There are many different types of travel nursing jobs and healthcare work environments – big ones, small ones, academic / teaching ones, rural ones, metropolitan ones, high acuity, low acuity, etc. Putting yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes, those facilities will have a candidate profile that they believe is the best fit for their site.
Diving into the Cardiac Cath Lab world, these details can play an even bigger role in landing the perfect assignment. We’ve spoken to hundreds and thousands of Directors and Managers and there’s been one universal message – “I’m looking for someone I know can handle the pressure of my lab process when things get crazy.” That definition changes from hospital to hospital – someone from a 1-2 room rural hospital is not going to be the perfect fit for the 8-10 room university hospital. The administration and the process of such a larger unit is going to be wildly different than what that nurse or tech is used to.
Conversely, the same difference may be a reason why that rural hospital does not choose the candidate with the 8-10 room university experience. If there are fellows that assist the Cardiologists, or if someone has only been on 4 man teams – this can mean they haven’t had the full responsibility of circulating and monitoring at the same time (or panning and scrubbing).
In both scenarios above, these can be two fantastic candidates that just plain aren’t the right fit for the hospital. They are great fits for other hospitals, just not these ones. If you are looking to travel, it’s important to look at your experience to make sure that it is as broad as possible (or at least tailor your resume to try to show broad experience) so that you have the most opportunities available to you.
For a travel nursing career, it’s important to remember that career implies continuous employment. Picking and choosing among the best places to work just doesn’t happen logistically everytime you may be available. Timing plays the biggest part out of anything and a multitude of factors can affect your options. Keep in mind that just because something isn’t open or available to you now doesn’t mean that it won’t be open in the future!
Related blog posts you might like: Preparing your cath lab travel Resume and How to prepare for a cath lab travel interview
