Healthcare facilities use Medical Staffing Companies/Agencies due to one or more of the following reasons:

• Most healthcare facilities receive applications in large quantities. It often takes a long time for them to process applications - upto a month after the advertisement. If a position has to be filled quickly the facility will ask a medical staffing company.
• Medical Staffing Companies are more economical when a few slots are to be filled, advertising is expensive for filling 2-3 positions.
• The best candidates do not respond to advertisements. They are often too busy to respond. The nurse recruiter is employed to seek out a satisfied employee and tempt him with the job offer.
• Some healthcare facilities prefer to have low administration and outsource recruitment substantially, they let nurse recruiters handle the entire activity.

As a candidate, you can use nurse recruiters in the following ways:

• Register in the database - this is usually better than broadcasting your resume to several companies. This will give you a chance when companies are in a hurry to recruit or need a few people.
• Respond to specific advertisements - if a consultant has advertised specific jobs for a specific company - it is most likely that they have been assigned to carry out the job on behalf of the company. It is best to respond to these advertisements if you are interested in the specific company - the company itself may not advertise or even process your resume quickly if the resume is sent directly to them.
• Respond to a nurse recruiters overtures - if a nurse recruiters writes to you or makes attempts to contact you inviting you to meet and discuss - do respond - you might be missing the best opportunity in the market. However, ask the nurse recruiters to describe the opportunity over the phone or email before meeting. If there is no specific opportunity - your resume will go in a database.