As an increasing number of healthcare facilities turn to healthcare staffing agencies like Barton Healthcare Staffing to fill both short- and long-term temporary openings, the travel allied health market is booming. That’s why, if you’re thinking about switching to a career in traveling allied health work, now is the perfect time to jump in!
However, as with any big career change or decision, it’s understandable to feel some hesitation about making the switch before you know exactly what to be prepared for besides the benefits you’re already aware of. That’s why we’ve outlined three of the top things you should expect while starting your fresh new journey into travel allied health work!
Quick Adjustment Periods
While you can expect to have some sort of onboarding process when you start a new assignment, those 13 weeks go by quicker than you may think. That’s why for most assignments you’ll need to be as prepared as possible to hit the ground running with little hand-holding.
Traveling allied health professionals need to be able to quickly adjust to a brand new work environment, and brand new people with every new placement. While this may seem overwhelming at first, there’s no need to fret! Most allied health travelers are able to get the hang of adapting to new assignments quickly, since after you’ve done it once or twice, working at a fast pace becomes second nature.
Income Tax Breaks
While travel allied health jobs already offer higher rates than permanent positions as it is due to the increased need for traveling allied health clinicians to fill urgent gaps in coverage, another huge benefit for your wallet is that as a traveling allied health clinician, you don’t have to pay taxes on a portion of your income!
As long as you are traveling outside a 50 mile radius of your state of residence as used for tax purposes, travel allied health professionals receive a weekly, untaxed stipend on top of the hourly rate that you already get. With Barton Healthcare Staffing, we also guarantee that your recruiter will always work to obtain the highest stipend amount that the IRS will allow depending on the cost of living in the area in which you are traveling to and working in!
Need for Open Mindedness
Oftentimes when allied health professionals first enter the travel field, they have very specific preferences for the allied health jobs that they would be open to trying. But what many new travel clinicians are not aware of, is that with every hard preference that you add to your list, you close doors to potentially amazing assignment opportunities.
It’s always better to keep an open mind as a traveling allied health professional, because it gives your recruiter more to work with. Your recruiter will always work to find the perfect job for you, but sometimes the perfect opportunity isn’t available when you want it, and your recruiter has to work with what they have. Giving them the flexibility to present you with jobs that may not have been ideal for you on first thought, but you’d be willing to try out sets both you and your recruiter up for success. Plus, you’ll never know if you’ll love an experience until you try it!
If you feel ready to jump into your travel allied health career with BHS, check out our open travel allied health jobs today!
