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If you’re an occupational therapist with at least two years of professional experience behind you and you’re interested in working as a traveling OT, good for you! We’d love to hear from you!

But you may be wondering how to build a good resume for traveling assignments.

Have no fear, a resume for a traveling OT is very similar to that of one for an occupational therapist who wishes to work for one clinic, hospital or healthcare facility in one place. There is a slight twist for the traveling OT resume, though: you need to show your flexibility and your ability to handle change on a long-term basis.

One of the easiest changes you can – and should – make to your OT resume is to change your objective to one that states that you’re looking to work as a traveling OT. Be sure to place this at the top of your resume, immediately below your name, address and contact information.

Follow the objective with what is known as a summary statement. This is where you summarize your skills, experience and educational background in a short paragraph. You also should highlight some of your certifications specific to OT and other pertinent qualifications. The summary paragraph also could be where you state your flexibility and ability to deal with constant change.

Then comes a list of those specific technical skills. You can place these in a bulleted list for easy reading. Typical skills to highlight could be care plan creation and administration, patient/family education, your interpersonal skills, software and other technologies with which you’re familiar, etc.

Since you’ve been working for at least two years as an OT, you’ll then highlight some of your successes (you can dub this section “Highlights of Accomplishments”) in your career. Be very specific in this section. You’re able to see X number of OT patients a week. You’ve been honored with this specific award. You were employee of the month for your department X number of times. You’ve written X number of journal articles, etc.

This accomplishment section also could be where you highlight your flexibility: “Handled regular shift changes with aplomb and received commendation from supervisor regularly,” for example.

Finally, list your employers in reverse chronological order. Then list your educational history, starting with more recent certifications first, going in reverse chronological order.

Keep the number of fonts you use in the resume to no more than two. Boldface the fonts sparingly and don’t use underlining. In other words, keep your resume clean and spare looking. Aim to keep it to no more than one or two pages.

Looking for more information on a career as a traveling OT? Then contact the recruiters at MedPro Healthcare Staffing. We’d love to discuss our many the many traveling OT jobs we now have available at facilities across the country.

If you’ve decided to pursue work as a traveling pharmacist, read below for some tips on how to ace the interview.

First, remember that, even though you’ll be interviewing with a recruiter at a healthcare travel staffing service, you still should treat the interview very seriously. The recruiter and his or her colleagues will be looking to see if you’re trustworthy and if you have the skills and wherewithal to succeed in a position as a traveling pharmacist.

Your interview with the recruiter can make or break your traveling career before it even gets started. Take it lightly at your peril.

You should research the healthcare travel service as much as you can before your interview. This will a) show the interviewer you’re interested in the company itself, and b) you’ll know how many pharmacy positions the service offers.

Your interview may take place over the phone or via video-conferencing software. Many travel services hire pharmacists and other travelers who live far from the service’s office, making a face-to-face interview difficult. If you’re going to be interviewed via video conference, dress as you would for a face-to-face interview. Wear a blazer or suit jacket, or professional dress or blouse to the interview. The interviewer may only be able to see your face and no other part of your body, but it’s best to dress completely professionally, just in case.

You’ll naturally be asked how much you know about work as a traveling healthcare professional and why you’re interested in the career. You’ll want to be sure your answer includes the fact that you’ve done your due diligence on the positives and negatives of working as a traveler. You also don’t want to say you just want to get a chance to travel to see the country.

Instead, you’ll need a thoughtful answer about your knowledge of the profession, the benefits to pharmacies/hospitals/patients and the benefits and drawbacks to your career. In other words, you need a well-thought-out answer!

If you’re interested in assignments that last longer than the typical 13 weeks, you may be asked if you’d be amenable to interviewing with the client hospital or pharmacy in person. These probably would be for travel assignments of at least a year, however.

Feel free to ask your own questions, such as how much information you’ll be given about an assignment before you must accept it. What types of pay rates does the service provide pharmacists? What about other benefits provided to travelers? Can you turn down an assignment if it’s offered to you? What happens if you’re at an assignment and you find it’s not a good fit, what then? (Note: many of these questions will be answered on a service’s website, so check there first. But it’s perfectly OK to ask for clarification or if the answers can’t be found on the website.)

If you’re a pharmacist or pharm tech with at least two years’ of professional experience and you’re interested in learning more about our traveling pharmacy positions, contact a MedPro Healthcare Staffing recruiter today. We look forward to hearing from you.

One of the top reasons anyone decides to work as a traveling healthcare professional is to travel – of course!

While you travel the country or the region to your different assignments, you’ll undoubtedly want to explore the area near your assignment city on your days off. How will you decide which day trips to take?

You can ask your assignment colleagues for tips on great day trips, of course. They’ll probably give you terrific information on which sites are too touristy, which are closed during a certain season of the year, which are worth the long drive, and more.

But your smartphone also can help you decide on your free-time itineraries. Read below for some mobile phone apps we’ve found that can help you find great day trips while you’re on your healthcare assignment.

Truck drivers know. They know where the best cheap eats are. They know how to get around traffic snarls on major freeways. They know. So it might be wise to download apps loved by truckers. Here are some we found that are beloved by those who fly our freeways delivering the goods that we love.

For example, GasBuddy helps you find the gas stations with the cheapest prices in any area. It’s for iOS and Android.

Want to avoid slow freeways? Waze Social is another iOS and Android app that, according to its description, is a “fun, community-based mapping, traffic & navigation app, 40 million strong.” It reports, among other things, freeway and road closures in real time.

You’re going to want to make sure the weather is amenable to your day trip. This can be particularly important if, for example, your assignment is in a spot that sees you leave a valley and travel to the mountains. If snow arrives on the mountain, will you be able to get down? Good to know if it will snow then, yes? The Weather Channel offers a free app for iOS and Android.

Do you like to take hikes? Then check out About.com’s reviews of five hiking GPS apps for both iPhone and Android.

You’re going to want to remember your travels (tales for the grandkids someday?), and now you can place your notes and thoughts in a travel journal app called Trip Journal. The app, according to its websites “allows you to document vacation experiences and share them with your friends and family.” For iPhone and Android; the price is about 99 cents.

If you’re going on a road trip, you should make an effort to visit the quirky roadside attractions in and around your assignment city. RoadSideAmerica.com offers an iPhone app ($2.99 for one region), that allows you to find and visit what it calls the “historic landmarks and silly sights…from Washington to Obama.”

What travel apps have you found invaluable while on assignment? Tell us about them here.

If you’re at all interested in working as a traveling healthcare professional, don’t be shy: contact MedPro Healthcare Staffing today!

Arizona isn’t just about the desert. The Grand Canyon State has mountains, forests, the Grand Canyon (as well as several beautiful smaller canyons definitely worth a visit), rivers, mesas and much more.

You can ski in Flagstaff in the winter and head south along Interstate 17 to Phoenix in about four hours for some warmer weather.

If you have recent experience as a nurse in an Acute Care ICU setting and wish to work in Arizona for a traveling RN assignment, contact MedPro Healthcare Staffing for more details about this position.

You’ll need to have an active RN license and have BLS and ACLS Certification.

In this traveling nurse position, you’ll be providing patient care as well as support and education to your patients’ families. You’ll ensure that life support equipment – such as ventilators and feeding tubes – function properly. You’ll be administering IVs and inserting catheters as needed. You’ll also be bringing patients their medications. You must be able to perform CPR accurately and effectively.

Arizona’s southern half is where the heat gets blazing, with temperatures above 110 degrees F in the summer not uncommon in the Phoenix, Tempe and Tucson areas. The state’s northern half offers forests of Douglas fir, spruce, and pine trees. Much of the northern half is located on a high plateau (the Colorado Plateau). Flagstaff (7,000 feet above sea level) and Alpine (8,050 feet above sea level) offer the chance for skiing in the winter.

Arizona is one of the Four Corners States, touching Colorado, New Mexico and Utah at its northeast corner. It shares a border with California as well as New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and even Mexico.

About one quarter of Arizona is made up of federal land that serves several Native American people, including the Navajo Nation, Hopi, Apache, Yaqui, Zuni, Pima, Mojave, Yuma, and more.

As a result of its Native American heritage, Arizona can lay claim to having the most Native American languages spoken in the Continental U.S., with more than 85,000 people speaking Navajo, and a bit more than 10,000 people speaking Apache.

If you have two years of recent experience as a Registered Nurse in an acute care emergency room setting, then pick up the phone and call a MedPro Healthcare Staffing recruiter for a traveling assignment at one of our top healthcare clients in Florida.

You must have an RN license from an accredited nursing program. You also should have experience in advanced cardiac monitoring as well as experience caring for emergent and non-emergency patients.

Your duties will include head-to-toe assessments. So you’re going to need to have considerable knowledge of normal vs. abnormal findings and reporting of those findings to the physician or the Charge Nurse.

You’ll be based in a healthcare facility in Florida. If you’re curious as to its actual location (inland near Orlando, within the Florida panhandle or on the Gulf or Atlantic coasts), contact our office for more information.

Virtually all of Florida offers you a temperate climate. If you’re tired of cold and snowy winters and hot and dry summers (if you’re from the southwest), and are looking for pleasant winters and hot and humid summers, Florida’s your place.

In addition, if you love water, you’ll love Florida. Even the inland areas of the state are less than an afternoon’s drive from either the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. Lakes also abound in the Sunshine State.

Renowned the world over for its amusement parks, the Kennedy Space Center and for its many orange growers, Florida also is known for auto racing, golf, tennis and, of course, water sports.

Florida’s culture also is an amalgamation of the people who have come here. You’ll find touches of Native American, Hispanic, African American, and European American in its cuisine and architecture.

As for its economy, Florida’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the fourth largest in the United States (according to a 2007 report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, United States Department of Commerce). Florida’s major employers will be found in tourism, industry, biomedical and life sciences, healthcare, aerospace and defense, construction, and international banking.

If visiting one of the sunniest states in the country for a travel nursing assignment appeals to you, contact MedPro Healthcare Staffing today.

The job outlook for allied health professionals such as physical, occupational, speech therapists, pharm techs, phlebotomists, etc., continues to shine.

Let’s talk about pharmacy technicians first. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that projected job growth for these workers will grow 32 percent between 2010 and 2020, which is considered to be “much faster than average” compared to all occupations. The median hourly wage for pharm techs was $13.65 in 2010, providing an annual income (supposing a 40-hour work week with no overtime) of $28,392.

Physical therapy assistants made a median hourly wage of $18.13, according to the BLS, with a subsequent median annual salary of $37,710. PT assistants will enjoy a job growth of 52 percent between 2010 and 2020, a growth much greater than just about any occupation, according to the BLS. Physical therapists’ median salary in 2010 was more than $76K, with a job growth prediction of 39 percent.

Pharmacists made the big bucks as far as median salaries went: more than $111K in 2010, according to the BLS. These well-paid allied health professionals can expect a projected 25 percent growth in job opportunities from now through 2020.

Registered nurses also can look forward to healthy job growth: 26 percent between 2010 and 2020, according to the BLS. With an annual median salary of almost $65,000 a year, nurses are sitting pretty when it comes to their income outlook.

Are you a speech therapist/speech language pathologist? Then you can expect a projected job growth of 23 percent (still faster than average) and a median salary (at least in 2010) of $67,000 a year.

Do you have experience as a respiratory therapist? Then your job growth outlook between 2010 and 2020 is 28 percent. The median salary in 2010 for your profession was $54,000 a year.

Occupational therapists also should see great job growth in the coming years. The BLS projects a handsome 33 percent growth (which it deems “much faster than average”). At a median hourly wage of $34.77, the median salary in 2010 was a bit more than $72,000.

But OT assistants and aides have a massively healthy projected job growth of 41 percent, and a quite-respectful median annual salary of just short of $47,500.

Please note that these are median salaries and don’t include overtime.

Also note that traveling allied healthcare professionals can make considerably more than their stay-in-one-place colleagues due to the fact that they can receive per-diem hourly wages, referral and longevity bonuses, and more. If you’ve ever considered working as a healthcare traveler, contact MedPro Healthcare Staffing today!

Anyone who says that staying fit while traveling can be easy and simple probably has never actually been a road warrior.

As a healthcare traveler, you’re staying in one place for weeks at a time, so you should find it about as easy to get your fitness efforts in as regularly as you do at home, but should be as easy never means it will be easy.

So, read below for 10 tips on how to stay fit while on your travel assignment.

1. Chances are that the apartment complex where you’ll be staying has some kind of exercise facility/weight room. Use it.
2. You may be working second or third shift, so the apartment complex’s exercise room shouldn’t be as busy when you have the time to exercise. Take advantage of this.
3. If you don’t like to use weight room/exercise facilities and if you’re driving to your assignment city, pack some lightweight dumbbells of 5, 8 or 10 pounds. This allows you to get some weight training in at your convenience in the privacy of your apartment.
4. If flying, pack resistance bands and an inflatable exercise/balance ball. These can be just as effective as weights when it comes to improving/maintaining your fitness.
5. If packing any fitness equipment is out of the question, don’t forget your own body weight. Exercises such as pushups, squats, lunges, etc., can be an absolutely terrific way to stay in shape. No muss, no fuss, no extra stuff in your suitcases!
6. If you’re interested in a body weight regime, Active.com recommends the following: March in place or perform jumping jacks for about three minutes as a warm-up. Then do 10-50 reps (depending on your fitness level) of pushups, lunges, dips, squats and sit-ups/crunches. Do the exercises quickly, with little rest between them. Repeat at least once or, preferably, two more times for a total of three circuits. This will give you a great aerobic as well as body-weight (as in weight training) workout
7. If you’ve a favorite video exercise program, bring it. Chances are the television in your apartment will have a DVD player. Or bring a small DVD player with you.
8. Are you a runner? Bring your running shoes! You’ll undoubtedly find a new colleague who’s also a runner at your assignment, and you can ask him or her for tips on where to run and running events taking place in your new city.
9. Bring your running/walking shoes and walk/run during your lunch hour.

10. If all else fails, bring your walking/running shoes and walk everywhere you can. To the market, throughout your apartment complex, up and down your facility’s stairs. Aim to get the 10,000 steps in that are recommended for maximum fitness each day.

What tips can you offer fellow travelers that have worked for you? Don’t be shy: write them here!

No matter your fitness level, if you’re an experienced nurse, PT, OT, speech therapist, pharmacist or other allied health professional and you’d like a career as a traveling healthcare professional, send your resume/CV to MedPro Healthcare Staffing. We look forward to hearing from you!

More than 15 percent of all healthcare workers in the U.S. in 2005 were foreign born (according to MigrationInformation.org). We believe that number has grown in the eight years since then.

If you’re a foreign nurse, PT, OT, speech therapist, physician assistant or other allied healthcare professional looking to work in the U.S. as a traveler, read below for information on how to obtain your license here.

The first step is to apply for healthcare worker certification (also known as a VisaScreen certificate). This will allow you to procure a temporary working visa or permanent residence in the United States.

Each state has its own licensing requirements. If you’re a registered nurse, you can take the NCLEX licensing examination in your home country, but most other foreign health professionals will have to come to the U.S. in order to take your profession’s mandatory licensing exam.

The licensing and immigration process is complicated. Your MedPro Healthcare Staffing recruiter will help you as much as he or she can, but you must understand that getting your license/Visa, etc. is your responsibility, not ours.

That said, check out this handy listing of important links you should read about the process.

The VisaScreen’s purpose is to ensure that any foreign-born healthcare professional who wants to practice in the U.S. has the equivalent training, education, experience, and English-language ability of a native-born worker. Also, as you go through the VisaScreen process, the organizations you’ll be using to certify that you have the required experience, education, etc., must verify that your foreign license is “unencumbered.”

If English isn’t your native language, you’re going to have to take and pass the following exams:

The Test of Spoken English (TSE) and the Test of Written English (TWE). You may take these tests from the following organizations:

• Test of English for International Communications (TOEIC)
• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
• International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

Obtaining your VisaScreen, acquiring the necessary documents and taking the necessary tests are not uncomplicated. While it’s ultimately your responsibility to make sure the process is done correctly and that the proper paperwork/documentation is delivered, we highly recommend that you work with an attorney on this important process.

As mentioned above, we’ll help you as much as we can. We do hire foreign healthcare professionals and we hope you’ll contact us soon for more information on how we can help you become a traveling healthcare professional with us. Contact us today!

Working as a traveler offers you the chance to connect with many people as you travel to different hospitals or healthcare facilities.

But you may not be able to connect with your colleagues to the depth you’d like during your short-term assignment.

Social media such as Twitter can help you stay in touch with past colleagues and also expand your professional network.

Read below for tips on how to expand your Twitter network.

• Look for the names of people you know and follow them. They’ll often follow you back as a matter of course.
• Twitter actually makes this very easy for you. Go to the “Who to Follow” tab at the top of Twitter’s menu and then click on “Friends.” Choose your email provider and/or your network on LinkedIn, and Twitter will identify your contacts so that you’ll be able to follow them.
• Speaking of followers, follow the experts in your field. Look for those individuals in your field who have a lot of followers themselves and aim to interact with them. The idea is to engage in conversation with them and some of their followers. It may take a while to get a response from someone who has a lot of followers, but if you regularly comment, re-tweet their comments, etc., you should grab their attention. If you add something to the conversation, they’ll soon enough start “tweeting” to/with you. This could happen much faster than you think.
• When on assignment, tweet about it. That is, place the hashtag symbol (#) in front of the name of your facility (#CedarsSinai, for example) and others who are tweeting about the Los Angeles-area hospital will see it and perhaps comment as well.
• You also can do the same when attending a conference, seminar or CE program.
• Re-tweet the messages of those you follow. Many folks will follow those who re-tweet their posts.
• Patience truly is a virtue when it comes to growing your Twitter following. Engage with your followers and those you’re following regularly (you should spend at least 10-15 minutes a day on Twitter). Your influence and the number of your followers will grow exponentially if you do so.
• Remember the 80-20 rule. If you’re looking to grow your professional network, most of your tweets should be professional in nature (the 80 percent). The remainder could – and really should be – of a more personal bent.

For other great resources for travel healthcare professionals, please get in touch with us today!

Working in healthcare can mean going back to school – a lot. Whether it’s for an advanced degree or taking the time to go to a conference or seminar for continuing education credits and requirements, healthcare professionals are pretty much required to keep on keeping on when it comes to education.

But what if you’re a healthcare traveler? Some CE seminars can be a few days or weeks long. A master’s or doctorate degree in your field can take months or years. How can you continue to travel while pursuing more education?

Read below for some strategies. As a side note, these strategies are best deployed after you’ve been working with a travel staffing service for at least two or three assignments. You’ve become a proven and trusted employee and your staffing manager(s) may be more willing to accommodate your needs.

• Aim to take on assignments either close to home or close to your educational institution. Doing so will allow you to study in a program designed for working adults more easily. That is, you can work during the day and take your classes at night.
• With that in mind, ask your staffing manager for day-shift assignments only.
• Work with your travel staffing service so that you will take on only those assignments of 13-weeks or fewer.
• If you wish to take a multi week, full-time certification course, speak with your staffing manager about not taking one or more assignments for a set period of time (a few weeks, a couple of months), while you’re taking the course.
• Ask your staffing manager if you could take travel assignments that are part time. For example, you work three days on and four days off. Or you work just four- or six-hour shifts.

One thing you should do as you approach your staffing manager about a “non-traditional” traveling calendar is to talk up how the additional degree or certification will make you more attractive to the staffing firm’s clientele – and, therefore, more marketable for the staffing firm.

The great thing about traveling is that it can give you greater flexibility than working for one hospital, clinic or other medical facility. Contact a recruiter at MedPro Healthcare Staffing today to learn more about our many traveling opportunities.