While Palm Beach, FL and San Diego, CA don’t normally struggle to get travelers in for the winter season (for obvious reasons!), even they are this year. So how can YOU compete with white sand beaches and swaying palm trees? There are some creative ideas that hospitals can help their client team do to make sure their facility is getting a great traveler!
Besides the over and over again chanting you are hearing of bill rates, 48-hour guarantees, and shorter/longer contracts, what else makes a candidate choose a hospital over something more outwardly enticing? We have found that when our internal team not only sells the hospital and the job itself, but also the area and things to do, they get a lot more candidates saying, “yes” submitted. What are the COVID situations like in the area? Are there outdoor activities to do? What nature parks are nearby that they can go visit on their day off?
You can help with this. Work with your client manager and get a list of entertaining things to do and make sure the internal team is selling that just as much as the take-home pay and patient ratio. Help with housing leads, too. Where do out of towners like to stay? Any places to avoid? What attractions are there nearby that we can sell a beach-loving ICU nurse to try out cross-country skiing? Is there someone in the hospital with a room for rent? These may seem like little things, but in an already stressful environment like traveling, having that little peace of mind of knowing the place you are staying in comes recommended means accepting a job in the snow over one closer to home or by a beach.
Karen Peters
Karen has been with Medical Solutions for 10 years. She is responsible for the operations of travel staffing and making sure our clients are successful through adequate staffing ratios and satisfied with our client management teams. Karen graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a master’s degree in public health.