Find out how you and your recruiter can build and maintain a trustworthy relationship.

Sometimes, in order to learn how to do something well, it’s helpful to understand how it should not be done. Over at Blue Pipes Blog, Kyle Schmidt recently shared a pair of posts that illustrate this — one about ways recruiters betray the trust of travel nurses and one about ways travelers betray the trust of recruiters.

14 Ways Recruiters Betray the Trust of Travel Nurses

Before diving in, Schmidt notes that the “travel healthcare industry is unique in ways that tend to accentuate the importance of trust between candidate and recruiter.” For example, he writes, healthcare travelers are not just depending upon their recruiters for a job, but often also counting on them for housing and travel arrangements as well as help coordinating the many documents and credentials needed to be in order prior to an assignment.

Including quotes from actual nurses pulled from forums and social media, Schmidt then details his list of the 14 ways recruiters can compromise travel nurses’ trust. Themes from this list include any lack of being upfront, lack of communication and follow-up, being too pushy, proceeding without a nurse’s permission, pay issues, and more. Click here to read this blog in full.

15 Ways Travel Nurses Compromise the Trust of Recruiters

After Schmidt’s article described above, he says he got requests — primarily from travelers — that he do an article on how travel nurses compromise the trust of recruiters. He carefully explains that neither list is representative of all recruiters or all travelers, and that perhaps this set of articles will help “bridge gaps between travelers and recruiters.”

After discussing that it’s in each traveler’s best interest to maintain a trusting relationship with their recruiters, Schmidt dives into the ways travel nurses can compromise their recruiters’ trust. These can include disrespect for housing, repeatedly cancelling shifts or backing out of contracts, lack of communication, incomplete paperwork, missing interviews, not being upfront, and more. Click here to read this full post.

How Recruiters and Travel Nurses Can Build Trust

It seems to me after reading both posts that most of these issues boil down to honesty and communication. A good, solid relationship with your recruiter is key to your success as a travel nurse. To that end it’s important that both parties treat each other with respect and honesty.

First, you need to work with someone you’re compatible with. Beyond that, ethical behavior on both ends and a two-way street approach to good, honest communication seems to be the best recipe for a happy traveler-recruiter relationship. I hope these tips on how not to be will help you and your recruiters be aware of how to be in order to have the most successful relationship possible.