Searching in California

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With my assignment in Washington ending, I took some time off to be home for the holidays. In the mean time, I began my search for my next assignment. I was hoping to go to Texas, but there did not seem to be many options available.

On the other hand, now that I had a California license, I was quickly overwhelmed by how many options there were in California. At first I was open to working anywhere in California. Yet, it is a gigantic state so I realized I had to limit my search.

Since Northern California gets pretty cold during the winter, I decided I wanted to work in Southern or Central California for my next assignment. I am credentialed with a handful of agencies and notified them about my search criteria. Every day there was a new job available in which I had to yay or nay.

During the interview process, I noticed that my expectations for which facility I was going to work with were pretty high. This was because I had truly enjoyed my experience working in the community health center in Washington. I said no to facilities that didn’t meet my needs. Examples were clinics that were still using paper charting; clinics that treated majority chronic pain and substance abuse; clinics that only needed a provider for 30 hours per week etc.

Although I was grateful for many options, I found myself feeling anxious because there were too many that were similar. It was difficult for me to narrow them down. There are several factors involved in selecting an assignment: location, type of facility, hours (four 10 hour shifts vs M-F 8 hour shifts), pay, housing options, and other incentives.

I was straightforward with my recruiters in letting them know that I was working with other agencies and considering other options. Most of them were understanding, while a few were spiteful. Towards the end of my search process, I had over 15 potential gigs. I had already completed my interviews with all of the sites and they were each willing to make me an offer.

I ended up choosing two sites by the end of my search. I chose one of them because the timing worked out (it started before the other assignments did). Also, the facility seemed similar to the site I worked in Washington (based off of my phone conversations with the providers there). The second site I selected because it was in my ideal location.

I think in the future I will be more specific about my needs in California, so as not to have more than enough options and overwhelm myself again. I believe a handful of options are great but more than 5 can be extreme.

One thought on “Searching in California

  1. That’s right Sophia. Too many options keep you from focusing on the right one. Also you might want to look into that particular state’s taxes compared to the others.

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