Good Recruiter vs. Bad Recruiter: How to Tell in One Phone Call

By my third travel contract I’d figured out something it took some colleagues years to learn: the recruiter relationship is the single most important variable in your day-to-day experience as a traveler. More than the setting. More than the city. Even more than the facility — because a great recruiter can help navigate a difficult placement, but a bad recruiter can poison a great one.

I’ve worked with eight different recruiters over my career. A few were genuinely excellent. A couple were so bad I left agencies partly because of how they handled things. Most fell somewhere in the middle — well-intentioned but constrained by the agency they worked for. That last point matters more than most people realize.

Judge a recruiter on the first call: a good one leads with specific pay ranges, explains why a position opened, and connects you with current travelers, while a bad one stalls until you’re emotionally invested. But the agency matters more — a good recruiter can’t manufacture margin their agency keeps, so evaluate the agency first, then the recruiter.

The First Call Is a Job Interview — You’re Doing the Hiring

Most new travelers go into the first recruiter call passively: waiting to be pitched, hoping the numbers sound good. It’s backwards. You are the product. You have a license, clinical skills, and the flexibility to go where the work is. Good agencies compete for that. A recruiter who treats the first call like they’re doing you a favor has already told you something important about how things will go when you need help at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday in a new city. Come in with your own questions. Our list of questions to ask a staffing company is a good place to start.

The Questions That Separate Good Recruiters From Bad Ones

1. “What does a typical pay package look like for my specialty?”

Ask this in the first five minutes. A good recruiter answers with specific numbers: taxable rate range, stipend range, total gross weekly range. Something like: “For a PT in outpatient, we’re seeing $21–$24 taxable plus stipends that put the total in the $2,000–$2,400/week gross range depending on location.” A bad recruiter says “it depends on the assignment” or “let me find you some jobs first and then we can talk numbers.” That last one means they want you emotionally invested before you know what it pays. Once you have a range, run it through our pay calculator to see the estimated take-home.

2. “Why did this position open up?”

Ask this about every job they pitch. “Census is up and they need coverage through summer” is very different from “their staff therapist just left” — which invites the follow-up: why? A recruiter who has genuinely spoken with the facility can answer. One working off a job board cannot.

3. “What does therapist turnover look like at this facility?”

A good recruiter either knows the answer or says honestly they’ll find out. A bad recruiter gets vague or pivots to positives. High turnover isn’t always a red flag — some facilities use travelers by design — but a recruiter who won’t engage with the question has told you something about how they’ll handle uncomfortable truths mid-contract.

4. “What happens if the assignment isn’t working out?”

Ask this before you’ve seen any specific jobs. A good recruiter walks you through the process: notice requirements, what happens to your stipend, how quickly they work to place you again. A bad recruiter gets uncomfortable or pivots to how well they screen placements so it won’t happen. The discomfort itself is informative.

5. “Can I talk to a therapist currently working with you?”

Any agency worth working with says yes immediately. At ProTherapy we actively encourage this. Call (484) 324-8320 and ask — we’re confident in what you’ll hear.

What Good Recruiters Do Between Contracts

They check in during the assignment, not just at renewal time. A quick text around week five — “How’s it going?” — marks someone who actually cares whether the placement is working. Bad recruiters go quiet until three weeks before your end date.

They remember what you told them. If you said you want outpatient and not SNF for the next contract, a good recruiter filters by that without being reminded every call.

They’re reachable when something goes wrong. The recruiter who picks up at 6 p.m. on a Friday when your housing falls through is worth more than the one with the polished welcome email.

They push back when you’re about to make a bad decision. I once had a recruiter talk me out of an assignment I was excited about because they’d heard bad things from two previous travelers. They gave up a placement to protect me. That’s the standard.

Agency Matters More Than Recruiter

Here is what I wish someone had told me plainly at the start: a good recruiter at a bad agency can only do so much for you. Your recruiter works within the constraints of their agency’s pay model, facility relationships, and contract terms. A recruiter who wants to get you a great pay package cannot manufacture margin their agency is keeping. I’ve had recruiters I genuinely liked at agencies with bait-and-switch cultures. The recruiter gave me a verbal offer, I got excited, and by the time the written contract arrived the numbers had shifted. The recruiter was apologetic. But I was still stuck with the contract or starting over. Evaluate the agency first, then the recruiter. A great recruiter at a bad agency is still a bad agency. If you’re weighing agencies, our checklist for choosing a travel therapy agency covers exactly what to look for.

Red Flags

• Won’t give pay ranges without seeing job listings first
• Verbal offer and written contract numbers don’t match
• Can’t explain why the position opened up
• Resists connecting you with current travelers
• Creates urgency on every call: “this job will be gone tomorrow”
• Goes quiet between contract end and renewal
• Doesn’t ask about your preferences before pitching jobs
• Gets defensive about early termination policies
• Unreachable outside business hours during an active contract

Green Flags

• Leads with pay transparency before you ask
• Has genuine clinical context — understands what SNF productivity pressure means in practice
• Describes facilities in a way that shows they’ve actually spoken with someone there
• Asks what you want before pitching what they have
• Checks in mid-contract without an agenda
• The verbal offer matches the written contract exactly

When you call ProTherapy you’re talking to people who have traveled themselves. The questions you’re nervous to ask are exactly the ones we’re prepared to answer honestly, because we’ve been on the receiving end of the bad versions. Talk to our team or call (484) 324-8320.