Next Stop – Jacksonville, FL

For winter months, January – March, I knew I wanted to stay in Florida. I considered going to my favorite place – San Diego, CA, but it would be too challenging with the time difference and a long distance relationship. I had been asked to help out in Jacksonville in the past but I never had the chance. So, I reached out to my contact there to see if they had a need. 

Turns out they did! One clinic only had one PCP and they needed to off load some of her patients so she could focus more on her Medical Director role, while waiting for the new PCPs to start. The regional medical director assured me that it’s a nice well-run office, and not as chaotic as what I am likely accustomed to. 

I then let my agency know about the potential assignment so they could get everything in writing. Some of you may be wondering why I continue to work through the agency, when I am being contacted by the clinics directly for work opportunities. There is a legal agreement where I would have to go through the agency to work with this client unless we don’t work together for at least two years. 

The following week, my recruiter contacted me because she said the Jacksonville market didn’t want to pay my increased hourly rate that Bradenton was paying me. She asked if that was ok. I said no. She asked if I was willing to walk away, I said yes. She seemed uncomfortable having to call me about this. Probably because I am the one that got them that work opportunity in the first place, so the agency should be the one taking the cut, not me. I am sure she was pressured from her supervisor to contact me. 

Also, I have been working with this agency for 6 years and I know how things work. They don’t go to the site and say “hey pay Sophia $100/hour (for example)”. They say “hey we are charging $150/hour” and the site says yes or no. The site has no idea how much the agency is paying me. She made it seem like the site said no we want to pay Sophia $95/hour instead of $100/hour. When in reality, the site said we are only going to pay $145/hour. I have been playing this game for a while and my bosses often accidentally tell me how much they are paying. So, like I said before, the agency should be the one taking the cut, since I am the one doing the actual work. 

The next day, my recruiter called me back to let me know the good news. She said she had to go to the director to ask for permission for them to take the pay cut. The director said, of course, Sophia is the one that brought us the job! (Duh!) 

I am taking a week off in the middle of the assignment and I asked the agency to pay for my roundtrip flight home during that week (on top of the regular travel before and after the assignment). My recruiter said that the site said no they didn’t want to pay for that. I told her I didn’t ask for the site to pay for it, I asked for the agency to pay for it. And she said “oh my bad, yes we can pay for it.” I like how they are trying to get out of “losing” any money when I am the one doing part of their work getting these clients!

Anyways, I am looking forward to working in Jacksonville. I have several friends from college that live there that I would love to catch up with. My sister went to pharmacy school there so I am pretty familiar with the area. It is a bit colder than south Florida but still tolerable for someone that is anti-cold like me.