Today we’re chatting with Anders, one of our featured agencies on Wanderly. Get to know their team a little more and don’t forget to check out their fully detailed pay packages on Wanderly.
Share who, where, why, what, how ANDERS GROUP came to be and the mission statement/mottos that guide everyday business:
Anders Group is based in Irving, TX (Dallas-area) and opened back in 2010. We were founded by a team of experienced recruiters that weren’t satisfied with the industry’s shift toward a numbers-first approach to healthcare staffing and wanted to concentrate on building their business one relationship at a time. Now, almost 10 years later, we’ve seen so much growth and change, but we haven’t changed our focus on understanding the travelers we work with. Learning about their goals – personal, professional, and financial – helps us build respectful partnerships that turn into genuine friendships, and that has been a huge part of our success.
What should travelers know about ANDERS GROUP?
Our goal at Anders Group is to help the traveler meet their goals! Want to see the country? Want to pay off student loans? Want to further develop in your profession? Want to retire early? We get to know the travelers we work with and what they want to accomplish. This helps us set realistic expectation while we guide and match them with assignments that help them toward their goals.
The recruiters and support folks at Anders Group are here to support on the travel journey! We offer day-one medical, dental, and vision insurance, no cost life insurance, premium pay packages customized to the traveler’s wants and needs, 401k, and so much more. We’re always looking at ways we help our travelers, so they can focus on doing what they do and being awesome at their jobs.
What is the team culture like at ANDERS GROUP? Give some examples of team members, their roles, and exciting milestones from 2018….
One word sums up our culture here at Anders Group: Family. We’re lucky to be a real family here. Like any family, there are challenges, but there is also encouragement, collaboration, and so many laughs!
Last year was a bit of a roller coaster for us. We came together to give comfort and support when there was hardship and we were able to celebrate together when our family grew – new staff and the arrival of the cutest baby ever! Even though it was, at times, a tough year for us, through support and hard work, we had so much growth and so, so much to celebrate!
The caring and respect we have for each other here in the Anders Group office extends out to all the healthcare professionals we work with, and that’s something we’re extremely proud of!
How does the leadership at ANDERS GROUP define success for the employees as well as success for the travelers?
Internally, we define success in a few different ways – there’s definitely the sales aspect (how many travelers have been placed and jobs filled), but there’s also the customer experience piece that is the reason we continue to grow and be successful. We focus on providing a great experience for our travelers and clients so that they keep wanting to work with us. Keeping so many healthcare professionals traveling with us assignment after assignment really shows we’re doing something right!
For our travelers, we define success as helping them use travel healthcare to work toward and meet goals – whether they be personal, professional, or financial. For some, success is to make the most money as possible so they can retire early, pay off student loans quickly, or put a kid through college. For others, they want to use travel to see the country or gain new skills in their profession. Not every assignment is going to be smooth, but there’s always something to learn.
What are the hopes for the ANDERS GROUP/Wanderly partnership in 2019? How can we continue to best support each other?
We look forward to continuing our sponsorship with Wanderly into 2019. We love that Wanderly is focused on connecting healthcare travelers and agencies that staff travel positions. In the world of healthcare staffing, and staffing in general, it can sometimes be difficult to find partners that really understand the fast pace and sense of urgency needed for travel healthcare. When jobs can open and close within hours, any tool that connects interested, qualified healthcare professionals with our open positions is a huge help to both parties!
What myths about the travel healthcare industry would ANDERS GROUP want to correct for someone considering taking an assignment?
There are lots of travel healthcare myths out there, but one that we run into often is that you can make a ton of money no matter where you go on assignment. While travel nurses and other travel healthcare professions typically make more than their permanent counterparts, there are a lot of other factors that determine bill rates and therefore pay rates. Location of the assignment, urgency to fill the position, how long the position has been open, whether there is a MSP/VMS, and how desirable the location is can all factor into the bill rate. You may want to work in Hawaii (who wouldn’t?!), but if money is the main motivator for travel, you may be able to make more on the mainland.
Your recruiter can help you set realistic expectations. Determining what your main motivators are for travel (money, adventure, etc.) and letting your recruiter know that main motivator can help us help you find the assignment that fits.
What gives the team at ANDERS GROUP the feeling of purpose in the day-to-day?
The relationships we form with not only the healthcare providers we work with but also the relationships we build with the facilities we help staff keep us going. There is still a big push here on establishing a person-to-person line of communication, and we use technology to supplement that. We love the quick communication allowed by texting, email, and social media, but in order to really understand someone’s goals and reasons to travel/need for staff, there’s nothing like a phone call. There’s so much energy that comes from a great call with someone you really connect with! It’s so motivating to be working with a traveler and get to tell them they got an offer for an assignment they really, really want. It has literally brought tears of joy to some recruiters’ eyes – no joke! If that isn’t passion for what we do, then we don’t know what is!
What are the plans for the future of ANDERS GROUP? What is planned for 2019?
We started off 2019 by moving to a new, larger office! It’s really set the stage for what this year is about… growth! Our internal teams, both recruiter and operations, are growing this year to help us better serve both our healthcare travelers and the clients we staff. We’ve been so lucky in that a big portion of our growth has stemmed directly from referrals. It says a lot about our company and how we work with our people that they trust us enough to refer their friends and colleagues. We’re so thankful for those recommendations and referrals, and we want to make sure we continue to provide the same level of service to the new travelers and clients we bring on. In order to do so, we need to expand our internal team, so it’s very exciting!
What else would you like to share? Handles, pages, groups, etc.
You can check us out on Facebook
Instagram (@andersgroup)
Twitter (@andersgroupllc)
LinkedIn (Anders Group, LLC),
Our Blog (andersgroup.org/blog)
Don’t forget to browse Anders pay packages on Wanderly here.
Stay connected with us! Join our Facebook group for Travel Healthcare Professionals here.