So now you are discouraged, you have gone through all the work of working with your recruiter to get you an interview for the travel nursing job you want, you had a great interview and hit it off with the nurse manager interviewing you and you know you are qualified for the job, but you still didn’t get it.
The key in this situation is not to get frustrated or give up. Even in times when there is a high dem and (i.e. tons of open jobs) and low supply (i.e. qualified travel nurses) there is still a lot of competition for a job, so it is not an indictment of your skill or qualifications as a nurse if you don’t get a particular job. Often this is just as dependent on the reputation of the company you working with, their relationship with the hospital, the speed your profile got to them (another great reason to always be prepared) and how many other nurses’ profiles were submitted for the job.
Which is why you may want to consider working with more than one travel nursing company at a time, I wouldn’t recommend any more than 2 or 3, but having multiple companies trying to find you a job you obviously increase your chances of finding the travel nursing job you want.
What will happen next is really dependent on you and whether or not you want to 
continue the process with that company, find a new one, take a break, or give up altogether. But a good recruiter will have laid out a plan ahead of time. Which means resubmitting you to a new job should actually occur pretty quickly. Your recruiter should have a list of other open positions they are prepared to submit you to or at least a list of potential locations you are interested in that they can quickly find to submit you to.
In the meantime you and your recruiter should discuss what it may have been that may have kept you from getting the job. Some things you may want to look at include:
- How the interview went – some people just don’t do this well, but it is something they can practice with you if they know it is a weakness for you
- Was it really a good match – Ask yourself questions like, “Was the hospital bigger than you were used to?” “Did there appear to be a good culture match?”
- Do you need to take another look at your resume and highlight your skills or volunteer work more?
- Are there some skills you need to improve on or have more experience with in order to get the job you want?
It is important to rely on your recruiter during this time they should be knowledgeable enough to find you the jobs that are the best for you and meet the things you are looking for in your travel nursing career. But remember, the only thing worse than not getting the job you want is to get one that is not a good fit.