Taking the leap


so I wanted to be a travel nurse

I was at my breaking point at my full time, stable, permanent, night shift ER nursing job. I’d been there over 3 years as a nurse and never planned on leaving, but I had started applying to other jobs. My best friend just started travel nursing and that sounded interesting. Something I never knew much about I wasn’t sure if being a travel nurse was even a real job, but if Anna was doing it. I figured it had to be legit. I applied to one local contract through a company called Nomad.

After a phone interview, this job sounded too good to be true. It was a local travel contract, I could live at home and still get stipends ( read local contract for how), and they said there was potential for a permanent job at this ER after my contract was over, if I wanted. I asked to take the weekend to think about it.

Quitting a permanent job for only a three month contract was a big leap into the unknown. I had just bought a house and needed to pay the mortgage, what would I do after 3 months if I couldn’t find a job? The travel company would give me health insurance but the coverage wasn’t the best in my area. I had a good retirement fund in the works at my permanent job, how would I add to that? To say I was terrified of what the future held for me if I changed my life with just this one choice was an understatement.

so what to do

I decided this job would allow me to save more money in my “just in case fund” as a cushion if I ever needed it. I knew I was also able to keep my per diem job in an ICU as my backup just in case I was unable to find a contract after this first one for a few weeks and needed some income.

It is definitely personal preference weather you want to enroll in health insurance with the travel company you are working for or find your own insurance. Coverage with the company and private insurance is important to compare, and price is something to take into consideration. Also, do you plan on sticking with one company while traveling? There are numerous mass health connector insurance options through different companies that I was eligible for so that became an option for me. I never wanted to be held back from a job because I had my health insurance with a different company and didn’t want the hassle of having to possibly change insurance every contract. Different travel nursing companies offer different jobs so it’s a possibility to change companies every three months to take a job you’d like. Also, depending on how much time is taken off between contracts the company might not cover you if you take over a certain amount of weeks off. Because of those reasons and wanting the freedom of doing and going wherever I want, I found my own insurance through the mass health connector.

Then the only thing was my retirement, which some company’s offer it after a certain period of time, but again if I changed companies I didn’t want to have to continuously roll my retirement over. I opened my own individual IRA through fidelity and chose the ones based on my needs. If I find a company I’d like to stick to opening an account through my company could be an option in the future.

Sick time is also a consideration. Time was accrued at my permanent job, thankfully I got a pay out. Most travel companies have the ability to earn sick time but most won’t let you use it until after 90 days so keep that in mind when your contracts are around 90 days. And for the most part if travelers don’t work, we don’t get paid and your stipend is pro-rated.

deciding phone call

Figuring this all out the weekend before I took the leap was overwhelming but necessary for me. Knowing these things eased my anxiety and I was able to confidently accept my first travel nurse contract. When Monday came along I called my travel company back and accepted the contract.