Best Travel Nurse Agency for New Graduates — USA Starter Guide (2025). While many agencies don’t offer traditional nursing positions for recent graduates, more reputable agencies like Aya Healthcare and AMN Healthcare are a good starting point thanks to their extensive networks and the opportunities they offer to those new to the field.
USA Starter Guide (2025) — Best Travel Nurse Agency for New Graduates
For nurses with some experience, or who can acquire it, agencies like Triage Staffing and Axis Medical Staffing are known for their high salaries and flexible schedules. Begin by researching several agencies, comparing contract terms, and speaking with recruitment consultants to find the best fit for your needs.
You just passed your NCLEX, acquired your RN license, and now you dream of paid country touring to nurse. But the unpleasant reality is that most travel nurse agencies demand at least one year of acute care experience before they will even consider your application. Is that locking fresh graduate nurses out of travel nursing? Not quite. Although the conventional route calls for experience, some agencies now provide new grad residency programs developed just to kick start your travel nursing career just out graduation. Picking the wrong agency as a new graduate might result in poor wages, hazardous duties, or perhaps endangering your brand-new nursing license before your career starts.
At a Quick Glance: Fresh Grad Travel Nursing
Though unusual, with the correct agency assistance, a new graduate may travel nurse. Most companies need 12 months of experience, yet special new grad programs abound. Including stipends, pay ranges from $1,800 to $2,400 per week, albeit slightly lower than seasoned travelers. Usually running 13 weeks with preceptorship and extended orientation, contracts include preceptorship and extended orientation.
Depending on location, housing stipends range from $1,200 to $2,000 monthly. Usually included, malpractice insurance always has its coverage restrictions verified. Most programs with organized mentorship place new graduates in med-surg, telemetry, or emergency departments. Compact state licenses simplify tasks by different requirements. Application deadlines run 8 to 12 weeks from submission to first assignment start date.
What Is a Travel Nurse Agency for New Graduates?
A specialized healthcare staffing firm known as a travel nurse agency for recent graduate’s matches newly licensed registered nurses with transient hospital placements all around the United States offers extensive orientation, mentoring, and clinical help not covered in conventional travel contracts. Unlike regular travel nursing, where you are supposed to start on day one, new grad travel programs operate more like extensive residency programs that just happen to change locations.
Typically 13 to 26 weeks, these agencies match hospitals ready to devote additional training time in return for dedicated contract durations. While you concentrate on developing clinical competence in actual contexts, you will work with a recruiter who covers credentialing, licensing, housing plans, and travel logistics. Your compensation is paid by the agency; it also handles your health insurance and malpractice insurance benefits and sometimes offers housing and meals stipends coming with you will have major tax benefits if you keep your tax residence permanent.
Why Picking the Right Agency Is Important for Your Nursing Career
Your clinical growth, earning potential, and even whether your nursing license remains valid will all be directly affected by the agency you pick as a recent nursing graduate through those crucial first months of practice. A good agency acts as your career partner, making certain you are placed in hospitals with sufficient preceptorship, sensible nurse-to-patient ratios, rather than just find you jobs and helping unit cultures that enable new nurses to flourish rather than merely survive.
Bad agency decisions result in abandonment at understaffed facilities where you’re regarded as inexpensive labor rather than developing professional, hence producing hazardous circumstances when drugs State board inquiries could be started before you have even built your professional base if you have errors, patient safety incidents, or documentation errors. Financial stakes matter too since pay package structures differ greatly between companies and new grads often lack enough knowledge to recognize lowball bids disguised with complicated stipend breakdowns.
The right agency beyond current pay tracks your credentials, provides continuing education credits for license renewal, and develops relationships with hospitals that could provide full-time employment after your contract expires. Selecting an agency that gives education above all else will help to define your clinical confidence, your professional network, and your whole path in healthcare. Just beds can distinguish between loving nursing and burning out in two years.
New Grad Travel Nurse Agency Comparison Guide
Looking beyond marketing claims to evaluate their track record, program design, and actual support networks is necessary to find out which agencies really support newly graduates. The best agencies vary here on aspects most important to newly licensed nurses beginning travel careers.
With committed new graduate coordinators and affiliations with Vizient/AACN residency-accredited hospitals, Aya Healthcare New Grad Program provides one of the most organized entry points. New grads with day-one health insurance and matching 401k contributions will typically earn $2,100 to $2,500 per week. The drawback is few placement sites as only certain partner hospitals, usually in bigger medical facilities across Texas, Florida, and the Carolinas, welcome new grads. Most new grad contracts call for a minimum commitment of 26 weeks.
With clear pay rates shown up front and a mobile app allowing you to browse and apply for jobs directly, Trusted Health adopts a technology-forward approach. Although their new graduate opportunities are fewer, they pay at competitive rates of $1,900 to $2,300 weekly. What distinguishes direct contact with facility managers before contract acceptance lowers the element of surprise on arrival by means of trusted apart? They provide malpractice insurance through HPSO and provide license reimbursement for compact state applications. Ideal match for tech-savvy recent graduates seeking control over their employment search.
Nurse Travel Operating since 1998 across America with particular new graduate paths in med-surg and telemetry units. Pay runs from $1,800 to $2,200 each week and covers full benefits including gym membership refunds and pet insurance. With lower turnover than industry average, their strength is in recruiter stability; your recruiter truly knows your career objectives beyond just this agreement. For their new graduate jobs, they much favor BSN graduates and demand NCLEX passage within 90 days of graduation.
Medical Solutions offers fresh graduate residency contracts mostly in community and rural hospitals where orientation periods last eight to twelve weeks instead of the usual one to two week orientations. With significantly reduced cost of living in placement locations, weekly salary averages $1,700 to $2,100, somewhat less than metropolitan assignments. Through their learning platform, they provide career counseling beyond simply recruiting and include free CEU sessions. Best choice for recent graduates wishing for slower-paced surroundings before moving on to higher-acuity jobs.
Cross Nation Although stands out for matching contributions to student loan repayment programs, contributing up to $1,000 monthly toward qualifying loans, nurses offers new graduate chances mostly in their collaborative hospitals. With housing allowances calculated separately, basic salary varies from $1,850 to $2,250 every week. Critical for new grads going through compact licensure for the first time, their licensing department processes multi-state applications swiftly. Although orientation length varies by institution, it often exceeds conventional travel contracts.
Landing Your First Travel Nurse Position: Action Plan Step by Step
Strategic preparation and knowledge of what agencies really need from candidates lacking conventional experience are needed to go from newly licensed RN to your first travel assignment. To place yourself as the best possible new graduate candidate, adhere to this timeline and checklist.
Three to Six months before your intended start date
Starts with passing the NCLEX examination and getting your first state RN license. If your main residence satisfies the requirements, apply at once for compact state licensure since this unlocks jobs in forty states without individual state applications. Research which agencies actively recruit new graduates rather than those who just claim they do, checking recent reviews on travel nursing forums and Facebook groups where nurses have actual placement experiences.
Make a professional resume stressing clinical rotations, preceptorship comments, any credentials such as BLS and ACLS, and specialized areas wherein you did well during nursing school. Because these traits are more important than a lot of experience for new grad programs, strong applicants highlight instances of critical thinking, fast learning aptitude, and adaptability to new settings.
Two to Three Months Before Start Date
Includes sending applications to three to five agencies that match your area preferences and specialty interests. Prepare inquiries about preceptor availability, orientation length, nurse-to–patient ratios at certain hospitals, and precisely what happens if you feel sick; schedule telephone interviews with recruiters unsustainable or hazardous during a job. Demand detailed salary package breakdowns that list taxable hourly rate, housing support, lunch allowance, and other compensation separately so you may fairly evaluate agency bids.
Verify your malpractice insurance policy for at least one million per incidence and three million aggregate; also make sure your policy has license defense coverage. A state board inquiry is triggered by a patient’s complaint. Ask about health insurance waiting times, premiums, and quality of coverage because some agency plans have high deductibles that eat into your travel nursing income.
One to Two Months before Start Date
Concentrates on credentialing and paperwork gathering. Agencies will call for employment verification from any healthcare jobs even during nursing school, full immunization records containing titers demonstrating immunity, TB tests within the last Upload certificates and set up orderly electronic folders since you will send these documents often during your travel life.
Year, drug testing, and background checks encompassing every state in which you have lived. Before signing, carefully go over your contract, highlighting cancellation clauses, assured hours, overtime policies, and completion bonus conditions. Many recently graduated students forego detailed contract review and miss critical information on housing fines should you end your contract early or demands on supplying notice before rejecting contract extensions.
Two to four weeks before the starting date
Calls for logistical arrangements including travel arrangements and locating lodging if your company offers stipends in place of scheduled accommodations. One or two days before orientation starts; exploring local grocery stores, gyms, and basic services. Call your assigned unit manager if at all possible with queries regarding scrub colors, parking procedures, and projected first week.
Save emergency contact numbers for your agency including after-hours support lines and update your professional liability insurance data. Since every hospital runs differently and displaying initiative to learn their protocols astounds preceptors, create questions about facility-specific charting systems, medicine administration procedures, and chain of command.
The mood of your whole contract is first week
On assignment. Every shift during orientation, arrive early; take thorough notes on unit-specific policies; pose clarifying questions even when they seem simple; and be frank with your Preceptor regarding your comfort level with diverse abilities and patient acuities. Thorough documentation of your orientation checklist completion safeguards you legally in case questions about your ability or education level surface later.
Maintain frequent communication with your agency recruiter, providing updates on orientation’s development and highlighting any issues with understaffing, insufficient training time, or beyond your remit as a recent graduate, tasks. Developing this communication style early on guarantees your agency may intervene immediately if problems arise instead of discovering them only after you’re overburdened and pondering terminating your contract.
Expert Tip: Protect Your License From Day One
Most new graduate travel nurses don’t understand until it’s too late: your nursing license is your most valued asset, with more value than any other single paycheck or housing stipend, it’s totally on you to safeguard it even when your organization puts you in tough circumstances. Too many excited new grads have agreed to jobs where they were arranged to fail, taking patient loads beyond their as a Nurse Educator competency, skipping appropriate orientation because units were understaffed, or doing procedures they weren’t sufficiently trained on because everyone else does it this way.
Write down your worries to both your charge nurse and your agency recruiter that same shift as soon as you feel threatened or asked to work above your ability. Use statements such as I am not sufficiently oriented to safely conduct this task and I’m asking for more preceptorship before accepting a full patient appointment.
This language will generate a paper trail proving you supported safe practice. Because your license holds you responsible for every clinical choice you make, state boards are indifferent to the fact that your agency or hospital coerced you into circumstances beyond your training. Never let anyone bully you into quiet when patient safety or your professional standards are in danger as replacing a poisonous contract is simpler than living with an avoidable patient injury on your conscience or repairing a broken license.
Making Your Decision: Start Your Travel Nursing Career Right
Though with the appropriate agency partner and reasonable expectations about You can create a remarkable career integrating professional development with the excitement of seeing new locations on the learning curve ahead. Keep in mind that the quality of your first travel assignment counts more for the specific destination or the precise amount of your pay than for those details. Of the clinical mentorship and safe learning setting the facility offers.
Select companies that show true interest in your success via extensive orientation sessions, reactive recruiter assistance, and thorough malpractice insurance that safeguards your license as You negotiate those initial months of solo practice. Usually, the hospitals and units ready to train new graduates provide somewhat lower wage than experienced travel positions, but see this as paid clinical Training that equips you for greater income once you have created that essential first year of acute care experience.
Begin your applications early, pose difficult questions concerning support systems, and trust your gut feelings throughout facility interviews as any assignment that feels wrong during the Once you are on the floor, the recruitment process seldom gets better.
Coming next: Find the best free online CEU courses eligible for your state license renewal. Instant Certificate Download for Nurses (2025)
Commonly Asked Questions Regarding Fresh Graduate Travel Nursing
As a recent graduate with no experience, may you actually practice travel nursing?
Yes, but just via specialty new graduate residency programs provided by specific travel companies; opportunities are substantially more constrained than jobs for experienced nurses. Most agencies demand twelve months of acute care experience, but five to seven of them are actively recruiting recent graduates with well-defined programs including lengthy orientations periods, promised preceptorship, and facility collaborations created especially for newly licensed RNs.
These are not typical travel agreements when you are supposed to operate alone from day one. Instead of 1 to 2 weeks for seasoned tourists, you will get 8 to 12 weeks of orientation, work alongside committed preceptors, and usually agree. To longer contracts of 26 weeks or more. Rates of acceptance are still high as institutions hiring new graduates expect more training expenses; hence, excellent NCLEX grades, good preceptorship evaluations from nursing school, and specialty. ACLS and other certifications raise your odds dramatically.
How much do new graduate travel nurses actually make compared to experienced travelers?
New graduate travel nurses usually make 15 to 25% less than experienced travelers for the same place and specialty; their total compensation packages ranging from $1,700 to $2,400 per week with taxable salary and non-taxed stipends for housing and meals. While a recent graduate in the same city and unit makes approximately $2,100, an experienced med-surg travel nurse in Phoenix could make $2,800 weekly. Reflecting the extra resources facilities spend on instruction and supervision weekly.
Whether you are eligible for stipends by keeping a permanent tax residence, therefore demanding a home where you either mortgage or rent should be paid and regular between tasks should be followed. Graduates living with parents or who forsaken apartments to travel full-time may only receive taxed hourly wages without lodging and meal allowances, therefore weekly total compensation decreased to $1,400 to $1,800. Many new graduates see promoted pay rates of $2,200 weekly but are unaware that $800 of that is dependent on tax home qualification causes disappointment when their first salary comes greatly below expectations.
Malpractice insurance for new graduates is provided by travel nurse agencies or do I need my own policy?
While respectable travel nurse agencies offer professional liability insurance coverage for every assigned shift, as a new graduate you should really get your own. as well as supplemental malpractice insurance since agency coverage usually ceases the moment your contract ends or if disagreements develop regarding whether an occurrence happened during work hours. Agency-provided policies often provide one million dollars per event and three million overall coverage, which is suitable for most cases, but your own policy offers license defense. coverage should a patient file a complaint that starts a state board inquiry even years after you have left that agency.
For nurses, personal malpractice insurance through sources like NSO or HPSO costs just $100 to $150 a year and covers legal defense at license defense hearings. Essential protection as board inquiries have attorney fees that range from $5,000 to $15,000 out of pocket without coverage. While your own policy protects your nursing license and professional reputation, think of agency insurance as covering the hospital and patient side of responsibility. Two Aspects of risk management, separate but equally vital, are particularly relevant for recent graduates still developing their clinical judgment and more susceptible to practice errors during that steep learning curve.
What specialties hire new graduate travel nurses and which ones require experience first?
Most new graduate travel nursing jobs come from medical-surgical divisions, telemetry floors, and some emergency rooms since these specializations offer extensive exposure to several Often accessible preceptors and patient populations undergoing new nurse training experienced. Progressive care units and step-down telemetry also recruit new grads using travel companies, notably in small or community hospitals where attracting seasoned travelers is challenging. Almost never do new graduate travelers receive acceptance in labor and delivery, ICU, operating rooms, and special units like cardiac catheterization labs, oncology, and pediatrics since these fields first need fast, independent decision-making and specialized talents honed only through much experience in regulated settings.
Though generally only in state-run institutions or rural behavioral health hospitals fighting with staffing shortages, mental health and psychiatric nursing sometimes gives fresh grad travel jobs. Should your ideal discipline call for experience, the next strategic move is to get a new grad travel contract in med-surg or telemetry to create that all-important first One year of intense care experience investigating several areas then moving into your chosen specialty once you have attained the experience criteria unlocking better paying jobs and more location options.
While visiting several states, how do I keep my nursing license and fulfill the renewal criteria?
Maintaining licensure as a travel nurse depends on whether you have compact state licensure or require individual state licenses for every assignment location, with compact Being much easier for traveling nurses.
Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact lets RNs residing primarily in one of 40 participating states work in all other compact states without additional Although you would still require different licenses for non-compact states like California, New York, and Massachusetts, applications Not where you are now on assignment, your main state of residence determines your compact eligibility; therefore, keep your driver’s license, voter registration, and tax home Documenting currently in your compact state to preserve this benefit. Depending on state board standards, license renewal requirements follow those of your main state generally need 15 to 30 continuing education hours every two years regardless of your employment.
Although most travel agencies give free CEU courses via their educational channels to assist you to meet renewal requirements, tracking deadlines and completed courses remains you’re since expired licenses disqualify you right away from completing projects and can cause you to be without income while awaiting reinstatement, responsibility. Six months before your renewal date, set calendar reminders; keep certificates in electronic folders; and confirm your agency’s CEU classes fulfill your particular state board requirements because not all continuing education programs qualify for licensure credit in every state.
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