I have been a nurse for a year and am planning on starting my first traveling assignment in September. I have been talking to a couple different travel companies in the process. I live in Ohio and planned on staying on the east coast within about 8-10 hours from home. The first company I got offered a position with told me because of my limited experience I can't be picky on the first assignment and should take what I can get to start. The recruiter kind of talked me into taking an assignment in a state that is 21 hours away from where I am now. I already signed the contract and am supposed to start in two weeks. In the meantime I had been talking with another company and they said they could easily find me a position closer to home. I hate to break a contract, but am terrified of going so far away especially for the first assignment. I don't know what to do at this point...has anyone ever cancelled a contract prior to starting and what were the penalties???
If you've already signed the contract, you can be charged for any financial penalties incurred by your company from your canceling... such as any financial penalty they may have to pay the hospital, any housing deposits they may have paid for you, as well as the monthly rent for the length of the lease they signed for you, hook-up fees for utilities, etc. The financial penalties can reach into the thousands of dollars.
You signed the contract, you should stick to it- canceling early sometimes can't be helped due to illness, family emergency, or unsafe working conditions, but canceling simply because you didn't do your research, found something better, or are having second thoughts is unprofessional.