6 Ways Travel Nurse Positions Can Advance Your Career

The perks of traveling to and experiencing exciting locales, coupled with excellent earnings potential, make travel nursing assignments quite appealing to those who love travel and adventure. But another major benefit afforded the travel nurse is the opportunity to advance his/her skill set and career.

Here is a look at how this exciting healthcare position can contribute to a nurse’s career advancement.

1. Great potential for network growth
   Multiple exciting assignments equals many opportunities to work with and maintain connections with amazing people across the country. Not only are you gaining valuable experience through various travel assignments, but your network of colleagues and friends also continues to expand, providing potential open doors for present and future opportunities. As a nurse’s professional network grows, his/her potential for career options increases as well, whether for continued travel assignments or a future long-term, permanent position.

2. The building of new skill sets
   With so many opportunities available for travel nurses, you can explore different specialties and learn new skills. Whether you are interested in Med Surg, dialysis, PICU, or any number of specialties, being a travel nurse allows you an excellent opportunity to broaden your skillset and experience new challenges. The exposure to many new techniques, technologies, and practices will prove invaluable to a nurse’s professional development. These experiences also set the stage for negotiating a higher salary.

3. Open doors to new career opportunities
   The accumulation of new techniques and technologies and multiple experiences of integrating into an organization’s practices cannot help but expand a travel nurse’s career opportunities. As doors open to these exciting and varied opportunities, career development is a given, paving the way for greater marketability and a distinct competitive edge, not to mention higher wages.

4. Cultivate versatility
   Take an expansive skillset and a host of varied experiences, factor in the ability to operate effectively in different environments with demonstrated adaptability and flexibility, and the resulting healthcare professional’s credentials cannot be beaten. These sought-after qualifications and attributes can easily be cultivated through the experiences of travel nursing. Learning to transition between rural and urban settings, in locales that span from east to west will not only enhance a travel nurse’s success, but these experiences will also establish a track record of versatility that will jump from the page of a resume.

5. Provide access for gaining cultural competency
   In an increasingly diverse society, the adaptability to work well with co-workers and patients from diverse backgrounds is a plus for any healthcare professional. But opportunities to expand cultural competency may be limited for those who choose employment opportunities in one geographical area. But the cross-cultural experience can readily be gained by opting for travel nurse positions. Again, an eye-catcher when noted on a resume.

6. Affords opportunities to work in a teaching hospital
   Many healthcare professionals are never afforded the career-enhancing experiences commonplace in the unique environment of a teaching hospital. But being a travel nurse can throw wide the door to working with experimental treatments, receiving teaching from physicians, working with medical residents, and a host of other unique experiences.

Whether you choose an extended career in travel nursing or opt for only a few years of travel assignments, the opportunities, and experiences of this exciting healthcare profession will expand the boundaries of your career horizons.