place.  Don’t comment on it.  Don’t ask questions about it.  Don’t go to lunch with the people involved in it.

4) Externalize. Do you know the kind of people I’m talking about?  The kind who always blame all their problems on everyone else.  They never take responsibility for their own stuff, be it time management issues (”I got caught by a train!” “So-and-So needed help, so I couldn’t get my meds passed on time”)  or relational issues (”The charge nurse has it in for me,” “The PCTs are never helpful with my patients!”), or nursing skills (”That’s not how I was taught by my preceptor,” “The patient wouldn’t let me”).  Just be responsible for your own actions, behaviors, and words.

5) Talk about other staff behind their backs. Do I really need to say anything about this?  It will ALWAYS come back to bite you.  Just don’t do it!

6) Cop an attitude. As a new grad, you need to be confident yet humble.  Nobody likes a newbie who thinks they know everything.  In fact, nobody likes a seasoned nurse who thinks they know everything either.  Acting like you’re better, smarter, prettier, or anything else that ends in “er” is just plain annoying and will put you on the hit list.

7) Stop learning. This is as much about you as those you work with.  It’s not good all the way around.  You’ll stop liking what you do if it gets boring.  And it will if you stop learning.  Always be on the lookout for new things to learn.  Read the journals, take classes, volunteer for committees, ask the docs questions.  It will not only make you a better nurse, it will make both your job and you more interesting!

Now, I’m sure there are a hundred more ways to ruin a job; these are just the first I thought of.  What are some others?  Do you know from experience?  Personally, I’m trying out number seven at the moment.  I haven’t stretched my brain at work in a long time, and my love for the job is waning.  Frankly, I’m bored.  I’ll let you know how I work this one out.

In the meantime, fill me in on your ideas of ways to ruin your job.

One of the students told me the other day she wants to be a nurse. I asked her why, and she said she thought I and the other nurses are really nice people. It’s very flattering, but should I tell her the truth?

Should I tell her about the long hours, the poor pay, the shift work, abusive patients, abusive family, abusive colleagues, and the understaffed and dangerous wards?

I could. But then I should tell her…

What it’s like to receive a box of chocolates from the poorest patient in the ward. What it’s like to see a patient make the transition from deathly ill to walking out the front door—all because of your care.

I should tell her about the adrenaline rush as the paramedics race in with a critical trauma, and the feeling of awe and pride as you work as a team to perform a life-saving miracle.

I should tell her what it’s like to give someone a heart-stopping medicine to revert their heart back to a normal rhythm (you always cross your fingers that the heart restarts).

But most of all I should tell her that if you like helping others because it’s part of who you are—and because you smile when you help someone—then go ahead and be nurse.

You know you are cut out to be a travel nurse if you have excellent clinical skills and love to travel. As a travel nurse, you’re constantly on the go, moving from state to state.  This is exciting for individuals who enjoy learning about new cities—their history and culture.

You don’t always know the people in the places you will be moving to, so you will need to be able to make friends easily, be open to change, and have good communication skills.  You should be confident, organized, friendly, and a quick learner.  Flexibility, a positive outlook, and an eagerness to enjoy adventure: these are all important traits that  travel nurses generally possess.

If you get homesick easily, and don’t like being away from friends, family, or your hometown, then travel nursing is probably not for you.  Travel nursing takes you away from those things for several months at a time.  Travel nursing can also put huge strains on relationships and family life, if your significant other or family can’t travel from one location to another.

Each time you are placed at a new location there will be unfamiliarity with the area—this will take time to adjust to.  Because you’re always around change, you must be confident in your skills and be able to adjust to new routines.  Once again, you may need to learn different ways to perform a certain technique—you must be adaptable. So if you don’t like to do things more than one way, this career path might not be for you.

Here’s the thing about seasons. They come and they go. That’s important to remember. Especially the going part. Some feel like the new birth of Spring, and some feel like the death of Winter. Either way, you have to remember to enjoy the good, and keep hoping through the bad. Both will turn into a new season in time.

If you’re a student, it may feel like the studying will never end. If you’re a new grad, it may feel like you’ll never get the hang of this new career. If you’ve been working for 30 years, it may feel like retirement will never come. Stop waiting. Enjoy what you’ve got. It will be gone before you know it.

As I remember it, college was the most fun of all the difficult things I’ve done. Lots of friends, lots of entertainment, lots of ….

Those first hospital jobs scared the crap out of me, but I had more free time and spending money than I’ve ever had since.

Now I’m 20 some years into a Family Practice career. I can do it with my eyes closed, but every time I go to work, something good happens. A great conversation with a patient or colleague, holding a baby, chatting with an old man who doesn’t have anyone to listen to him. I leave loving my job every day. Mostly.

When my first child was born, I was ecstatic but exhausted. I never slept. I thought he would spontaneously combust if I let him cry. He was also a terrible nurser, so he didn’t gain weight. That only added to the stress.

When he was about two weeks old, a friend said, “Don’t worry, he’ll turn a corner when he’s six weeks, and it will get much easier.” She thought that would encourage me. Instead it made me cry. I was SURE I would not live to see six weeks.

Twelve and a half years out, I can tell you I did survive. I even occasionally tell new moms that their little screamer will turn the corner at six weeks. But I always add how that statement made me feel.

What season of nursing are you in? What do you love about it? What do you not love about it? What advice are you giving about the last season you were in? That’s the other thing about seasons. There is always someone else in the last one and the next one.

Unfortunately, many new nurses skimp on this important phase of the job-acquisition process.

According to Carolyn Steffel, a nurse recruiter at Edward Hospital (a magnet hospital) in Naperville, IL, new nurses need to ace the application and resume to be taken seriously. Read here her best advice for doing so:

Don’t cut corners on the application process.
Your application is just as important as the interview—if not more important since it’s what gets your foot in the door. But many new nurses rush through the process, especially if applying online, because it feels informal. Be cautious: You need to slow down and be fastidious in how you fill out your application because recruiters evaluate candidates based on them.

Nursing is technologically advanced today, so you need to be able to demonstrate that you can use the automated system through which you are submitting your application. Also, when your application’s documentation is not clear and thorough, many recruiters draw conclusions that you will be similarly careless with your documentation on the job. And you need to give complete information. Don’t say, “See resume.” The application is the legal document, seen even before a recruiter reviews your resume. You don’t want to leave a recruiter wondering what you have and haven’t done—or lead them to believe you’re a corner-cutter by nature.

Proofread. Proofread. Proofread.
Believe it or not, Mrs. Gerund’s 7th-grade grammar class was critical to your present job-seeking success. According to a recent study published by Accountemps, 34% of applications and resumes have grammatical and typo errors. Remember this: Your worth is found in the details. If you rush through your application and resume, peppering it with misplaced commas, misspelled words, and fragments, your professional competency is questionable. Recruiters wonder how you’ll manage a fast-paced career like nursing and keep errors at a minimum. They also question if your lack of attention to detail is an indicator that you’ll be slack with the day-to-day tasks.

Highlight your best—but be truthful.
Think of your resume as your sales brochure. You want to showcase your skills, professional and educational background, and accomplishments–with the purpose of demonstrating how you will benefit the organization. This means you’ll need to research the organization, so you know what its core competencies are. It also will entail picking your “best-of” experiences, so the organization gets a snapshot of your capabilities and won’t get bored by the details. Too much information leads to getting lost among the legions of applications. Also, if you list a competency, skill, or experience, be prepared to discuss it during the interview. Recruiters can catch you stretching the truth by asking for details. Baggy answers point to incapacity. In short: Be clear. Be crisp. Be honest.

Pick the right references—and inform them.
During the application process, you will go through a rigorous screening process. Having references who can speak specifically and positively of your capabilities is critical to standing out among the crowd of applicants. You intuitively know who will speak highest of you based on the quality of relationship you have. But it’s still important to inform your references and maintain a positive relationship with them. Let them know about the job you are applying for and provide them the most up-to-date information about you. This way they know what to highlight about you in their conversation with the interviewer. Also, make sure you have their most current information as well; if they’ve added a title to their name, like Ph.D., you’ll want to include that. Misrepresenting you references demonstrates sub-par professionalism.

Follow up in an appropriate way.
Most organizations have automated applicant tracking systems that immediately notify an applicant via e-mail that his/her application has been received. The length of time it takes to receive a response can vary, depending on if you are applying to an actual open position or sending an unsolicited resume. There can be thousands of applications and resumes that job recruiters are sifting through. Because of this, it often takes two weeks—sometimes longer—to respond to applicants. So don’t follow up on your application for at least that long.

When you do follow up, don’t clog up a recruiter’s e-mail inbox with inquiries. A professional call would be better received and also gives you the opportunity to showcase your communication skills. Be concise, professional, and polite in your follow-up communication. It’s also beneficial to reference the specific position you applied to, versus saying “I want to follow up on my application.” Or, “I have not heard anything about my application.”

Follow-up does not guarantee you will secure a job. But it does leave a positive impression when done correctly.

I gave my first official drug education talk to teenagers. I ‘unofficially’ have talked with kids about drugs, but this was in front of three classes of students.

The social studies teacher asked me to give a presentation, because the students finished a week studying drugs. At the end of the week each kid had to give a presentation about a certain drug. The teacher thought a great way to finish this module would be to have a school nurse present.

I decided to give the kids a real-life picture of what drugs can do.

The kids sat and listened attentively. No one fell asleep. No one made jokes. No one chattered. I’ve never had a more attentive audience in my life.

Time became meaningless as I delved into my memories about teenagers ruined by marijuana. The kids were horrified to find out that marijuana wasn’t harmless after all, especially to growing teenagers. They were even more shocked to find out that the person on the street selling cocaine is probably selling more battery acid than cocaine.

I wasn’t there to scare the kids, although some probably were. I wanted to point out risk factors.

I was a man on a mission. I ended up speaking to three classes that afternoon. Then I began to doubt. Who I am to educate about such things? I’m not qualified.

After the doubt came belief that I had not wasted my time.

I was back in my office when a 16-year-old boy approached me. “Excuse me. Do you have a minute?” he asked. I nodded my head. The boy came in, shut the door behind him, and grabbed a seat. “Can I ask you something about your talk?” he asked.

“Sure, ask anything you want,” I replied.

I won’t say anymore, as what the boy told me is of no importance to anyone else but the student and myself. But what is important is that my talk made a difference, at least to one person.

I realized then that even if I only made a difference in one life, it was all worth it. Who knows, I may have even saved a life.