Frequently Asked Questions
If this is a free service to me, how do you make money?
We are paid a fee by the agencies and facilities we place candidates with. We offer a valuable service because our service reduces their advertising and recruiting costs.

Do I have to take a job that is offered?
No, our service is meant to create the best job opportunity for healthcare workers. You can always choose the job that is best for you if you find out about that job through our service or outside out service and we encourage you to use every route possible to create opportunities for yourself.

How do I contact a human?
You can e-mail us your questions and comments at faster@azteria.com. You can also call us at 800-935-2306. Some candidates have detailed questions that can only be answered by the hiring manager or agency recruiter, however Azteria answers the basic questions like job pay, location, start, and allows basic functionality like allowing you to create and manage your profile, matching your requirements to open jobs and getting your profile to posted jobs first. Additional information and answers to questions come when you speak with recruiters and hiring managers.

What is Total Compensation?
Total Compensation is the hourly value of your pay package, which can include any combination of hourly pay, travel, housing, health insurance, completion bonuses, sign-on bonuses, license reimbursement and other payments. Contract healthcare staffing can get complicated and the Total Compensation number allows you to compare offers across agencies and between opportunities at the same agency.

How can you offer better pay than agencies?
Sometimes the pay is the same if you go direct to the agency and sometimes we are able to increase the pay. The reason we can offer better pay rates is because we have arranged with agencies to do initial recruiter work which is time consuming and expensive. We also are an alternative to direct advertising, which is also expensive. If you work with agencies directly, they may change the compensation offered.

Do you offer the best possible pay for healthcare jobs?
Yes, we usually do because our goal is to be at the leading edge of compensation, not ‘back in the pack’ with everyone else. We are the most efficient and cost effective process for agencies and facilities to find out about candidates and we put most of that cost savings into candidate compensation to create the best possible pay package. We let agencies tell us how much they want to pay to their candidates and pick the highest paying agency if there are options. However, healthcare worker pay is very dynamic and can change quickly. If you know that we are not offering the highest possible pay at a facility, tell us who is and we will contact that agency or facility directly and adjust our compensation packages upward. We like to know when we are the highest paying too and never adjust our downward. E-mail us your compensation stories from the front lines at compensation@azteria.com.

Why don't you tell me which agency is posting which job?
We are similar to Priceline.com and Hotwire.com in a way because airlines can change their prices more quickly through those services and can offer special discounts to the ‘agencies’ themselves. We are different than those companies because you do not agree to a position until you have spoken with a recruiter from our partner agencies or facilities and had all your questions answered. Agencies are allowed to raise and lower their pay rates with us depending on their needs. They ask that we disclose pricing in a way that will not hurt their direct discussions with potential candidates. They need to be able to control how much they pay candidates depending on how the candidate finds them.

Why don't I just talk to agencies directly? How do you do such a great job of finding jobs?
We bring together jobs from many agencies to be able to offer you more selection than any one agency can. There are about 200 travel healthcare agencies alone, not to mention per diem agencies and the hospitals themselves. You would also need to talk with each of them many times a day because that’s how frequently we get new jobs from our partners.

Why do you charge for health insurance?
Contract healthcare workers are often lured with offers of “free” insurance. There is no free insurance. The cost of the insurance is taken out of your total pay package by reducing another benefit like hourly pay, travel, or housing. If you need insurance the companies we work with offer it. We will make sure that if you elect to not have insurance, you get paid for not taking it.

Will my information stay private?
Your information is always kept private and used only on a 'need to know' basis. We have exceedingly strong security measures that exceed industry standard practices for healthcare staffing. Your information is only distributed in the process of getting your profile reviewed by agencies and/or facilities.

How is tax handled?
As a traveling contract worker, or relocating full time employee, tax matters become a little more involved. The general guideline is that if your tax filing address is greater than 50 miles from your working address, you are eligible for special tax treatment. You should consult a tax professional to determine the best way to deduct expenses from income not taxed before you receive it, or how to track and deduct your expenses if your benefits are taxed before you receive them.

Where did you get the great pictures?
We found them at a site based in England based on honoring candidates and archiving the evolving candidate uniform. We are using the images with their permission. There are many more pictures where these came from at http://dyk2.homestead.com/Index.html. If you want to suggest other pictures from his site or from anywhere else, E-mail the picture’s URL to faster@azteria.com.