Blacklisted as a Travel Nurse? What You Should Do Right Away

It’s news you never want to get. Something has happened, and you’ve been marked “Do Not Hire” or “Do Not Return”.

Whether you’re considered “Do Not Hire” by an agency or “Do Not Return” by a hospital or vendor management system, it may feel like you’ve severely crippled your career. While being a setback, it doesn’t have to be permanent. There are things you can do to prevent being blacklisted and get back in good standing. Time is of the essence.

“Being proactive rather than reactive is key,” said Richard Dunn, Senior Recruiter at LiquidAgents Healthcare. “The more information you can get over sooner rather than later can be a determining factor in being placed as a DNH or not.”

Getting off an agency blacklist

The first thing to note about being marked as “Do Not Hire” by an agency is that if you are on the list for clinical reasons it may be hard, if not impossible, to get off of it.

However, if you’ve been blacklisted because of a personality issue or because of something situational, you can get back into an agency’s good graces, and that process starts with a statement showing that you understand what has happened and why.

Your statement should show some remorse and show some effort to fix the issue. That could be courses or extra class work completed to build knowledge. It should also include references from recent jobs worked showing that they were completed without incident and that behaviors that were an issue in the past aren’t any longer.

More than anything, you need to do things that give the agency a reason to trust you again.

“Nurses need to know that if they term their contract for any reason, they need to submit a statement over within 24 hours to make sure it is submitted,” added LiquidAgents’ David McKenzie, Director of Talent Advisory. “A lot of nurses do not realize if they do not ask their recruiter what they should do to get their side of things over to the facility, it may result in them being blacklisted from the facility’s VMS permanently.”

Getting off a hospital blacklist

Getting back into a hospital’s good graces takes a similar effort. The best place to start is by working with your recruiter to craft a statement expressing remorse at the way things ended previously. After that, do what you can to prove things are different now. Show that the behaviors the hospital took issue with are in the past. Show that you’ve completed coursework that may have been interfering with you executing on the job previously. Show that you’ve taken classes to increase your knowledge and skills. Provide references from recently completed assignments that show the kind of work you’re capable of.

While it’s no guarantee that you will be removed from a “Do Not Return” list, it’s the best foot you can put forward in efforts to get off of one.

Getting off a VMS blacklist

Like agencies, a VMS is willing to consider removing nurses from a blacklist if the reason they landed there in the first place wasn’t clinical.

And, like with agencies and hospitals, the process starts with a statement expressing understanding of the situation, why you were considered “Do Not Hire” and what you have done to correct any issues that may have caused you to be blacklisted.

Most vendor management systems are willing to reconsider “Do Not Return” candidates if it was extenuating circumstances that put them there, like a family illness that caused them to have attendance issues.

While a situation you never want to be in, having a trusting, ethical recruiter to represent you and puts your best interests first makes a big difference.

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