If you know what hospital you want to work for, you next step is getting the best deal you can from a travel nurse staffing agency. But how do you do this? Do you call every agency in the U.S. and ask them if they fill travel nurse positions at the hospital or facility you want to work in?

Try this - once you’ve picked a hospital, call them. Speak to some people in the staffing department and ask them what agencies they work with. Don’t expect the hospital to do your agency shopping for you, but get enough information and listen intently to see if they speak highly of one or two agencies.

If they rattle off a bunch of agency names, write them down. Now it’s time for you to shop. Make a list of all the agencies from top to bottom along the left side of a sheet of paper. Of course, it’s 2008 and you’re a travel nurse, so if you’d like to use Excel, go for it. Along the top, place columns like rate, stipend 401K, housing, reimbursements, overtime, etc. Now it’s time to start calling. Get as much of the information you can from each agency - then find the best one based on your needs and wants and use your information to get the best contract you can. Play them against each other if you can. Saying things like “Agency Y is offering $300 a week for a rental car. Are you willing to match that?” will only show agencies that you are professional and savvy.

Ok, pick your hospital and get to work.