While travel nursing jobs are always in the limelight, not much is said about allied travel jobs though these are no less in demand. Can an allied healthcare professional demand and get the same benefits as travel nurses? Most certainly yes, they have almost an equal opportunity to advance their careers. Of course, there are still some distinct and subtle differences between travel nursing and allied travel jobs.

Just like travel nursing, most allied healthcare professional jobs are temporary. They generally last for 13 weeks depending on the need of the facility. These professionals stand in whenever there is a staffing gap in a healthcare facility. These gaps can happen due to leaves of absence, turn over, and other situations where facilities must fill existing shortages immediately. If you are a healthcare professional, there are several benefits to allied travel jobs. You can grow both professionally and personally by gaining new experiences and acquiring skillsets from various facilities around the country.

In this post, we’ll discuss everything about jobs for allied healthcare professionals so you can get started. Let’s dive in.

Different Types of Allied Travel Jobs

Let’s start with how vacancies for allied healthcare professionals become available. Like travel nursing, they are usually hired to fill short-term vacancies in healthcare facilities around the country. An allied travel job usually opens when a healthcare worker goes on leave, quits a job, or when there is a sudden demand for experienced professionals. Increased demand can occur from seasonal population fluctuations or, as we’ve seen recently, from a global pandemic that puts severe stress on health services.

Allied healthcare jobs are for those in the healthcare field that are not connected to rendering nursing or services connected to medicine. Various specializations qualify as allied health, but the most common are in the following areas:

• Occupational therapists
• Dental hygienists
• Physical therapists
• Speech-language pathologists
• Respiratory therapists
• Radiographers
• Medical technologists
• Diagnostic medical sonographers
• Dieticians
• Clinical laboratories
• Behavioral Health
• Medical social work

This list is not exhaustive and might include many other reasons for a rise in demand for healthcare personnel. When a particular facility needs to fill short-term positions, they contact and partner with a staffing agency such as TactStaff for allied health providers.

You’ll notice that the jobs mentioned here are also available as permanent openings in healthcare facilities. Then why do many professionals prefer to fill the same vacancies but as allied travel jobs?

There are usually two very important reasons. The first is that travel healthcare professionals get higher salaries and greater opportunities than their permanent counterparts. Second, travel jobs open windows to various prospects in different facilities where you can fine-tune your skills and knowledge by working with innovative equipment. Moreover, you can experiment with jobs to know what suits you the best.

What It Takes to Get Hired in Allied Travel Jobs

As in most professions, you will be required to have a license or certification to practice as an allied health traveler. Additionally, you must also have a few years of experience under your belt in your specialization. Generally, at TactStaff, we suggest having 1 or 2 years of experience but about 3 to 5 years is preferable as you can quickly adapt to short-term contracts and show your true merit. However, all these requirements vary from state to state. Some states take about 8 weeks to process a license application and issue one so if you are looking for allied travel jobs you must keep that in mind.

Another factor that will help you to get the best vacancies is to complete certifications and all the various levels and layers that exist in them. Get as many of them before you take up travel jobs as relevant certifications set you up for high-paying work apart from making your CV stand out in the crowd. While on different jobs, you will be working with machines and the latest equipment. Keep a list of them as many facilities will value this knowledge. Not everyone can work on most types of the latest medical equipment.

Finally, talk to your staffing agency and explain your long-term plans. At TactStaff, our team of experts in staffing will help you with opportunities that are in line with your plans.

How to Prepare for Interviews for Allied Travel Jobs

The process for applying for an allied travel job is usually the same with industry practices. You apply with a staffing agency and submit your requirements for evaluation. The agency will then interview you and assess your level of fit based on the requirements forwarded by the facility requesting personnel. It’s always a good idea to be prepared if you want to ace a job interview.

Here’s how you can prepare for an interview for allied travel jobs:

• Do your homework: Get prior information from the recruiter about the placement facility and research it. The best way to check is to visit the website and get all details.
• Prepare a “brag list”: Prepare a list of all your achievements that you can point out at the interview. Highlight special skills like being able to work with complex equipment.
• List out typical questions and prepare how to answer them. The questions asked at interviews are mostly standardized – Tell me about yourself, describe your last assignment, what is your experience working with equipment, are you skilled as a team player, etc.
• Be on time: Be punctual or early as it shows that you value timelines. In allied health jobs, punctuality is also taken as a performance indicator. Have your resume, skills list, and preferred job description ready before you for quick reference.

The interview may be short or long last but nowhere during this period should your enthusiasm peter out. Showing interest through your voice and body language makes a great impression on a potential employer. While the interviewer will be controlling the agenda, you should ask pertinent questions about the proposed facility or highlight your strong points.

At TactStaff, after the interview, we generally go over the contract details before the candidate accepts, the start date, and details of housing and other related details.

Conclusion

When you work with TactStaff, becoming a traveling healthcare professional is as simple as it can get. Our expert team will guide you through the formalities and connect you to the opportunities that you are looking for. If your goal is providing clinical excellence to the job at hand, TactStaff will assist you to choose from a host of exciting and fulfilling allied travel jobs. Ready for a travel allied healthcare job? Find out how we can help