My name is Candace and I am the president of MDI Medical.  I've been with MDI since 2003 and have come to love the rehab travel staffing business.  In this blog I'll share my thoughts on what's happening in the industry and provide useful tips for our Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Language Pathology Travelers.  I hope you enjoy the blog, and please get involved by posting comments.  I love to hear your feedback!

Hi there! Here is a continuation of my last post of ideas on how to get recruiters to work hard for you.

1. Be Nice: Sometimes the most important things are those that we learned at a very young age. If you yell at the payroll clerk, the credentialer or housing coordinator, your recruiter hears about it. We’re not always perfect, and we too raise our voices sometimes, but if you treat people well, they’ll bend over backwards for you.
2. Fulfill Your Contract: Sometimes bad things happen. If a client terminates your assignment early, and if your recruiter asks you to fulfill your contract, there are reasons for it:
3. • Your reputation
   • The recruiter’s reputation
   • Time to find a new assignment
   • Ability to keep you on benefits
     Your recruiter has your best interest at heart, even if it means a temporary glitch. Give a little; seek a win-win situation for everyone. Your recruiter and the client will reward your commitment and flexibility.

1. Send a Referral: This is how we make a living&feed our families, and a referral is the ultimate ‘Thank You’. Good people know good people. If you’re happy with the service provided by the recruiter, or if you developed a good rapport, send people our way. Give out your recruiter’s name and email address. You instantly become a “rock star” in their office, and if you refer lots of people, your wallet gets a little fatter too.

In all, the most important thing to remember in order to get your recruiter to work hard for you is to realize that s/he doesn’t make money if you don’t find a job that meets your needs. We know you will go elsewhere from time to time, but the best recruiters work tirelessly so you won’t ever have to. The more money you make, the more great assignments we can find for you, the better we do as well. We want to find the perfect job for you. We’re on your team.

.The final part of this article will be in my next post.  Until then, if you would like to read the full article, click here.

We enter 2009 with a lot of gratitude to all our Rehab Travelers who make us look good every day. Thank you for all you do!

I've been asked if we are seeing a slowdown in any segments of business. Overall Rehab Travel demand remains strong.  We typically see a little slow down in December in highly desired areas like Florida and Arizona, but not the overall market.

This year MDI Medical (soon to be "Cirrus Allied Staffing") continues to grow in our client base. We have partnered as a preferred provider to one of the best Home Health companies in the industry. This allows us to provide you with the therapy jobs you want in the locations you want. Call us for Atlanta, GA or Chicago, IL positions that we are actively recruiting for.  We also have opportunities in North Carolina and South Carolina. 

In addition, MDI now has opportunities with facilities offering long term contracts:  specifically the federal government and School Systems in great metropolitan areas

Call us for more info. I welcome your feedback.

Hi all, here is a continuation of my last post with a few other points that came to mind that can help you make sure your recruiter is working for you the best that they can:

1. Don't Go MIA: Rehab travel is a small world. Your reputation is important, with clients AND with recruiters. So many travelers go MIA (missing in action) in the middle of an interview process. Even if you find a job elsewhere, give your recruiter the courtesy of a phone call. We'll still work with you in 13 weeks when you're looking for a new contract.
2. Do What You Say You'll Do:  The best recruiters work harder for travelers they respect. We treat you the way you'd like to be treated. Send your resume when you say you will, return our calls within 24 hours, take the interview with the client when he/she calls, and call your recruiter back immediately following that client interview.
3. Be Straightforward:  You won't be the first therapist to decline an opportunity, but do provide your recruiter with feedback quickly. Be straightforward. If you don't want an assignment, say NO not MAYBE.

I'll finish up the discussion on this topic in my next blog post or to read the full article now, click here.

In this post, I will post another portion of the How to Get Recruiters to Work Hard for You article.  This post will discuss how to build a trusting and personal relationship with your recruiter.

From Recruiter to Personal Career Agent
The very best travel and local contract rehab therapy careers are built based on an open and honest relationship with a hardworking recruiter that is willing to invest the time to find what’s best for you. In fact, the very best recruiters become much more than your recruiter – they’re your career agent, your coach, sometimes your counselor, and they almost always become a very close friend. Building this trust takes time, but there are several things a traveler can do to work toward such a relationship.

1. Be honest about what’s most important: It’s important for your recruiter to know how you prioritize pay, location, and setting. If money is most important, we’ll share jobs with you that are not in the location or setting you want, if that’s where the best money is. If location is number one on your list, you’ll see jobs of various pay rates in order to get you to the spot you’re seeking.
2. Share a Little, Get a Lot: The best recruiters want to know a lot about you. They know the names of your spouse or significant other, your children and even your pets. They remember your favorites and surprise you with ‘a little something’ from time to time. Send a photo – it sets you apart from other travelers and reminds us who we’re working for.
3. Full Disclosure: If your recruiter submits you to a client and you’re already interviewing there with another travel company, it doesn’t help anyone. We want to know where to spend our time. That’s the only reason we ask. We’re not trying to steal your job or keep you from talking with other recruiters. The more forthcoming you are about your search, the better we can help you.

This article will be continued in my next blog post or to read the full article now, click here.

I wanted to share some feedback I received this a.m. from one of our Physical Therapy travelers, Cynthia H. and share the recognition Monica deserves with everyone:

Candace,

I want to let you know that I am very impressed with your employee, Monica Schnitzer.  She is always there to answer my questions in a timely and professional manner. She has excellent people skills and patience with crazy therapist like myself.  She never loses her temper, or if she does, she doesn't express it to staff/clients or therapists.  There have been times when I've been in an insecure situation during my traveling experience and she helps ease my worries.
Three cheers for Monica.


Sincerely,
Cynthia H, P.T.

 Good news to all of our traveling therapists  who are looking for long term contracts in government facilities. MDI Medical (soon to be Cirrus Allied Staffing) will now be offering assignments at government facilities across the country. This is very exciting as most of these contracts are longer term and the demand for traveling PTs, OTs and SLPs is on the rise.

  Happy travels.

Candace

Whether you provide physical, occupational or speech therapy or provide therapists to clients, I am grateful to be in the rehab travel therapy market.

While this recession has wrecked havoc on many industries, the therapy market remains strong. The jobs are plentiful across the country unless of course, you are trying to get to San Diego California or Florida right now.  We're still seeing a lot of demand in therapy positions, including home health and schools. Ask an MDI recruiter about these settings if you are interested.

With that said, keep in mind every company, including MDI isn't posting every position.  So if you are looking still this season, shoot us an email or apply on our website. We'll follow up with you promptly. We'll also give you the candid picture on what's going on in the therapy market in the area you are looking.

-- Candace Berk
Watch for our new name coming soon: Cirrus Allied Staffing, LLC.

Each month we send out a newsletter that incorporates an article for MDI's job seekers.  These articles discuss many different aspects of our traveling therapists' lives.  Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing excerpts from our articles.  I will begin with an article titled "How to Get Recruiters to Work Hard for You." To read the full article click here, or simply enjoy the following blog posts.


As every seasoned physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology traveler knows, having a great recruiter can make all the difference in the world when it comes to advancing your career. A great recruiter knows the business like the back of their hand, has a keen sense of where the best opportunities lie, and combines that with a deep understanding of what’s important to you to build a new assignment that is even better than the last.

But there’s more to a great recruiter. Once you’ve worked with a few, the differences between good and great become much clearer. The best recruiters love what they do. They have great people skills. They’re patient, yet they know when to apply pressure to help get what you want. They also know when a little finesse is better than making hard demands. More importantly, the best recruiters in the business do something that few others are truly willing to do – they work their tails off for their travelers.

Finding the Best of the Best
For most rehab travelers, finding the recruiter that works best for you is going to take some trial and error, but it doesn’t have to be painful. Rehab therapy is a relatively small world, and word – good and bad – gets around fast. Talk with your fellow travelers and staff therapists as well. Odds are that some of them have had great experiences working with recruiters, and they can help you avoid taking an assignment that sounds too good to be true.

The staffing business is all about relationships, and your recruiter should work to build a strong bond with you from the start. You can learn a lot by listening to the questions that recruiters ask you. Are they interested in what’s important to you or are they hurrying through the call to try to get to whether or not you’d take an assignment? Are they looking beyond your resume to uncover your goals and dreams? Every recruiter wants to place you on an assignment, but the best recruiters know that a strong relationship is the foundation for a long term relationship with a hardworking recruiter that is willing to invest the time to find what’s best for you. In fact, the very best recruiters become much more than your recruiter – they’re your career agent, your coach, sometimes your counselor, and they almost always become a very close friend. Building this trust takes time, but there are several things a traveler can do to work toward such a relationship.

This article will be continued in my next blog post or to read the full article now, click here.

It's that time of year for companies to renegotiate our health insurance costs.  One of the benefits of joining Cirrus, has been our ability to provide the best benefits in the industry at incredible prices. While we were able to remain flat in '08, we're couldn't avoid an increase this year. In 2009 insurance rates raised 10-13% on average. The good news is that we will still be offering our traveling  therapists the varied plans aimed at fitting the unique needs of our staff. So, if you are currently on one of our plans, you may want to consider raising your deductible a couple of hundred per year to offset the increase costs. We also offer a plan at no cost to our traveling therapists.  Check out our website for more information or call your recruiter to discuss your options. 
  If you are a veteran traveler or looking into becoming a traveling therapists, I hope you'll check out our great benefits and give us a call.
 

With our recent sale to Cirrus Medical Staffing,  MDI Medical has been working diligently to make sure we go through this transition with uninterrupted service to our traveling therapists.  We have been working to introduce many of our key support people. Some of these are listed below:

  Max Hogan handles our HR and 401k 
  Trent Burris manages Payroll
  Natalie Barber is primary access to Housing
  Keisha Hamilton manages helping travelers get their credentialing together

 Of course you can always call your recruiter at MDI Medical.

Beginning in January, we will be working on transitioning our name from MDI Medical to "Cirrus Allied Staffing."  We're excited about the positive changes under way.

Candace

This time of year, there is usually much discussion among travel staffing companies and traveling physical therapists around the medicare caps.  Many years ago, this cap put the travel therapy market on hold as many therapists looked for jobs elsewhere and in many cases in other industries. 
 
In July of this year, Congress delayed the cap once again for another 18 months - extending the delay until December 2009. MDI Medical and other travel therapy companies are relieved.

Now, I'm looking to the election. It's unclear what the candidates' positions are on therapy caps when they both talk about health care reform. I won't get further into politics here, but would love to hear your comments about what's ahead for the rehabilitation job market as it relates to health care reform overall.

Candace

Getting the Most from Your Rehab Travel Career

Part V:  Interviewing with the Hospital

Working as a traveling physical therapist, occupational therapist, or speech language pathologist is a tremendously exciting way to earn a living. Seeing the country; working a variety of clinical settings; in many ways it can’t be beat. In order to achieve this lifestyle, it is important that you do the work necessary to set yourself up for the perfect assignment. In this article, we’ll discuss your interview with the hospital, skilled nursing facility or other acute care centers.

The first step in preparing for any traveling therapist assignment is to do your research. It is important that you not only understand the position and all it involves, but also prepare to demonstrate your best qualities and to have your answers planned for those tricky interview questions. While you may have an idea of the job and its details, you need to spend some time with your recruiter to get the full view of the job at hand.

What to Expect:
When interviewing for any allied health jobs, there are several expectations and recommendations that you must understand before actually going to the interview. It is important to employers to see interviewees that are not only aware of their own skills and benefits that they bring to the table, but that they also have pertinent information about the position and company that they are interviewing with. To insure that you meet these interviewing expectations, you must understand the position and its expectations, as well as what the hospital is looking for in a candidate.

...Read the rest of the article here.

Don't forget to check out our:

Physical Therapy Jobs
Occupational Therapy Jobs
Speech Language Pathology Jobs

 We have a new recruiter starting at MDI Medical next week, Juan Soto. Juan is joining us from the Big Apple,  New York!  He and his wife have opted to move south and we are fortunate to have him joining MDI Medical.

Juan has great experience in therapy recruitment where he recruited physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists for pediatric facilities. He is energetic and customer focused. I think he's going to be a great member to our team.

If you have any recruiter referrals out there who are looking to work in a growing industry with a great group of  people, I'd appreciate a referral. We offer referral fee for internal hires.

Thanks!

Every day we hear of disastrous financials news. I have many friends and collegues affected by the downturn.  I feel very fortunate to be in the booming industry. Allied Health Jobs, and Rehabilitation jobs specifically, are on the rise. A few weeks back, I shared the growth expectancy of Physical therapy jobs at 27% over the next 8 years. Occupational therapy jobs and speech langugage pathology jobs are also on the rise and expected to grow at 23% and 11%, respectively from 2006 to 2016.

We'll it's that time of year again - MDI Medical will be going through our re-certification for JCAHO.  As this is a critical certification, we will be reviewing our therapists' files extra carefully through year end to ensure our files meet the high standards.  I'm not expecting any big areas of concern, but in the event you get a call from one of our therapy credentialing folks, please help them out.  Most of the clients in metro areas who offer the best travel allied health jobs and therapy travel positions also are JCAHO certified and value our seal of approval from JCAHO.

Thanks in advance for your help.

MDI Medical is based out of Norcross, GA, a suburb of Atlanta, GA. Due to the hurricane, we've been hit with a signficant gas shortage here. Stories of people sitting in one hour lines for gas are common in the past few weeks following the hurricane.  

I was talking to one of our physical therapists who recommended 2 websites, www.allthehitsQ100.com or www.gasbuddy.com for updates on where gas might be.

We haven't heard of the crunch so much across the country as traveling therapists continue to hit the road and many look to the south.  If any therapists are coming to Georgia, I would caution to be conservative about your gas tank while in route! 

Two weeks ago, I attended a conference for Healthcare Staffing organizations.   There was a lot of discussion around rehabiliation jobs and much about the outlook for the physical therapists. If you are a therapist, you know the demand is great from all of the phone calls you’re getting from companies and facilities offering therapy jobs!

 

I thought I’d share some stats from the Bureau of  Labor:  Physical therapists held about 173,000 PT jobs in 2006 and the future for growth looks even brighter.  Employment is expected to grow a whopping 27% from 2006 to 2016.  There's not many careers out there that can tout that kind of growth opportunity

 

What’s driving this growth?

 

• An increase in the elderly population  that will increases the demand for therapy treatments;
• Baby-boomers are entering prime age for heart attacks and strokes, increasing the demand for cardiac and physical rehab;
• Advanced technologies to save more children born with birth defects;  
• And an increased interest in health promotion.

 

If you are  interested in advancing your skills or exploring the country, now is a great time to travel with demand for therapists far out reaching supply.  MDI Medical has opportunities throughout the country.

I am sending an article this week on tips during the interview process.  While most our veteren traveling rehab therapists know many of these, I hope it helps new and existing travelers alike land the right travel therapy jobs more easily.

Timely communication during the interview process is critical.  With the number of traveling therapists growing and clients now having more than one therapists to consider, it's more important than ever that you and your recruiter are talking about your career decisions and personal circumstances frequently. There's nothing more frustrating  to both sides than learning during an interview that the client is looking for you to work a mixed setting and you only want an outpatient assignmnet or that the client can't accomodate 2 weeks off during the assignment because we've failed to address that prior to the interview.

In addition to managing expectations, MDI Medical has well over 2,400 travel therapy jobs that open and close daily, if not hourly. So any delays in getting your paperwork together or gathering questions in advance, can result in the loss of the job you want. 

I welcome your feedback. Looking forward to working with you in the future

MDI Medical moved to new offices today. We're still in the greater Atlanta area, specifcally Norcross, GA.  Our new office is located at the following address. Just a note to everyone that our phone number has changed as well.

MDI Medical

3000 Northwoods Parkway

Suite 105
Norcross, GA  30071
866-518-1750

With this move, we've improved our ability to communicate with both our therapists and clients including updated phone and email capability and soon to be new contact systems. These upgrades will help us access more quickly and remotely the information you need, when you need it.

Search our website out for more information, including over 2,400 travel rehab  therapy jobs, at www.mdimedical.com.