Below are some pointers to help you avoid problematic situations in travel therapy.
A recruiter who is looking to pressure you into a quick signature is a sign that they are more concerned with filling the position than your interests. You should always feel comfortable and given time to review contracts, ask questions, etc without feeling pressured.
This could be a lack of communication, and failure to follow up with opportunities. This could also be excessive communication and reaching out to you with opportunities that don't match your interests (assuming you have already expressed your interests to the recruiter, of course).
We expect complete transparency from our recruiters when we ask about the company. For example: if a company entices us with 401k matching, but it isn't available until 3 years of working, we expect them to be upfront with us about this. We expect relative pay transparency as well. This lets us know that we aren't being undercut, but also lets us know how much room we have for negotiation.
"We offer CEU reimbursement!" (When this reimbursement is $50). By the way, when it comes to company benefits, we like to ensure that we will be reimbursed for traveling to and from sites, reimbursed for state licensure, and at least some form of continuing education reimbursements. This is pretty standard for most companies.
This one is pretty easy to figure out. If you see a job posting on multiple travel therapy sites for a small hospital in a town with only one hospital, the rates should be similar across the companies. If one company is significantly lower, they may be taking a larger slice of the pie.
On the other hand, if a company is posting rates of $3000+/week, beware of bait and switch strategies. It may be that the site truly does have a high bill rate. In this case, asking the right questions in the interview can help protect you against walking into a nightmare contract.
Travel therapy interviews are often short and sweet. However, if the site employer dodges or avoids our questions, we won't take the positions. You may be noticing a common theme: transparency.
If a company is constantly hiring travelers, this can be a sign that they cannot retain permanent employees. This may not be a huge concern in rural areas. We have worked for a number of companies that are consistently understaffed; however, we prefer to work with companies that retain some permanent therapists as well.
Most sites are paying a lot of money to hire travelers, and they don't want to pay for overtime. This is fine, but if we aren't paid for extra hours, we will not work extra hours. Bill and log the hours that you work.