In last month’s update, we touched on how August serves as a transitional period for the travel healthcare job market. Many travelers looking to avoid the early wave of competition in July waited until August to search for a fall contract.

At the same time, many travelers went back to work or squeezed in a bit more “paid vacation” by extending at their summer facilities through the month. Pediatric facilities may have needed more help, with parents bringing children in for check-ups before school and to get the first round of flu vaccinations.

As such, our predictions for the total volume of applications on the StaffDNA job boards were mostly on the mark, dropping by about 12 percent from July to August. Market activity ramped up towards the end of the month, but not fast enough to reach July’s high number of applications.

Travel healthcare jobs September 2018

We expect September to at least recoup from the 12 percent drop in application volume for August, but we may also see a possible increase in application activity.

There are a few market indicators that point towards September as a high-activity month:

• Many travelers who decided to extend their summer contracts will be looking for either a quick contract between fall and winter or they will already be planning for the winter months.
• Hospitals are continuing to push for more temporary staffing to bulk up for flu season.
• The great “snowbird” migration will start to ramp up this month. Travelers who moved north for cooler summer temperatures will head back south for the winter. Conversely, travelers who don’t mind the cold will head north to fill gaps left by summer travelers.

If you didn’t catch it, the recurring theme here is winter. Late November through February are incredibly busy times for general healthcare facilities, so most hospitals, recruiters and travelers have already begun planning three months ahead.

We already saw a few examples of the winter job swell in the past two weeks. Facilities in East Texas have been hiring medical-surgical nurses en masse, and one of the largest hospitals in St. Louis plans to bring in more than 200 travelers in the next two months.

Unsurprisingly, both of these locations are in southern states where flu activity peaks early and stays high throughout the winter. Expect to see more facilities in Alabama, Mississippi, New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana and Arkansas heavily recruiting in the next few weeks.

While we can’t say for sure September will be the busiest month of the year for job hunting, we can guarantee travelers have a much wider range of options to find a contract right now that fits their needs.

Let’s see what we learned from August’s top markets.

State rankings show a gradual winter shift

The StaffDNA state rankings list didn’t change much overall from July to August, but it did provide early hints to where travelers may be looking for the late fall and winter.

Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Nevada continued to gain ground and now sit comfortably in the top 20 most applied-to states. Arizona also held a spot in the top 10, dropping only two spots to No. 8.

Kentucky, South Carolina enter the Top 10

Kentucky just barely jumped into the top 10 most applied-to states for August, bumping Virginia down to No. 11.

South Carolina made the largest shift, moving seven spots from No. 13 to the sixth place slot. We expect the state to remain popular in September, as there are many high-paying opportunities on the StaffDNA job boards in the state, especially for rad techs and OR, ER, ICU and PACU nurses.

August’s Top Markets

1. Florida
2. California
3. Texas
4. North Carolina
5. Tennessee
6. South Carolina
7. Pennsylvania
8. Arizona
9. Georgia
10. Kentucky
11. Virginia
12. Indiana
13. Missouri
14. Oklahoma
15. Arkansas
16. Wisconsin
17. Michigan
18. Iowa
19. Idaho
20. Maine
21. New Mexico
22. Nevada
23. Oregon
24. West Virgina
25. Colorado
26. Ohio
27. Hawaii
28. Washington
29. New Jersey
30. Illinois
31. Massachusets
32. Alabama
33. Minnesota
34. Utah
35. Maryland
36. Louisiana
37. New Hampshire
38. Vermont
39. Arkansas
40. Montana
41. New York
42. South Dakota
43. Connecticut
44. Kansas
45. Mississippi
46. Nebraska
47. Washington D.C.
48. Wyoming
49. North Dakota
50. Rhode Island
51. Delaware