Last December I had shared an offer I received for a really great permanent traveling position. If you aren’t already aware, it was a “permanent traveling” position, because I would still be able to travel to multiple states but I would be working as a permanent employee to one employer. No more agencies.
As some of you may have noticed, I did not accept their incredible offer. Here are the main reasons why:
- I loved working for their clinics in Virginia. Yet, I hated working for some of their clinics in Florida. This showed me that all of their clinics are not equally enjoyable to work in.
- I am not ready for such a commitment. I am turning 30 years old at the end of this year and I don’t want any restraints on my vacation time. I am planning on many wonderful trips abroad and don’t think 6 weeks PTO (including holidays) is going to cut it.
- I do not want to give up my tax breaks. I have often highlighted the pros of working both 1099 and W2 as a locum tenens nurse practitioner. If I became a permanent W2 employee, the taxes I would be paying would almost double.
- I don’t want to become a slave to healthcare. Unfortunately, healthcare in the USA doesn’t allow providers with enough time with their patients, resulting in less than optimal outcomes for patients. It is a high demanding environment, leading to increased stress and work hours. No thank you.
As amazing as the opportunity was, I knew in my gut I had to turn it down. On the bright side, that opportunity will always be there, if I am ever ready for it.
I love your blog! I’m a 52 year old FNP pursuing my PMHNP DNP. I still have kids at home and a husband who is locked into a career he loves in Florida. With that said, we talk about one day traveling ( I have more opportunities) and I live vicariously through your posts. I rarely post comments anywhere but had to give you a thumbs up on your ability to follow your own path and not give into the Healthcare machine that will suck us dry of we let it! Even at 52 I’m trting to figure out a career path that will encompass time off and quality of life while doing what I love. Thanks again!!!
Aw thanks so much! Hopefully you will be able to explore traveling someday 🙂
There is a well-known quality agency that does have W-2 practitioners as permanent Travelers. I turn them down because I do 1099 work and as an older traveler my medical insurance is really important. I joined a Locum tenons Physician Group and if I stop working locums I no longer qualify for that excellent I’ll be at somewhat expensive insurance. If I worked for an agency that would only let me be on vacation between assignments for a month without losing my benefits then it would mean that whatever assignment they had might be the one I would have to take. Because even though they solicited me an email virtually every week when I would go on the website they really didn’t have an assignment in my specialty let alone one that was appealing. And what that might mean is that I would be stranded without an assignment unless I were willing to go to North Dakota in the middle of nowhere or to a restricted Practice State like the one I live in to work. I don’t ever want to be dependent on an agency like that because I find that when they have that much power they do use it and rather than being able to have choices I would be having to stay with them for all of my assignments just to keep my medical benefits. You are considered a permanent hire even though you are a traveler being sent on locums. Besides their hourly rate was a lot less then what I was making as a 1099 Locum. And I realize that because they negotiated the rate and made profit off of me they had a tendency to lowball my offer to the work site. The way they functioned was to reach out to the work site and basically offer me at a certain rate like an auction bid and happy to guess what the usual rate was there. And normally your agency is the one that will tell you and in this case they didn’t and they pushed me really hard to take a lower rate saying that that would increase my chances of getting that assignment I wanted. They would have pocketed the difference and instead of telling me the range and letting me choose my risk that I would get the assignment at lower pay versus not getting the assignment but being well paid if I did. That definitely made me feel disrespected and likely to be used.