The freedom to pick up and go — a perk of travel healthcare

There’s no reason to be tied to a location or position when you don’t have to

You’ve worked hard to accomplish your career goals as a travel nurse or allied healthcare professional. But in a traditional position, you are locked in — to one location, role, and commitment. Day after day, you see the same colleagues and often patients, move through the same schedule, and you might even struggle to find the time to get away and travel with your work obligations.

Close to half of Americans say they regret not traveling more. In another survey, one in four Americans report they aren’t able to take enough time off from work to travel as much as they want. In addition to the inability to travel frequently, traditional assignments can prove monotonous and potentially unfulfilling, as indicated by the severe shortage of healthcare workers, including data that points to up to half planning to leave their positions by 2025. This aligns with an overall feeling of boredom and emotional exhaustion in the workforce at large, as well. Some point to a lack of feeling work is meaningful, while others struggle with a negative workplace environment.

But, it doesn’t have to be this way. Travel healthcare positions offer a chance to pick up and move locations whenever you want to, even moving at the end of each placement if you want. Here’s how it works.

Short-term commitments

You are committed to meaningful work — but that doesn’t mean you have to stay in one facility, doing the same type of healthcare, for years and years of a long-term contract. Instead, travel healthcare offers multiple lengths of short-term commitments, ranging from 4 weeks to a year, with an average contracting lasting around 13 weeks.

This amount of time has been proven to give traveling employees time to get comfortable in their environment, finding their groove with employees and patients alike, but not too much time to get bored and burnt out before moving on. Travel healthcare professionals don’t often stay in the same place for longer than 12 months, but they have the option to renew their contracts if they do find a placement they love and aren’t ready to move on yet at the end of the contract.

Fewer hours, for more money

What’s the use in having freedom, especially to explore a new location, if you don’t have the time to check out nearby attractions and get to know new friends and colleagues? Travel healthcare positions offer fewer hours, for almost double the pay as traditional positions, ensuring you won’t be stuck in your facility instead of out exploring.

More money also gives you more freedom to continue moving around the country, exploring additional opportunities in the future. Some travel nursing professionals use this financial freedom to pay off debts, or save for a specific upcoming event or item, from a downpayment on a house, to a dream vacation. With the average nurse having to pay $23,711 for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, potentially causing them to go in debt, travel healthcare positions offer a welcome reprieve and opportunity for intentional change. In fact, close to half of Americans are intentionally pouring money into an emergency fund, making it one of the top savings priorities. For some travel healthcare professionals, even switching to this field for a year makes a massive dent in financial planning and productivity for additional years to come.

The ability to choose

Workplace dissatisfaction often comes from feeling “stuck”, like you are a hamster on a wheel going round and round without making any forward progress. It can also come from feeling unseen or appreciated at work, struggling with difficult colleagues or managers, and other issues. Instead of being locked into one role or workplace environment, travel healthcare offers a fresh start, and another after that, to anyone who wants to have more choice in their daily lives and work.

A 2021 Gartner survey of employee satisfaction of 5,000 people showed one common theme — people want more control, choice, and say over when, where, and how they work. Half said they want improvements in those areas, pointing to an end of an era where bosses micromanage, and employees stay at one workplace for thirty plus years out of loyalty despite conditions.

Travel healthcare hands you back the keys to your own journey. You choose the location, the length of time, the type of work, and other specifics, so that you are in the driver’s seat, not tied to a long term contract with below average pay.

A sense of self

Building your own career through a series of experiences and placements you’ve handpicked for yourself comes with a serious payoff — workplace fulfillment. In addition to freedom to leave, you have the freedom to stay, if you find a match that you love. This means you can try different options before landing on the type of work, whether it’s hospice, emergency care, outpatient therapy, or numerous other fields, in a wide variety of cities and locations, without committing. While some traditional healthcare workers luck out and find the perfect job they want to stick with long term, often it’s not that easy. By taking time to carefully consider your values, and sense of self as a healthcare worker, you can use trial and error to find the exact fit for you, or permanently keep moving for the fun of it.

In this way, you might feel more fulfilled than if you are simply doing what you’ve always done, with the people you’ve always been around, without variety. Thousands of opportunities await for you to check out, to determine which really fits your needs, personality, and career goals. Get started today by scheduling a no-commitment phone call with a recruiter, who can help you figure out just what you are missing, and how to get more freedom in your job, and life.