What is Agency Nursing and is it Right for You?

May 12, 2021

What is Agency Nursing and is it Right for You?

As a nurse, you sacrifice a lot to help other people. We know all about the hours away from home, the night shifts, the missed evenings out with friends and family – the list goes on.

So, as a dedicated and passionate nurse, why shouldn’t you be able to pick and choose the role you want and the hours you want? Better yet, why not get paid more and have the chance to broaden your experience and skillset?

Working as an agency nurse can offer all these benefits and many more, but obviously it’s not right for everyone. At WESolutions we help both locum and permanent nurses find their dream nursing roles. But if you do have questions about what is agency nursing and are considering if a locum nursing job might be the best next step in your career, here’s our overview.

The Advantages of Working as an Agency Nurse

For many nurses, the security of a permanent role gives you everything you need. But, we think it’s important to share some of the benefits of locum nursing:

4 Reasons Locum Nursing Could be for You

  • Better Pay – let’s start strong with one of the key advantages of agency nursing. If you are flexible and have good availability, you will be well remunerated – up to 35% higher than permanent nurses. And if you put your hand up for night shifts, you can put even more pounds in your pocket.
  • Flexible Work-life Balance – being a locum nurse puts you in the driver’s seat where you can effectively choose the hours and locations you’d like to work. Be mindful that this might restrict the number of positions you’re offered, but it does mean you can set your own schedule and work around your family commitments and/or personal interests.
  • Professional Development Opportunities– as an agency nurse, you will be catapulted into a range of different work environments with broad-ranging responsibilities and tasks. You’ll also have an in-built career counsellor through your agency contact who can search for roles that suit the next step on your career path.
  • Easier to Stay Focussed – as an agency nurse, it’s unlikely that you’ll get caught up in any kind of workplace politics and instead be able to fully focus on your patients. So no worrying about the prospect of future staffing shortages or increased workloads. Just the ability to come in, get the job done and go home at the end of your shift stress free.

Is an Agency Nursing Job for You?

If this is all sounding too good to be true, it’s also important to share some of the potential drawbacks of temp nursing. For example, you’ll need to live without knowing for sure what your work schedule is going to look like next month and how much you will earn, but if you partner with a good recruitment agency for locum nurses you should have nothing to worry about.

You might also miss the feeling of working as part of a team, and celebrating collective wins as a close-knit group of colleagues but this is easily outweighed by the other benefits of being a locum nurse.

Our advice is to figure out a list of priorities for whatever stage of your career you’re in. This should include your career goals, your current set of commitments outside work and other personal needs. From that list, you should be able to see whether locum nursing is the right option for you now or in the future.

It’s also crucial to find the right nursing recruitment agency who understand your needs and can place you in the right roles. Ideally you’ll build a trusted relationship with your recruiter who has access to a wide range of roles within the healthcare industry and can support you throughout your locum journey.

Register as an Agency Nurse Today

Here at WESolutions, we are specialists in temp nursing recruitment and can help you a locum nursing role that matches your career goals as well as your lifestyle.

Get in touch with our friendly team of nursing recruiters today to start your locum nursing journey. Or if you’ve had a think and would like to explore permanent nurse roles, we can help there too!