How to take the jump into being a travel tech (for radiology!)

Taking the leap into anything is hard. Coming from someone who made the leap only one year ago, I come to you bearing all the tips and tricks for starting off as a traveler. In this article, I will help you sift through your mind to determine if travel would be a good fit for you, help you get started, and give you some tips and tricks of things I wish I knew when starting out! 

When I was first starting off wanting to travel, I found myself sifting the internet for articles and guidance on getting started. Sure there are a decent amount of articles for nurse traveling but what about radiology travel? I got you! 

Top 5 things to consider when deciding to travel in radiology: 

1. What is your motivation for wanting to travel? 
   This is the most important answer... your "WHY!" Why are you reading this article? Why are you thinking about becoming a traveler? Are finances tight and you want to make more money? Are you feeling stuck at your current job and want to challenge yourself? Are you feeling bored and unfulfilled in your current position? Are you wanting to find a way to travel while still making money? Do you want to start over after your kids move out and try something new? Do you want to meet more people and make new friends? Whatever your WHY might be, it is important to you. So think about your WHY & use that as fuel for starting your next chapter.
2. Have you been working in your modality *at least* two years? 
   Most companies won't hire you until you have two years under your belt. So keep that in mind when deciding to travel. The more experience you have, the better. Some companies will hire you with only one year of experience but most hospitals won't take you until you've had at least two years. 
3. How well do you adapt to change?
   Are you adaptable? Do you get along well with new people? Are you able to think on the fly? Can you learn new machines, new protocols, and new workflow easily? This is a big one. Think about a weekend you had off from work. Let's say you had a big list of to-dos and woke up feeling great about getting all of those things accomplished on your weekend. But you went to the grocery store and they were out of your favorite brand of bread, you left your reusable grocery bags at home, and dropped an egg container on the floor in the cold section. How do these minor inconveniences make you feel? Do you get angry? Do you laugh at yourself? Are you able to adapt and keep going? Travel is going to be a lot of *Firsts*. First day on the job, first day meeting a whole new crew of co-workers. New radiologists. New equipment. New protocols. New patient population. New place to live. New hospital. The list goes on and on. When you think about all these new and shiny changes, how does it make you feel?
4. Are you a well-rounded technologist? 
   Do you have a lot of exams under your belt? Are you capable of walking into a new hospital, into a whole new radiology department, and pick up the mouse or probe or hit the rotor and generate good quality images without much help? To be a traveler, sometimes you are asked to work alone and do your exams solo. You should have an extensive list on exams you can perform without guidance on multiple brands of machines. This makes you more marketable and will help you feel more confident as a traveler and land more jobs. 
5. Do you have a place to call home? 
   You have to have a physical and permanent address? Whether that be that you have a home that you own that you pay a mortgage on, or an apartment that you rent, or a room in your parents or friends home that you rent from them. You HAVE to have a permanent residence. We call this your "tax home" in travel tech lingo. When you are a traveler, you get both taxable and non-taxable income. The taxable income is going to be your hourly rate. Something you are already used to at your current permanent position in the hospital. You are already getting an hourly rate and being taxed on that hourly rate. In travel you have the same taxable type rate. However, in travel, you also get stipends. Stipends are awesome! They are tax free money that you get to use towards housing, food, and other "necessities" while on a travel assignment. But because you are being provided this *tax free* wonder money, you have to be doubling your income for the tax free money to be warranted in the IRS' eyes. So you have to have a place to call home, that you can prove you pay a market value price for (i.e. you can't claim that your parents home is your tax home but pay them no rent. Instead, you have to pay your parents a fair amount of rent for a room in their home. Whatever your parents would list the room for on Airbnb or Zillow to a stranger should be the same amount you are paying them for the space). 

#beRad