i am about to sign on my first assignement. i am planning to go to colorado and i have 2 companies in mind: talemed and access nurses.
has anybody worked for them?
also, i am planning to start working in january and some nurse recruiters say that the jobs in colorado are posted late, that i would not find out about my assignement before the middle of december. is anybody familiar with this? r the recruiters pulling my leg?
any response is appreciated. thanx:)
my husband works in Colorado a lot and I don't think he's ever had more than 2 weeks advance notice for a travel position - in Colorado or anywhere actually. There are plenty of jobs in CO so I wouldn't worry too much about finding one, just be ready to go with short notice. Good luck!
I am currently working with TaleMed and I don't have any issues. They found a job in one day after my contract had been cancelled by the hospital in NC.
OutWest wrote:my husband works in Colorado a lot and I don't think he's ever had more than 2 weeks advance notice for a travel position - in Colorado or anywhere actually. There are plenty of jobs in CO so I wouldn't worry too much about finding one, just be ready to go with short notice. Good luck!
thanks a lot for your reply. i am planning to be in the denver or boulder area. is there any hospitals your husband likes to work at? thanks again. nico
My husband has never worked in the Denver area because we have a pitbull mix and they are banned there :-(
I recently spoke with a recruiter with Access Nurses, and I wasn't impressed. I was quoted an hourly rate for a potential assignment in San Diego, then was told that the rate would be without benefits or housing. When I told him that I expected to make at LEAST $30/hr including benefits & housing, he actually laughed at me, and told me it wasn't possible!!! I told him that if that was the case, it wouldn't be possible for me to deal with Access Nurses......
that's interesting!! access nurses has offered me $21/hour. plus housing and a $400 stipend for my family's insurance. i was told i would have made $30/ hour.
are they pulling my leg or is that the ongoing rate for CO?
I don't get how your pay would go from $21/hour with the $400 insurance stipend to $30 hour without? $400/mo comes out to about $2.50 hour assuming a 40 hour work week.
For comparison: Hubby's average pay in Colorado (other than Denver) has been $30 - 35 hour plus housing & travel; Denver should be on the high end. He works ER only; we opt for no benefits since I get those through my job and his company does not usually pay completion or other bonuses.
Hope that helps. I'd be interested to hear what others are getting for Colorado.
OutWest wrote:I don't get how your pay would go from $21/hour with the $400 insurance stipend to $30 hour without? $400/mo comes out to about $2.50 hour assuming a 40 hour work week.
For comparison: Hubby's average pay in Colorado (other than Denver) has been $30 - 35 hour plus housing & travel; Denver should be on the high end. He works ER only; we opt for no benefits since I get those through my job and his company does not usually pay completion or other bonuses.
Hope that helps. I'd be interested to hear what others are getting for Colorado.
access nurses had promised me $ 30 when we had started talking about possibilities. 2 days ago they said that the pay would have been about $ 21 including housing and a stipend for the family's insurance ( $ 400). it sounds very little to me and i am thankful for your info. has your husband ever bargained over the payrate? i don't want to compromise the relationship with the recruiter but i also don't want to be taken advantage of. any suggestions? thanx!!!
Yes, he's bargained over the payrate, housing stipend, everything but IMHO it's important to feel comfortable with the company you work for and have confidence that they are treating you fairly. You do want to have a good relationship with your recruiter, but remember that you are a valuable commodity!
I would advise you to check out some other companies. Ask what specifially their pay rate includes (hourly rate, housing, benefits, per diem allowance, etc) to make sure you are comparing apples to apples. If your recruiter has a problem with that then maybe you should wonder why.
Whatever you do, don't miss out on coming to Colorado....it is so beautiful here!
thanx a lot for sharing your info. i'll be more aggressive. see u in Colorado. :-)
OH my! A recruiter should know better... I laugh at the recruiter if he offers less than $30. You make sure and have a good chuckle next time someone offers you $21/hr. Remember, HE is recruiting you! You are valuable and skilled.
That makes me mad. It makes no sense...he is probably paying his 90 year old mother's plumber and landscapers $50/hr at her empty home, and the nurse taking care of her internal plumbing and her skin care at the LTC is probably making half that! (especially if he recruited her nurse!)
I apologize for the rant, it's not my normal post.
it's good to let it out!!! i have never traveled before and as you can understand i am very green. thank you all so much for sharing your knowledge. this site is very helpful!!!
can anybody tell me of a decent nurse recruiter who can hook me up in the Denver, boulder area? thank you
Nico- I travel with RN Network. You can check them out at
Travel Nursing Jobs :: RN Network and if their benefits match what you're looking for, send me a PM & I'll send you my recruiter's info.
nico -
hubby travels with RTG Medical:
RTG Medical PM me if you would like his recruiter's name & number.
RTG is a pretty small company so comparing them and RN Network would be interesting. For what it's worth, if we had chosen to go with a large company it would have been RN Network.
It's supposed to be sunny and in the 60's in Denver today with snow on the way Tuesday :-)
thank you very much everybody.i have signed up with access nurses. i have found a day shift in a ccu in colorado springs and i am realy happy with that. i hope everything goes through. thanks again for the info to everyone. nico
Nico- good luck to you, but I hope you didn't take a travel assignment that is only paying $21/hr.........
Nico,
I would be curious to know the acuity/nurse/pt ratio and how stressful or non-stressful the Colorado job turns out to be.
I work ICU/ CCU and everyplace is different, but I have never worked in that state before.
Give us an update on the details when you can.
Good Luck!
the pay is 24.75, after housing and $600 of stipend for insurance for my whole family. i am pretty happy with that ( maybe i am a sucker!!!lol).
the manager sounds cool, she said that scheduling is flexible and that i could have an extra day of orientation if i needed. so far so good. i'll keep posting of course. nico
Good luck to you, but I really think you could have done a lot better...
I recently posted about Access.. please read it
This thread is a little old but thought I could give my 2 cents about Colorado.
Its a GREAT place to live, esp. if you like outdoors type of activities, there are whole foods everywhere and nobody honks at you!
PPl are more laid back and don't dress up all the time, more like you will see people looking like they are going camping or skiing.
Anyways.
I worked as a Staff nurse at Denver Health Level 1 trauma center.
I really liked it a lot, my first job and stayed 3 yrs.
It is probably the best paying hosp. in Denver. I started out in 05 as a new grad at ~23/hr, usually got close to 1hr/raise +1/hr COL increase. it also had GREAT benefits, you do NOT have to pay SS Tax, you get a 401a which means they put the money in an acct and its in your name! they match like 6% then up to another 3-6% i think. Health ins. is also great, never had to pay for blood draw, x-rays or MRI.
Anyways, they do use travelers.
It is a little hard to get on there as permanent staff since they implemented a new interview process with lengthly questionnaire... My mom who has been a nurse for 28+ yrs didn't pass. they ask you stupid non-work related questions like, do you pay your bills on time? etc..
And the people that do pass.... one girl got caught sleeping on the ICU family waiting room beds, and another time in an ICU room, for SEVERAL hrs..
Anyways, if you want to know anything about Colorado let me know. I used to work for an ambulance company and transported to all the hospitals in Colorado Springs (there are more than 2 hosp, they just aren't that big), i also lived in Pueblo and Denver.
Nico,
I accepted a contract with Access Nurses for a placement in Modesto Ca. After flying all the way across the U S and renting a car, I attempted to check into my apartment and was told by the apartment staff my lease had been canceled by the Access Nurses office. I called my recruiter who told me my contract was canceled the previous evening. She told me to wait and she would fix everything. After 45 minutes I called her again and suggested that I stay in a motel until this fiasco could be corrected. She told me that she had no authority to assure a reimbursement and there was no supervisor to approve that expense. I called the Access Nurses office and after explaining my delima was assured a supervisor would return my call. I didn't hear from them for 2 days and then changed my plane ticket to return home.
I called the office that next week, and emailed my recruiter twice. my calls were not returned.
After 2 weeks I wrote the CEO of the company and was told my expenses would not be reimbursed (1700.00) unless I wouked for the company.
Be careful with this company. If you do a search on this site and others you will be hard pressed to find anything positive.
