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Guide to Getting a Travel Nursing Job on Nomad

There are four main steps to getting a travel nursing job through Nomad. We created this guide to explain how every step of the process works and hopefully answer any questions you might have while finding your next assignment on Nomad.

Step 1: Find a Job

Nomad puts you in the driver’s seat in your job search and application process. You can search through our entire inventory of jobs, filtering for those that are most interesting to you . Each job post lists all the relevant details up front, including the pay rates , location, facility and more.

Step 2: Submit an Application

Once you find a job you’re interested in, you can submit an application to indicate that interest. It’s important that each section of the application is filled out appropriately so that we can make sure you’re ready to be submitted to the facility.

Step 3: References and Checklist(s)

After submitting an application, our team will need a few more items in order to share your information with the hospital you are applying to. We’ll send you a Skills Checklist to complete and also will be reaching out to your references . After this is complete we send your information over to the hospital for consideration and if they are interested, they will reach out to you directly to complete an interview. Make sure to check your email and keep your voicemail box empty in case they call!

Step 4: Accept Offer and Begin Assignment

If all goes well, details of an offer will be sent to us, and we will work with you to make sure the information matches what you are looking for. Once accepting, you would become a Nomad Nurse , and as a W-2 employee of Nomad, you would have access to our benefits and be put on our weekly payroll.

Read on for all of the insider tips and tricks to using Nomad to get the best travel nursing job at the best rate.

Step 1: Find A Job

Getting started.

All nurses on Nomad have unlimited access to search through our entire inventory of jobs on our “Find A Job” page. To get started, all you have to do is create a Nomad account. Creating an account is completely free and there is no minimum commitment.

After creating an account, you will be able to start your search. We also recommend setting up your job preferences by clicking the circle in the upper right, then clicking settings. Job preferences are the best way to make sure you receive notifications when roles matching your preferences are posted on Nomad.

Searching for Jobs

There are thousands of jobs on Nomad, and we are posting new jobs every day. To help you isolate opportunities that interest you, you can search and filter our jobs on a variety of criteria. You can search by specialties, states and major cities. Additionally, you can filter by start date and schedule to fit your needs.

When you search and filter, matching jobs will be listed for you to browse through. Basic details about the jobs are listed, and you can click the star in the upper right corner of the job box to save the job to revisit or apply to later. The jobs that you star or apply to will automatically go to the “Saved Jobs” page within your account. To learn more about a specific opportunity, click into it to view the job description.

Job Details

We know that having as much information about a job is crucial in making a decision, so we list as much information as possible. Each of our job descriptions include some photos of the hospital and surrounding area, as well as information about the facility, pay, assignment length, and schedule.

Job Details: Pay

The hourly pay rate that you see on our jobs is a blended rate. The first segment is the non-taxable weekly stipends which includes housing, meal and incidentals. This amount is set by the GSA based on the cost of living in the area the job is located and will be received each week regardless of how many hours you work.

The second segment is your hourly taxable income, which will be taxed. The two segments together reflect total gross weekly pay. You can see an estimated breakdown of the pay for each position in a compensation table beneath the job description.

We know that every person’s taxable situation is different, so we list the taxable and non-taxable portions separately. You can calculate an estimate of your “take home pay” by subtracting any applicable state and personal taxes from the taxable portion of the pay and adding it to the non-taxable portion.

Outside of this pay, we also offer a reimbursement of up to $1000 to get to your assignment based on miles traveled. For the exact mileage reimbursement rates, visit the GSA website here .

Job Details: Schedule and Shifts

The start date that is listed on our jobs is the goal start date from the hospital. Unless “ASAP Start” is listed in the title of the job, there is typically some flexibility of about 1-3 weeks after the start date. Sometimes, the listed start date for a job will pass, but the job will still be up on Nomad. This doesn’t mean the job is no longer available. If a job is closed or filled, we remove it from our website so you can no longer see it. If a job is still listed on Nomad, it is still available.

Beneath the compensation table, there are details about the hours and shifts. We list the contract length (most commonly 13 weeks), the shift times, and the expected hours. In most cases, the expected hours are 36 per week, which is the average amount of hours you will be expected to work while on assignment.

Job Details: Facility

To learn more about the hospital, you can scroll to the bottom of the job description page. The hospital address, website, and overall description is listed here. We also provide a map of the area with nearby shops, restaurants and attractions.

Choosing Jobs To Apply to

With so many great opportunities to choose from, it can be hard to know which one is the best fit for you. Below is a list of things that we have found help make for a good fit:

• 1 or more years recent experience in the listed specialty (within last 2 years)
• All certifications listed on the posting or being willing to obtain them - please be prepared to let us know the status of each certification
• Having the state license required or having already applied for it - please let us know the status
• Can start on date listed or within 1-3 weeks after the date listed
• Meeting any other requirements listed in the description of the job

Being Considered for a Job

In order to be considered for an opportunity on Nomad, you will need to submit an application within your Nomad account. To do this, click into a job and then click the blue “Apply” button on the right side. This will walk you through all the necessary sections and documents that we need.

If you have already started filling out your profile, the information will be automatically transferred over so you will not need to enter it again. We will not send your information to any hospital or position that you do not apply for; you are always in the driver’s seat for which jobs you want to be considered for.

Step 2: Submit An Application

Submitting a complete application is a crucial step in getting a job on Nomad. There are multiple sections in the application, and it is best to take the time to complete each of them fully so you don’t have to go back and add or change anything. You will only need to fill out an application once, and then you will be able to one-click apply for all other jobs on Nomad.

This section asks for details like your address, phone number, and resume. For your resume, make sure to upload the actual resume file (PDF, Word Document, etc.), not a picture of your resume.

This is also where you will enter when you are available to start an assignment and put in any requested time off. It is important to have these details available up front, as these are crucial details in a hospital’s consideration of your application. Your requested time off will need to be approved while your application is being considered as that information will be included down the line in the offer and contract stage.

The hospitals that we work with also require entering a photo of yourself along with your SSN. This information is encrypted and secure, and is only used as a form of identity verification.

Credentials

You will be able to enter your state licenses and certifications here. If you have a compact license, you will not need to indicate this anywhere. We pull a license report from Nursys to accompany your applications, and this contains the status of your licenses and indicates whether they are multi-state or single state.

For your certifications, you may have one that is not an option listed in the selection tab. If you would like to have it included in your file, simply send it to [email protected] and we can have it included with your applications.

Disciplinary Questions

We ask a series of questions about your clinical experience and licenses along with any actions taken against them. It is important that you answer these questions truthfully, as any discrepancies can result in the suspension of your Nomad account.

Work Experience

For the education portion, please enter all levels of education you have received. If you have achieved an MSN, make sure to list your ASN and BSN as well.

The work history section of your application is one of the most important sections. The hospitals we work with require a full seven-year work history to be listed. Each individual travel assignment at each hospital must be listed as its own entry, not the agency you worked with . We understand that this can be time-consuming, especially for seasoned travelers, but unfortunately the hospitals require this information to be entered in this section in order to be considered.

For any gaps over 30 days between jobs or after finishing school, a Work History Gap explanation is also required. The explanation does not have to be detailed - it can be as simple as “personal time off for the holidays” - but it is required. If any of these gaps exist, make sure to send an email to [email protected] with the dates and explanations.

In order for us to be able to pass along your information to the hospital for consideration, we need to get responses from at least two managers within the past 1-2 years who oversaw your clinical skills. This can be a charge nurse, nurse manager, director of nursing, or other type of supervisor. When entering their title and the years you worked with them, make sure that they correspond to a particular job or assignment you have entered in your work history.

Please provide an accurate phone number and email address for your references and give them a heads up that we will be reaching out to them. The form they need to fill out takes less than 2 minutes and it will only need to be completed once.

Step 3: References and Checklist(s)

Skills Checklist

After you successfully submit your application, we will send you a Skills Checklist for the specialty listed on the job. You will need to fill a separate checklist for each specialty of job you apply to, but you will only need to fill out the checklist once. Each checklist is valid for 1 year.

You will be able to access skills checklists on the page that comes up after submitting your application. We also send you an email with a link to get there.

Note: The skills checklists are hosted on a separate web page and unfortunately is not optimized on mobile devices. The checklist will need to be completed on a computer.

In addition to sending you a checklist to complete, we will also send an email to your references once your application is submitted. We need responses from at least 2 references in order to share your information with the hospital. If we haven’t heard from your references via email, we will also trying giving them a call to complete the reference over the phone.

Once your skills checklist(s) is complete and we have two reference forms completed, we will send all of your information over to the hospital to be considered.

Follow-up and Interview

After your information has been shared with the hospital, the next step in the process would be an interview. Some hospitals will give you a call to conduct a phone interview, while others will send you a virtual interview to complete via email. Make sure your voicemail box is not full and you are monitoring your email for any interview request or update. We actively follow up with our hospital contacts to make sure you are aware of any updates, including if the job has been filled or to be expecting a phone or email interview.

After a phone or email interview, reach out to a Nomad Navigator to let them know that it occurred and how it went. This will allow us to check-in with our contact and help move things to the next step in the process: the offer.

If all goes well and schedules line up, the hospital will send us the details of an offer to share with you. A Nomad Navigator will reach out to you directly and work through the details of the offer with you. We make sure everything aligns with what you are looking for so you ultimately accept. It is important to be very responsive and communicative in this stage, as the details of your contract and offer will not be modifiable once you accept and sign.

Becoming a Nomad Nurse

If you accept an offer with Nomad, you become a Nomad Nurse! Nomad Nurses are W-2 employees of Nomad Nurses Inc. In addition to industry-best pay scale, Nomad offers our nurses a highly attractive benefits package.

Nomad Nurses’ benefit package includes: medical, dental, and vision plans; handling all compliance and credentialing; licensing reimbursement for Nomad jobs; and various other perks! While on assignment, you will submit your hours to us each week and you will be paid every Friday.

While we leverage technology to make the process faster, easier, and more efficient, you will always have a member of our Nomad Navigator team to speak with and ask any questions. From applying to working, we are here for you every step of the way.

We hope this guide was helpful! If you have any additional questions, you can visit our FAQ page here or reach out to us directly. You can email us at [email protected] , chat with us live on our website, or give us a call at (866) 656-6623 from 9:30am - 6:00pm EST.

The Nomad Navigator Team nomadhealth.com

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Nomad Travel Nursing Agency Review 2023

• Brandon Little
• Last Updated: April 18, 2023

Nomad Travel Nursing agency is part of the greater Nomad Health platform. It’s one of the first digital marketplaces for staffing healthcare professionals, including travel nurses .

The company has built a streamlined, digital platform. This allows travel nurses to browse:

• Job openings
• Pay packages
• Other job details

All of these things can be done on the platform before reaching out to the recruiter.

Nomad Health was started in 2015 by Dr. Alexi Nazem, and it is headquartered in NYC.

The company has had an impressive growth since its inception. In fact, they raised $12 million in funding in 2018 and another $34 million in 2019.

The agency has jobs nationwide and doesn’t only cater to travel nurses. They also help find positions for physicians and LPN’s. 

Read on to learn about the pros and cons of this staffing agency and see if it might be a good fit for you!

Table of contents

Negative nomad travel nursing reviews, postive nomad travel nursing reviews, the upsides, the downsides , how to become a travel nurse with nomad, should you choose nomad travel nursing .

Travel Nursing with Nomad certainly has it’s mixed bag of reviews. There are plenty of both 5 star and 1 star reviews.

It seems there isn’t much middle ground between the positive and negative reviews. In fact, it appears to boil down to one thing: communication.

As any travel nurse knows, communication from a recruiter can make or break your experience.

While the compensation packages tend to be on the higher end, reviews like these can be concerning for anyone taking a travel assignment:

“My Travel Nursing experience with Nomad wasn’t great. Communication between office and staff nurses is poor and they do NOT stand behind their nurses. Hiring process was excruciating even after the job offer, found out that they still had not completed all their background & reference checks. Office staff is very pushy when they need something from you, however administration will not return calls when you call them.” -CeeCee Wilis, RN, Corpus Chirsti, TX

“I’ve had much better Travel Nursing companies, do yourself a favor and stay away from Nomad.” – Emily Stromberg, RN, Austin, TX

“I had a recruiter laugh at me during a conference call.” document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) {ESY.Widget({category_id: '231',title: 'Search Nursing Programs Enrolling Now',widget_layout: 'horizontal',domain_id: 'betternurse.org',widget_id: '',custom_options: '',intro: '',type: 'search'});}); -Jesse McNay, RN, Wyoming, USA 

Not all nurses who did an assignment with Nomad Travel Nursing had a bad experience. Some highlighted their experience by saying:

“I had a great experience with Nomad Travel Nursing. No issues at all and I would recommend them.”  -Emily Nathan, RN, Tacoma, WA

“I love Nomad Travel Nursing and I truly feel like they would do anything for me. This is my second assignment with them and they are always communicative, and I can’t forget to mention they’re pay is the best I’ve seen!”  -Danielle Wright RN, Grand Rapids, MI  

“Nomad Travel Nursing is the BEST! Danielle is the best recruiter and this is my third assignment with her. They are clear, concise, and pay on time. I’ve had no issues and look forward to more assignments after this one!” -Katie Parker, RN, Omaha, NE

Pros and Cons of Nomad Travel Nursing

As with any travel nursing agency, Nomad has it’s share of advantages and disadvantages.

While their digital platform is a great resource, the possibility of poor communication may be something to keep in mind.

• Medical, dental and vision benefits
• Weekly pay (every Friday) 
• Licensure reimbursement 
• Digital platform to browse and find contracts
• Can be best for seasoned travelers 
• Some reviews note poor communication from recruiters 

Nomad Travel Nursing’s platform makes browsing and starting a travel nursing assignment a breeze.

It’s way more advanced than some other travel nursing agencies . This will help streamline your experience. However, you will need a few things in order to start traveling, so it’s important to take care of them: 

• Up-to-date resume (you will need to upload this to their portal)
• Know your available start date (as well as any requested time off you may have)
• Current photo and SSN number
• State licenses and certifications 
• Work Experience 
• References (they prefer at least two references)

Overall, Nomad Travel Nursing is a great option for nurses looking to take a more hands on approach when picking up assignments.

Their transparent and robust website allows you to browse all available assignments, including pay packages. They also have “concierges” (essentially recruiters) who will help you get through the whole process.

With their big funding rounds, we expect to see a lot more from Nomad, especially from a technology standpoint. 

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The Cons of Travel Nursing

There are plenty of great reasons to become a Travel Nurse, but the Cons of Travel Nursing are not discussed as frequently. I was a Travel Nurse for 3 years, and I can attest to the true highs and lows of this profession.

What is Travel Nursing?

Travel Nurses are hired by agencies and placed at Healthcare Facilities that are in need of short-term nurses. Typically, a contract is 3 months, but this can vary a bit. Hospitals may need Travel Nurses due to changing computer systems, maternity leave, simply being short-staffed, or other reasons.

I wrote about the Pros of Travel Nursing first, so you can find those here . I am not trying to sway you to not become a Travel Nurse. In fact, I continued to do it for 3 years despite the Cons of Travel Nursing on this list. In all honesty, I think the Pros outweigh the Cons, but Travel Nurse Agencies and other sites can make Travel Nursing sound like it’s nothing but glamorous. This is not true.

Moving sucks. When you see the lists of things that cause stress to humans, one of the big ones is moving. You will be doing this every 3 months, so I want to be open and honest about what that entails.

For general advice on Travel Nursing , I have that for ya too.

Figured I should say hi so you know you’re getting advice from a real human.

#1. You never get comfortable in a city.

It takes more than 3 months to really get to know a place.

The day you discover your favorite coffee shop is the day you have to start thinking about your next contract. You finally learn how to get to your job without GoogleMaps, and then you have to start using GoogleMaps to find an apartment in your next city. You spend time finding the best grocery store, brewery, brunch spot, and running path, but you never get to fully experience them before moving on to the next town.

It’s tough feeling like a stranger in every town you live.

#2. It can be quite lonely.

If you don’t travel with friends or to friends/family, it can be a lonely way to do life. It is hard to make instant friends, so every time you move, you are alone in a new place. You can explore, but you won’t have someone to share in your new adventures.

It is often possible to become friends with fellow Travel Nurses or your coworkers, but you and they always know that you’ll be moving on in a couple months. It is more difficult to develop meaningful friendships.

#3. All the paperwork.

I swear that Travel Nursing is more of a testament to how well you can fill out paperwork and get vaccines/TB tests than how good of a nurse you actually are. Every 3 months, a new contract will somehow come up with a new vaccine that you need or require new computer program training or insist that you have a physical from a doctor who lives in Kansas or tell you to get your labs drawn at a place that hasn’t been open since 1980. Oh, and you must have everything complete in 4 days. I spent so much stressful time trying to get everything worked out in between contracts, and it never got easier.

Read Next : How to Adventure More as a Travel Nurse

#4. Lack of training.

Healthcare facilities hire Travel Nurses because they need a Nurse STAT. They don’t have time to give you an in-depth orientation, nor do they want to pay you for that (Travel Nurses are paid more than regular staff). One contract I had gave me 8 hours of training on the floor, and this was meant to be adequate for me to float to multiple units. Gah.

While you can get used to learning on the fly, it is harder to do your job if you aren’t given enough training.

#5. Being on a new floor puts you at a disadvantage.

You’re new. You don’t know who to ask for help, you don’t know where the pagers are kept or if you even need a pager, you can stare at the supply room contents for 45 minutes and not find a certain roll of tape, and only God knows how to get a hold of a doctor when your patient develops a fever. You are new, and you will feel that sometimes.

#6. You will get harder patient assignments.

This one sucks. I have a lot of respect for nurses and don’t like to think that units would “dump on” the travel nurse. Unfortunately, it happens whether it’s purposeful or not.

If you’ve worked on a hospital unit, you know that there are patients that suck the life out of you and your coworkers. The ones who are manipulative or needy or mean. The ones that wear out nursing staff in just one shift. When a charge nurse is making an assignment, knowing that her nurses might need a break from a certain patient, it makes sense that a new, not yet worn out, Travel Nurse could be given that patient. The only problem is, the new Travel Nurse then gets assigned all the suck-the-life-out-of-you patients. It sucks.

And because of the previous reasons of being on a new floor and not having much training, your job is exponentially harder.

#7. Dating is tough.

Dating is tough. Period. It’s even tougher when you have to explain to every potential mate that you will be moving in 2-3 months. It then either becomes nothing because people don’t know what to do with that information, a fling because you both know it won’t go anywhere, or too serious too fast with talk of long distance, moving, etc.

Obviously, there are exceptions to these Danielle-made rules, but I would guess that most Travel Nurses would agree that dating is harder as a Travel Nurse than in regular life.

#8. Every 3 months, you will convince yourself that you will be homeless.

Finding an apartment is always a pain. Finding short-term, furnished housing on short notice is sometimes close to impossible. Often, Travel Nurse Agencies provide housing, but this housing can be costly and not always in the best part of the city. Once you decline it, you then have to find your own. I seemed to always have a week when I would have no housing lined up, and I’d contemplate what it would be like to live on the streets or at a campground. I always managed to find somewhere to stay, but it was stressful nonetheless.

#9. You might just hate it.

You might hate the city, the weather, the people, the job, the crappy apartment you picked, or the traffic. Leaving a contract early can cost you money and not look great for the next job, so you might have to stick it out for 3 months while hating where you are.

#10. Nursing Licenses.

I could go on a rant about how every state in the United States should be a compact state and how absurd it is to have to pay certain states a crap ton of money to obtain a nursing license there when they are so clearly in need of more nurses. But I will just say that getting different nursing licenses is time-consuming, expensive, and often enraging. (Sorry, California, but you’re the worst.)

#11. You are at the mercy of who needs Nurses.

While you can often land a Travel Nurse job somewhere that you want to go, there are other times that Travel Nurses just aren’t needed. Either not enough women are having babies or the hospital doesn’t want to cover the cost of a Travel Nurse or places are better retaining their full-time nurses. There can be lulls in job availability. You then have to decide on a place that’s not ideal or wait it out.

Because you’re at the mercy of who needs nurses, night shift jobs or hospitals that require you to rotate between night and day shift are often the more available options. Night shift can be rough, so I wrote Tips on Rotating Shifts for Travel Nurses to help you out with this.

Now that you know all the Cons of Travel Nursing you can make an educated decision on whether or not it is right for you. If you haven’t read the 11 Reasons to be a Travel Nurse yet, read that next. And if you’re signing a contract or are already a Travel Nurse, read my advice . If you have any Cons to add, I’d love to hear them. Comment below!

If you decide to become a Travel Nurse, I worked with Cross Country and was always able to find great contracts with them. Shoot me an email [email protected] so we can talk about it!

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