Searching in California

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.