If you want to become a traveling allied health professional, it’s essential to choose the right medical staffing agency for you. The agency you choose to work with has a big effect on your experience as a traveler. In this article, we’ll go over some reasons to choose your agency carefully and some tips for what to look for in an allied healthcare staffing agency.
Why Your Medical Staffing Agency is Important
Each medical staffing agency is different. Many people believe that most agencies are the same and that it all comes down to the individual to find the right allied healthcare jobs. However, this is a major misconception that might cost you a lot in salary as well as happiness.
Your medical staffing agency is one of the biggest predictors of your travel allied health experience. The agency you choose affects a lot of different things and can lead to a positive or negative experience. Keep in mind that the agency you choose is your liaison between you and healthcare facilities who need your help. They are also your employer. So, you need to choose your agency with the utmost care.
What the Medical Staffing Agency You Choose Impacts
Don’t underestimate exactly what an agency can influence about your opportunities for allied health travel jobs. There are a ton of things that can change based on the medical staffing agency you choose, such as:
Available Allied Healthcare Jobs
Did you know that agencies often maintain relationships with facilities that frequently need allied health travelers? Often, that means a particular facility will try to fill staffing gaps through an agency they’ve worked with in the past first, moving on to a different agency only if that agency can’t provide them with a qualified traveler in time.
So, the agency you choose can literally determine which jobs are available to you as an allied health traveler. Some agencies have better quality jobs than others. Some only work within a certain region and, therefore, limit where you can go on assignment. It’s a pretty big deal, because there may be great opportunities you never even see if you work with the wrong agency.
Compensation for Allied Health Travel Jobs
As you may know, compensation packages for allied healthcare jobs depend on the assignment. Some pay more and some pay less, often based on your specialty, education level, the facility’s need, and the location’s average cost of living. However, what you might not know is that your medical staffing agency actually negotiates these compensation packages with each facility. You want a team that fights to get you fair compensation for traveling to different areas and filling in for staffing gaps. Lower quality agencies often offer cut-rate deals to facilities to gain their favor, which ends up shorting the professionals that take those assignments. Instead, you want to work with an agency that fights for fair pay for you without damaging relationships with quality healthcare facilities.
Level of Support You Receive from Your Agency
You don’t want a medical staffing agency that is just going to “ghost” you later. Unfortunately, this is incredibly common for lower rated agencies. We’ve heard a lot of horror stories about travelers feeling coerced into taking less-than-ideal assignments and then not hearing from their recruiter or anyone else from the agency again until the assignment ends.
A good healthcare staffing agency is there for you throughout the process whenever you need their help. For instance, we have teams dedicated to providing you the customized support you need as a traveling allied health professional, including help finding the right allied healthcare jobs, getting credentials for each assignment, and helping with housing if you need it.
Tips for Choosing the Right Medical Staffing Agency as an Allied Health Traveler
Now you know why it’s important to choose your medical staffing agency carefully, let’s talk about what you should look for. Doing a little bit of homework can have a big pay off when selecting the right agency to represent you and help you find the right allied health travel jobs for you. Here are some things to look for to help you make the right decision:
Look at Reviews of the Medical Staffing Agency
One thing to look at when trying to choose the right healthcare staffing company is their reputation. Looking at their reviews online and even from word-of-mouth is a great way to see what others are saying about their experiences with an agency.
Online reviews are an easy thing to find for different agencies and give you a good sense of what to expect from an agency. Keep in mind that most people are more likely to post reviews about negative experiences than positive ones, but it’s helpful to know if there are any red flags in their reviews. You might also want to check with your network of healthcare professionals to see if anyone you know personally has had experiences with a particular agency.
Check Out the Benefits the Agency Offers
As we mentioned, the agency you choose is technically your employer, so you want to make sure the benefits offered match your needs and expectations. For instance, we offer competitive benefits such as:
- 401K savings program with matching up to 5%
- Full dental and medical benefits
- Free private, furnished housing (or a housing stipend instead)
- Tax-free stipends for many types of expenses
These can have a big impact on your daily life, so it’s essential to check the benefits summary before you choose a medical staffing agency to work with.
Look for Joint Commission Certification
Joint Commission certification for staffing agencies is also a good indicator of a quality agency. The Joint Commission sets forth stringent standards for several things, including how the company determines a professional’s qualifications, matches them with assignments, and monitors performance. Therefore, if an agency has this certification, it means they follow some of the highest standards in the industry.
Check for Experience
It’s also important to choose an agency that has the experience to make sure you have a great experience. Matching a professional to a particular assignment can be difficult if the agency and its employees don’t have the knowledge and expertise to do so. Look for a stable agency that has been around for some time. That will often show that an agency really knows what they’re doing and that they’re successful at it.
How to Find Allied Healthcare Jobs with AHS MedStat
If you’re an allied health professional seeking adventure, flexibility, and great pay, get in touch with our team at AHS MedStat today! We are an experienced medical staffing firm specializing in the allied health market. Our team works with a variety of allied health professionals to help them find the right travel assignments for them. We are proud to personalize our services to each person and aim to make a difference daily for healthcare professionals, facilities, and patients who need their help. Get started today by talking to an AHS MedStat recruiter or browsing our job board!
