Owned and published by ProTherapy Staffing.

What should you send a travel therapy recruiter first?

Send a recruiter what they need to find you the right contract: your discipline, your licenses and where you hold them, the settings you have worked in, your dates and your resume. Keep bank details and other sensitive records until there is a written offer, because a legitimate employer asks for those when you are hired, not before.

By ProTherapy Staffing, published November 4, 2026.

What does a recruiter need from you first?

Enough to match you to real openings: your discipline, the states where you hold a license or compact privilege, the settings you have worked in, the dates you can start and finish, and the places you would and would not go. A current resume covers most of it in one document.

The more exact you are, the fewer contracts you will be sent that do not fit. “Outpatient or school-based, within driving distance of home, starting after the holidays” gives a recruiter something to search for.

What should your resume show for travel work?

The settings and patient populations you have worked with, the documentation systems you know, and each license you hold with its state. A facility reads a traveler’s resume for one question: can this person work on their own here from the first week? Make the answer easy to find.

List each past contract or job with its setting, dates and caseload in a line or two, and put your licenses and certifications near the top. Leave out your home address, date of birth and anything else a recruiter does not need to match you; those come later, in credentialing.

If you want to know what a ProTherapy recruiter will ask you for first, ask: Find my next contract.

What can wait until you are submitted to a job?

A facility usually sees your profile when you are submitted, so this is the point to have your references and your skills checklist ready. Ask the recruiter to tell you each time you are submitted, and to which facility.

References should be people who have seen your recent clinical work and have agreed to be called. Ask them first, and tell them which agency may call.

What should you keep back until you are hired?

Bank account details and anything else needed only for payroll. The FBI notes that “Legitimate companies will ask for PII and bank account information for payroll purposes AFTER hiring employees.” Before there is a written offer you have accepted, a recruiter has no reason to ask for your bank account.

Credentialing after you accept will ask for more: background check authorization, health records and identity documents. Send those through the agency’s own secure system or portal rather than by text or ordinary email when you can.

What should never be asked of you?

Money. The FTC says: “Honest employers, including the federal government, will never ask you to pay to get a job. Anyone who does is a scammer.” The FBI adds that criminals “may also tell victims they need to pay upfront for background checks or screenings, job training, start-up equipment, or supplies.”

If a request for money or bank details comes before an offer, stop and check the agency, and see red flags for the other signs.

How do you check the recruiter before you send anything?

Look the agency up first. The FTC suggests you “Look up the name of the company or the person who’s hiring you, plus the words ‘scam,’ ‘review,’ or ‘complaint.’” Call the agency on a number from its own website and ask whether the recruiter works there.

Then ask the recruiter the questions worth asking before you go further. A recruiter who answers them plainly is one you can send your information to.

How quickly should you reply to a recruiter?

As quickly as you reasonably can when a specific job is on the table, because travel contracts can fill fast and a recruiter who cannot reach you will move on to the next candidate. A short reply that says yes, no or not yet is better than silence.

Quick is not the same as rushed, though. If you are asked to commit before you have the terms in writing, ask for them first; a real job can wait the short time it takes to read an offer.

Do you have to send everything to every recruiter?

No. Send each recruiter what they need to search for you, and keep a record of who has your resume and where each one submitted you; working with more than one recruiter explains how. Two agencies submitting you to the same job can slow the facility’s decision.

ProTherapy Staffing, which publishes this site, puts its own rule this way: “You pick the jobs you want to go after. We never submit you for a job until you say yes.”

Frequently asked questions

Should I send my bank details to a travel therapy recruiter?

Not before you are hired. The FBI notes that legitimate companies ask for personal and bank account information for payroll purposes after hiring employees.

What does a travel therapy recruiter need first?

Your discipline, the states where you hold a license or compact privilege, the settings you have worked in, your dates and your resume. References and your skills checklist matter once you are submitted to a job.

Should a recruiter charge me a fee?

No. The FTC says honest employers will never ask you to pay to get a job, and that anyone who does is a scammer.

Sources