When it comes to your references, character counts.
We’re talking about your own character, of course, and the character your references describe you as having.
So what types of professional referenceshould you have on your healthcare resume? Read below to find out.
- Even though you’ll be traveling from assignment to assignment, don’t feel that you can take the quality of the references you choose less seriously. Working as a healthcare traveler is a real job. In fact, working as a traveler is a great addition to your resume, so treat your job search in the travel field as seriously as you would if you were looking for work in a hospital, pharmacy, medical center, rehab center, etc.
- Each healthcare profession has its own requirements when it comes to references, but all are pretty similar: you’ll need at least two references from a supervisor in a clinical setting.
- If you don’t have professional clinical experience yet, your preceptors during rotations or clinical student experiences will suffice. (However, most travel staffing service require that travelers have at least one or even two years of recent professional experience, so if you’re a newly minted nurse, pharmacist, OT, PT, speech therapist or other allied healthcare professional, you may want to wait a couple of years until you can provide real clinical supervisor references.)
- Understand that a bona fide clinical reference should have in-depth knowledge of your clinical skills (as opposed to saying you’re a hard worker and a team player).
- The clinical reference also must come from an actual supervisor, not a colleague.
- As you look for additional references (other than the clinical supervisor references), make sure you find people who will give you a great reference.
- Don’t just assume that if someone agrees to give you a reference that it will be a good one. (True story: a recent graduate of an osteopathic medical school asked a preceptor if the preceptor would give the student a reference. The preceptor agreed and the student listed him on his list of references. But the preceptor thought so little of the new graduate’s medical knowledge and skills that he told any hospital that called that it should not hire the graduate under any circumstances.) Don’t leave your references to chance; ask anyone you approach flat out: “Will you give me a good or great reference?”
If you’ve ever thought about working as a healthcare traveler, bring that resume and a list of those great references to the recruiters at MedPro Healthcare Staffing. We look forward to discussing this terrific healthcare career track with you.
