Sharon we got some more exciting stuff for you today. You know everybody always wants to know how do I find work? Lots of different ways. But you know we hear about people working through agencies all the time. In fact if you're on any of the Facebook groups you know I'm always hearing and seeing oh this recruiter sends me a text all the time. I know what you're talking about. Or I get emails or you know some of the recruiters get made fun of on these Facebook groups or some CRNAs will actually play along with recruiters and so forth. You know I would say that the majority of recruiters out there are just trying to help their clients work and fulfill the work that's out there. But there's a lot of misinformation about agency work out there. So I thought we'd just talk about it a little bit today. Especially for new CRNAs who might be transitioning from W-2. One of the big topics that we hear about is you know how do I find work? How does this work? You know I'm leaving kind of a secure environment. You know I haven't cultivated a relationship with somebody to go do work. What do I do? So we'll kind of hit the highlights there today. So there are some benefits to working through an agency and Sharon have you ever worked through an agency? Believe it or not no. Yeah I didn't think you had. You've been able to cultivate relationships along the way. You worked for a CRNA only group. Now you work for another group that is owned by a CRNA as well. But you do get an access to a broader range of job opportunities. That is one thing about the agency. You know they've got their hands in a lot of different information out there. Different pots are calling on them to fill. So if you just absolutely don't want to do buttholes and eyeballs. You know you can tell the agency that and they'll find you something else. Well the other thing is some facilities will not work with individuals. They will only work with agencies. Which I don't understand why because the agency command more money to cover their expenses to get a CRNA. They do. They do. You know they've got established relationships there. And a lot of facilities don't want to contract with individual CRNAs because they don't want them to be seen as a potential employee of that facility. And Sharon you've been down this road before. I mean you know that that can't happen if the IRS were to come in and you've got a CRNA who's coming to the same place doing the same job and you're telling them when they can leave and giving them their drugs. It can be misconstrued as an employee relationship instead of an independent contractor relationship. And I really believe that that's why a lot of facilities won't contract with individual CRNAs. You know there are some ways around that. It's a little beyond the scope of this presentation. But there are some ways to kind of mitigate some of those factors as well. But you know they're out there. This is their job. They negotiate with these facilities. It helps you know it helps them have improved financial management. So you're not out there having to invoice for your time, collect payment, kind of track all that. They do all that for you. I mean believe me they're tracking every single hour that you work because every single hour you work they get paid right. So they're going to want to know that how many hours you work if anything goes wrong. If you've got a situation that's arisen part of the scenario for them is to kind of step in and help you know make sure that situation gets remedied there. So those are those are good things. And you know licensing, credentialing, compliance, all those things the agency should be helping you with and helping you work through. If you're a CRNA out there on your own, not that you can't do this. But again if you want a simplistic route, working through an agency might just be that route because of these factors. Choosing the right agency. You know this is something that I think is extremely important. There are agencies out there who don't have the best reputation and I'm not going to name any names but we all know that. You know check their reviews, check their ratings, you know fellow CRNAs. You know I know a lot of people post in the Facebook group and say that you know XYZ agency what's it like to work for them. They're horrible, their follow-up is horrible, they're follow-through, they over-promise, under-deliver. If you start to hear that about a particular agency that's probably not going to be the right site for you. You know take a look at their website. What does it say they do? What do they specialize in? You know are they, do they also support AAs? This is a big one. You know I've heard CRNAs say well if that agency is also placing AAs and anesthesiologists, I don't want to have anything to do with them. So make sure that you understand exactly what they're doing. What is their reputation? Interview them just as much as they're interviewing you. You know find out about you know how long, how long does it take to credential for you? Are you going to handle that process with me? Are you negotiating on my behalf? You know can I get a housing allowance or you know travel stipends and so forth? I mean that's their job is to make sure they put you, the CRNA, in the best situation. Obviously they're going to get paid for it as well, but those are those are the things that they should be doing for you. Communication, you need to be able to communicate with them and get feedback and give them feedback. If it's always one-sided and you're just kind of being told what to do, that again probably isn't a good relationship. They should listen to you, hear what you want to do, not push you into taking an assignment just because it's in their best interest. It should be an assignment that works for you and them and the facility. And then the details of the contract, you know this is again how much money am I going to be making? Are there any benefits associated with it? Are they going to cover you know my housing stipend? Are they going to give me a travel allowance? Am I going to get meal money on a daily basis? Make sure you understand their contract. You are going to sign a contract with them. Have someone review it. At least look over it. What are your rights? Your obligations? What do they expect from you? How do you get out of this? You know if they place you there, how long before you could go back and work there again? You know Sarah, my wife, had a situation arise. She wasn't working through an agency but where she was working doing buttholes and they lost the contract. Well a new facility came in and took over and they could not hire her for two years. Right. Even though she did nothing wrong at all and she didn't understand that when she took the position, it was an eye-opener to make sure that you're always reading those contracts and it was plainly in there. Two years is a long time. Two years is a long time. That's a little bit outside of the standard. It was outside of the standard. I don't know if it was enforceable but the group that took over did not want to have any problems and so they let all those CRNAs go and they hired other CRNAs to take the positions. They all liked working there. It was good money. It was a good environment. So the hiring process, you know, typically you'll have an application that you send to the agency. They're usually going to do a back down check and they want to copy your CV. So make sure you've updated your CV. I know Sharon, you keep yours updated. I think yours is like 30 pages long now with all the talks you've given and everything else in your CV. They'll kind of review that. They will verify your contacts. You're going to have to have references, people you've worked with in the past. Make sure that you're certified, getting the credential and the licensing and so forth and then they'll assign, you know, a recruiter to you to kind of help you walk through that process. They'll interview, make sure your qualifications match with the position. Then you get a job offer and acceptance and you don't have to accept that. That's one thing I want you to understand. If you get down this road, this just isn't a fit for you. Make sure you communicate that back because especially right now, we all know that there's plenty of work out there right now. Don't get pigeonholed into a situation just because you feel like this might be the only opportunity. There's a lot of work out there all across the country right now. You got to have the right mindset. Every new contract, every time you go to a new place, you're going to have to adapt and be willing to adapt to new situations. Sharon, I'll never forget you telling me about after not being in the hospital for, was it 16 years? And then you walked in one day to this hospital and you had to adapt really, really quick. Very quickly. Yeah, because you didn't know how to use Epic. No. Yeah, I mean, you know, so be willing to ask for help. Show that you have a knowledge base, but also make sure that you adapt to that situation and the people in it. You know, there'll be different personalities and how do you fit in and make it work. Some places are going to be absolutely grateful that you're there and other people are going to hate that you're there because they know you're making more money than them. And stay organized. You know, if you're there, make sure you're tracking your hours and your finances and the schedule. Make sure you get paid correctly. Utilizing technology as we've talked about in other episodes to do that. And really try to be a team with the agency. I know that they're getting paid as well, but if you can kind of cultivate that relationship with them, they're going to look after you. I guarantee you if they don't like you, you might not get the assignment of someone that they do like. Have that great communication with them, Sharon. I know you're excellent at doing that with people. Increases the chance that you're going to get better assignments from them as well. And if they're out there helping you, then you make sure that you're helping them as well.

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