Recently I didn’t listen to my intuition and got myself into a situation.

A couple of months ago, I was looking for my next travel nurse assignment.  I remember telling my recruiter that I was done with Georgia and Florida and that I wanted to go somewhere new.  She sent me some Texas jobs.  None of the jobs were in Houston.  I asked her if there were any jobs in Houston.  She called the hospital and she told me that there were no jobs in Houston.  She did say that it was odd because there were usually at least one job in Houston.  So I told her to look in Nevada.  If there had of been a job in Houston, then I would have been there when hurricane Harvey hit.  I just wasn’t meant to be there.

I found a job in Reno, Nevada that looked nice.  My recruiter submitted me and then the waiting began.  She had told me it took the hospital 5 weeks to call the last nurse that was sent there.  A month passed and still no word from the hospital.  I started to get anxious.  My money was getting low.

I told my recruiter to start sending me jobs from Georgia and Florida.  Something in my spirit told me to wait.

During this process, I was talking to another travel agency.  I’ve been a travel nurse for 2 years and this new agency was teaching me a lot of things about the travel nurse business.  In travel nursing, there are job tier levels.

A tier 1 job is a job that the travel agency has a direct phone number to the hiring manager.  When the travel agency sends the nurse’s resume, the agency can call the manager and ask when the manager is planning to call.  My new agency told me that the nurse is more likely to get a tier 1 job because the travel agency can speak to a live person.

A tier 2 job is a job that the travel agency has an email address of the hiring manager.  The travel agency doesn’t have a phone number.  Again, the travel nurse is more likely to get this job than a tier 3 job because the travel nurse agency has a contact source to the hiring manager.

A tier 3 job is a job where the travel nurse agency doesn’t have contact with the hiring manager.  The travel nurse agency just sends the nurse’s resume.  The travel nurse agency doesn’t know when the job will call or when the hiring manager will look at the nurse’s resume.  It could take months before the travel nurse gets a call from the hospital.  To get a tier 3 job, the travel nurse must be willing to wait.

Last month, I wasn’t willing to wait anymore.  My intuition was telling me to wait but my bank account was telling me another story.  I was submitted to the job in the middle of July and by the middle of August, the hospital still hadn’t called.

I had already found a great apartment in Reno.  I had mapped all the hiking trails that I was going to go on.  The apartment was overlooking the river.  I was going to try stand up paddle boarding.  The park nearby had kayak lessons. I was going to visit the Indian reservations.  I was going to go to the Grand Canyon.  I was so excited to be going somewhere new.   California was right next to Nevada and I was going to visit it on my days off.  The job in Reno was a tier 3 job.

I eventually went with a job in my home state of Georgia.  A part of me was excited because I would finally have some money coming in.  There was also another side of me that told me that I should have waited on the job that I really wanted.

One of the reasons that I became a travel nurse was to go to new places and live.  I love to explore different places and getting to know new things about those places.

Just last week the hospital from Reno called.  I was sad because I already had a job.  When my assignment is over, there is no guarantee that the hospital in Reno will have any day positions open.  My intuition was telling me to wait but I needed some money, so I didn’t listen.

Now I’m driving 3 hours to work each week and staying at a hotel on the days that I work.  On my days off, I travel back to my hometown.  Its getting very tiring to do this.

I had to finally let go and tell myself that next time I will listen to my intuition.