The Short Answer
Working with more than one recruiter is normal and sensible. Letting two of them submit you to the same facility is not — it is the single most common self-inflicted wound in travel therapy, and it can cost you the contract at a building you actually wanted.
The rule that makes it work is simple: you control which agency submits you to which facility, and you never give blanket permission to anyone. Everything below is how to hold that line without burning relationships you will want later.
Why a Double Submission Is So Damaging
When an agency submits you, it registers your profile against that specific job at that specific facility. The facility now has your name attached to two agencies at two different bill rates. From their side it looks like exactly one of three things, none of them good: the candidate is disorganised, the candidate is being shopped around without their knowledge, or two agencies are about to argue over who owns the placement.
The usual outcome is the cleanest one for the facility: they decline the candidate entirely and move to the next name. Not because you did anything unethical, but because sorting out which agency has the claim is more hassle than interviewing somebody else. You lose a contract you never got to interview for, and you often never learn why.
Some facilities also honour a first-submission window — the first agency to submit you holds the claim for a period, often 30 to 90 days, whether or not you preferred that agency. If the agency you liked less got there first, your good option is locked out for the rest of the window.
The one sentence that prevents all of this
“Please don’t submit me anywhere without my explicit approval of the specific facility and city first.” Say it on the first call with every recruiter, before you send a résumé. A good recruiter will not blink; it is standard practice. A recruiter who pushes back on it has told you something useful.
How Many Recruiters Is the Right Number?
Two or three working agencies is the range most experienced travellers settle on. The reasoning is practical rather than principled:
- One agency means you only see the jobs that agency has access to. Facilities do not post to every agency, and some contract exclusively. You will genuinely miss assignments.
- Two or three covers most of the market, gives you a real basis for comparing what a package should look like, and is still few enough that you can keep track of who submitted you where.
- Five or more is where it breaks down. You lose track of submissions, the double-submission risk rises sharply, and each recruiter invests less because they can tell they are one of many. Recruiters talk to each other more than travellers expect.
Keep a Submission Log
This sounds bureaucratic until the first time it saves you a contract. One note on your phone, one line per submission:
Facility · city · agency · recruiter name · date approved · outcome.
That is the entire system. When a second recruiter calls with “a SNF in Toledo,” you can check in five seconds whether that is the building someone already put you up for. Without the log you are relying on memory across three recruiters and a dozen conversations, which is precisely how double submissions happen to organised people.
The log also settles disputes. If two agencies do end up claiming the same submission, a dated record of who you approved and when is the only thing that resolves it in your favour.
What to Tell Each Recruiter About the Others
You do not owe anyone a list of the agencies you work with, and you should not give one. But being cagey about the fact that you work with more than one is counterproductive — they assume it anyway, and pretending otherwise costs you credibility.
The workable middle: be open that you work with a small number of agencies, be completely private about which. If a recruiter asks who else you are talking to, “I keep that between me and each agency, same as I’d keep yours” is a complete answer, and most recruiters respect it because it tells them you will not leak their rates either.
What you should never do is share one agency’s package offer with another to start a bidding war. It occasionally produces a slightly better number. It reliably produces a reputation, and this industry is much smaller than it looks.
When a Recruiter Submits You Anyway
It happens — sometimes carelessly, sometimes deliberately to lock in a claim. Deal with it immediately rather than hoping it resolves:
- Ask the recruiter, in writing, to withdraw the submission. Email, not a phone call. You want the record.
- Tell the agency you actually wanted to work with what happened and when you approved nothing. They can sometimes still contact the facility directly.
- Decide whether that recruiter continues. An unauthorised submission is not a small process error — it is someone spending your reputation to protect their commission.
Our recruiter red flags page covers the other behaviours worth ending a relationship over, and questions to ask covers the first call.
The Etiquette That Actually Matters
Most “recruiter etiquette” advice is about being agreeable. The parts that affect your outcomes are narrower than that:
- Answer, even when the answer is no. A recruiter who knows you will reply within a day will bring you jobs first. Silence moves you down the list far faster than declining does.
- Decline specifically. “Not that setting” or “too far from family” trains them. “Not interested” teaches them nothing and you will get the same job again next week.
- Do not approve a submission you are not prepared to accept. Backing out after an interview is scheduled costs the recruiter real credibility with that facility, and they will remember it longer than you will.
- Give notice of your availability early. Six to eight weeks before your contract ends, not two. It is the difference between choosing and taking what is left.
The Practical Takeaway
Work with two or three agencies. Approve every submission individually, by facility and city. Keep a one-line log. Never let anyone submit you on standing permission, and never share one agency’s numbers with another.
That is the whole discipline, and it takes about a minute a week. The travellers who get burned are almost never the ones who worked with too many recruiters — they are the ones who lost track of who had put them where.
For how agencies differ from independent recruiters, see recruiter vs agency. To compare what a package should look like before you approve anything, the ProTherapy Pay Index publishes real median weekly rates by discipline and state with the contract counts shown.