Primary care, hospital medicine, behavioral health, and multi-specialty physician recruiting.
Elina Sindhu
Healthcare Recruiting
Charge nurse staffing — Hire charge nurses who can lead a unit
Hire experienced Charge Nurses who can lead clinical teams, manage patient flow, and keep your unit stable across acute care, specialty departments, and senior care settings.
- Permanent and contract staffing
- Matched to your unit, patient population, and team
- Leadership readiness and clinical experience verified
Trusted by skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies & healthcare providers
Charge nurse roles we recruit for
Nursing leadership roles
RNs currently working in charge or unit lead roles - not senior staff nurses hoping to step up. Candidates range from recently promoted charge nurses managing a single unit to seasoned house supervisors with multi-department oversight experience. Role types include: Charge Nurse, Charge RN, Relief Charge Nurse, Lead Charge Nurse, Clinical Coordinator, Shift Coordinator, Unit Coordinator, Float Pool Charge RN, Assistant Nurse Manager, and House Supervisor.
Clinical departments
Medical-Surgical, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Emergency Department, Telemetry, Progressive Care Unit (PCU), Labor & Delivery, Oncology, Orthopedics, Behavioral Health, PACU, Operating Room, and Float Pool.
Healthcare settings we recruit for
Acute Care Hospitals, Academic Medical Centers, Community Hospitals, Magnet-Designated Hospitals, Specialty Hospitals (cardiac, pediatric, women's health), Rehabilitation Hospitals, Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals (LTACHs), Skilled Nursing Facilities, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, and Behavioral Health Inpatient Facilities. Our nurse leadership staffing practice covers permanent and contract only - no travel.
What we evaluate before presenting candidates
Our charge nurse recruiters evaluate the experience and leadership qualities that matter most for the role.
Active RN license and required certifications
Current licensure and certifications are confirmed before we make an introduction.
Previous Charge Nurse or shift leadership experience
We look for nurses who've actually led a shift, managed assignments, and supported the team when things got busy.
Clinical department and patient population experience
ICU, ED, Labor & Delivery, Med Surg, and other units all operate differently. We recruit based on the environment they'll be working in.
Staffing coordination and patient assignment responsibilities
We understand the size of the team they led, how assignments were handled, and the level of responsibility they carried each shift.
Leadership during high-volume or high-acuity shifts
Anyone can lead on a quiet day. We want to know how they perform when the unit is under pressure.
Mentoring, coaching, and supporting bedside nurses
Some Charge Nurses naturally build stronger teams. We look for candidates who've earned that trust from the nurses they work with.
BLS/ACLS certification; unit-specific credentials where required (CCRN, CEN, C-EFM, etc.)
Additional certifications are confirmed when your unit requires them.
Long-term career goals and likelihood of accepting an offer
We're looking for candidates who are ready for the right move, not just seeing what's available.
Scheduling preferences, compensation expectations, and notice period
We cover the practical details early so there are fewer surprises later in the process.
Our goal is to introduce charge nurses who are prepared to lead your unit, not simply experienced nurses looking for their next position.
Hiring becomes difficult long before you start interviewing candidates
On paper, it looks like there are plenty of experienced RNs who could step into a charge role. In reality, the pool is much smaller.
Clinical experience is only part of the job. Many nurses become Charge Nurses because they've been on the unit the longest, but leading a team is a different skill. Giving direction to former peers, handling conflict, keeping the unit running during a short-staffed shift, and making decisions when leadership isn't immediately available isn't something every experienced ICU nurse is comfortable doing. Some thrive in that role. Many don't. The ones who do are usually already employed and rarely looking for a new job.
The unit itself makes the search even more specific. An ED Charge Nurse manages patient flow in a fast-moving emergency department. A Med-Surg Charge Nurse manages constant admissions and discharges, while a Labor & Delivery Charge Nurse is balancing patient safety on a unit where situations can change in minutes. Those skills don't automatically transfer from one specialty to another. Once you narrow your search to nurses with the right leadership experience and the right unit background, the candidate pool becomes much smaller than it first appears.
If you're also filling other nursing roles across the same system, our team recruits CNAs, LPNs, Registered Nurses, ICU Nurses, and Nurse Practitioners through the same direct-outreach process.
Request charge nurse candidates →Get to know some of our recruiters
You'll work with recruiters who understand the realities of today's nursing market and the specialties they recruit for.
Behavioral health physicians, emergency medicine, and difficult-to-fill physician specialties.
Ray Shimray
Healthcare Recruiting
Chief Medical Officers, Medical Directors, physician leadership, and executive healthcare hiring.
Annie Larkin
Healthcare Recruiting
70+ additional recruiters specialized for roles you’re hiring for.
The most recent roles we've filled
Each search has been anonymized to protect client privacy. Timelines represent actual hiring outcomes.
ICU Charge Nurse
31 days
Emergency Department Charge Nurse
28 days
Med-Surg Charge Nurse
23 days
Labor & Delivery Charge Nurse
34 days
Oncology Charge Nurse
38 days
Telemetry Charge Nurse
26 days
Frequently asked questions
That depends on how your unit is structured, and it's one of the first questions we ask. Some facilities use a working charge nurse, where the charge RN also cares for 2 to 4 patients. Others have a non-working charge nurse focused entirely on leading the unit with no patient assignment.
These roles attract different candidates. A nurse who's only worked in a non-working charge role may struggle in a working charge position, and the opposite is just as true. We clarify your model from the start so we're recruiting the right type of charge nurse from day one.
Promoting from within is usually the best place to start. Someone who already knows your unit, your team, and your culture often has the smoothest transition into a leadership role.
External charge nurse recruiting makes more sense when you don't have someone ready to step up, the vacancy needs to be filled quickly, or you're looking for someone who has already made the transition from peer to leader. We regularly help with both situations and can work through which approach makes the most sense for your team.
Clinical qualifications are the baseline, and we verify those first. The bigger challenge is understanding how someone leads during a shift.
Every charge nurse recruiter on our team asks about real situations they've managed, like handling a short-staffed night, resolving conflict between team members, or responding when a physician bypassed the charge nurse and went directly to bedside staff.
We're not looking for textbook answers. We're asking what actually happened and how they handled it. Nurses with real charge experience have specific examples. Those without it tend to speak in general terms, and that difference matters when deciding who makes your shortlist.
Most clients receive their first shortlist within 72-96 hours after the search begins. But the timeline depends on the unit. Med-surg and telemetry searches are typically faster because the candidate pool is larger. ICU, Labor & Delivery, and oncology searches usually take longer since you're looking for both unit-specific clinical expertise and proven leadership experience.
Local market conditions also play a huge role, especially in areas facing significant nursing shortages. We'll give you a realistic timeline at the start of the search based on your role, specialty, and location, rather than setting expectations we can't meet.
BLS and ACLS are standard for most acute care charge nurse positions. Beyond that, requirements depend on the unit. CCRN is common for ICU charge roles, CEN for Emergency Department, C-EFM for Labor & Delivery, and OCN is sometimes required for oncology. Many Magnet-designated hospitals also expect or require a BSN for charge and supervisory positions.
Before presenting a candidate, we verify all active certifications and flag anything that's close to expiring, so credentialing doesn't uncover surprises later.
The right charge nurse does more than lead a shift. They keep your entire unit running.
Good charge nurse staffing isn't about getting more applicants. It's about finding nurses who already know how to lead a team.
Get 1-3 pre-vetted charge nurse candidate profiles for your open role - free.
