Looking to supplement your staff with travel healthcare workers? Before you bring travel staff on board, you’ll want to consider how well they’ll do on the job. Since travel healthcare is dynamic work full of change—with new faces, cities and facilities every 13 weeks or so—you can imagine it takes a certain type of person to excel in this line of work. As you choose your new travel healthcare workers, you should be able to recognize the personality traits that could make a worker a poor fit as a travel employee.
Characteristics you should avoid in a travel healthcare employee
As they join your staff for a brief amount of time, the best travel healthcare workers will be ready to jump right in and get things done. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you’ll want to avoid travel workers with the following four personalities:
- Yes, many people can be a little shy and nervous during their interview. But if a travel healthcare worker seems overly timid—on edge, mousy and excessively quiet, with one- or two-word answers—it could be that he or she is not cut out for travel work. A travel healthcare worker will need to learn the ropes as quickly as possible—this includes asking questions and interacting with co-workers and patients. A timid personality will hinder a travel worker’s progress.
- Nursing can be stressful as it is—especially when you’re the new person—and negativity has no place in a travel healthcare career. You’ll want to find a positive, upbeat person who is eager to learn, grow and help.
- Travel workers must be resilient and thick-skinned. They’ll need to be open-minded, adaptable and ready for whatever may come their way. A worker who is overly sensitive—to change, a new environment, new rules, difficult situations, etc.—will probably not do well as a travel healthcare employee. To determine a worker’s sensitivity, you can ask during an interview how he or she deals with difficult patients or with co-worker conflicts.
- A short temper. Travel healthcare—and working with patients in general—takes patience and a calm demeanor. The best travel workers are graceful under pressure, and able to destress and move on after a difficult situation. On the other hand, a short temper can be the sign of a travel healthcare worker that is feeling the symptoms of burnout and simply needs a vacation. But regardless of the reason for a short temper, he or she is not someone that will work well on your staff.
Partner with a staffing firm
To help you find and evaluate the right travel workers for your facility, you can rely on the help of a staffing agency. Recruiters are experts at what they do and can help you find and place travel staff best matched to your job assignments with ease and efficiency.
MedPro Healthcare Staffing can help
We place travel nurses, therapists, pharmacists and allied healthcare workers with travel assignments across the country. To learn more about the ways we can help you supplement your facility, contact one of our experienced recruiters today.
