People are always asking me about what it takes to travel, why do I do it, and ironically, I constantly hear the question on what did I do wrong that I can't get a permanent job. Even more amusing to me is that people turn around and ask Erica about why her husband isn't good enough to find a job and settle down and have the 2.2 children... ect. Apparently people don't actually understand what I do and how it works, so for those that are out there that wonder what my job really is and for those that are curious about living a different life.
I trained as a sleep tech for almost 2 years working 40+ hours a week learning about how the job is applied before I started travelling. I had a permanent job and could have easily stayed at it, the same as most everyone out there at the job that you are at now. I had a few friends where I was living, but no family, no reason to be there other than for work and to hang out with friends. I had heard about travelling medical jobs and realized that I was exactly the type of person that they look for - good at my job, no reason to stay where I was at, looking for a raise in pay and benefits. It was a rumor at the time, people always talked about travelers but no one ever seemed to do it, like some ninja skill you had to learn. So I went and researched and now, years later, I can explain it...
So here we go...
Hospitals, private sleep labs, VA medical centers and other facilities occasionally have to deal with a staffing change, either from them having to fire someone, a pregnancy, or any other reason that jobs become available. Now, it's not like they can take someone off the street and instantly train them to do the job, training can take months to years, and there are only a limited number of actual registered technologists for sleep, if they can't find someone in the area to come work there, then they have to hire someone like me to come in and help them. They contact either a traveling company or a medical firm that puts the word out to find a traveling tech and they wait for resumes of those available to go through before they figure out who would be the best fit. They always have a choice between multiple technicians and they get a full copy of their resume. Now, this isn't some 1 page form showing where you lived and the imaginary list of skills that we all just put down on an application to fill in our rough job duties. They get a list of all jobs, printed transcripts of what my references have said in the past, post contract questionnaires fill out by the managers or doctors of EVERY place I have ever been, good or bad, drug screenings, a test showing my competencies in my field, criminal background check, and more.
So, they narrow it down to 2 - 5 people that they feel had good enough information on those forms to interview over the phone, either by the manager, the doctor, peer interview, or all 3. You have 10 minutes to 'wow' them on why they should pick you to fill in knowing that you are going to get almost 0 training. In fact, when you show up to the job, you have 1 night, if that, to learn all of the paperwork needed which can be vastly different from location to location, how they want everything done, all the important information that they think you need to know (scrub color, what type of patient, are you working alone). Now, you have to reassure them that you are good with ANYTHING that they can throw at you and better than anyone else that they are going to call.
If they are happy with you and you are happy with them, it goes to a mediator / representative to negotiate what the pay would be. I am most likely responsible for reporting to work within 1 week of getting the phone call. This means that I have to arrange my bills, figure out where I am going to live without seeing it, take another drug test, PPD, sign and fax forms to those that need them, pack, and be on the road in 3 days or less to drive either 1 state over or across the entire country even in winter. I get there, sometimes I have to go through hospital orientation for 2 days, then turn around and go right back to working nights the end of the second day. Many times I just have to show up that night to meet with another tech to work for the night, most of the time with my own patients. That means I have 30 minutes to learn the location, see where everything is, and then have 2 people that I am responsible for to hook up with new equipment and sometimes even entirely different software. From day 1, I am fully responsible for whatever happens after this with a full report that goes to the next location at the end of the job I'm on...
No stress right?
Now. How many of you would function OK if they changed from Windows to Linux overnight at your current job? How about told you to drive to a new job in a new city with changes in what type of people you work with as well as that change in software?
People think that I am a 'temp' worker. This isn't like that. This isn't taking a person who is untrained to fill it, they only take the best of the people in the field. So tell me, after all that, are you up for the challenge?
Come see the country, live in a new town every few months, meet exciting people, never have to deal with on the job politics, make decent money all at the risk that if you don't bet out up to 100 people out there also applying for that one travel position, you become instantly unemployed.
I travel because I can, not because there is some reason I can't do something else. The next time that you go to the hospital or doctors office and they have a traveler, be happy, it was the best the country had to offer, not just the local community. Don't look down on them just because they found something different.
BTW - shout out to Cyndi, the best recruiter ever and who made me believe I could even start traveling.
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