Primary care, hospital medicine, behavioral health, and multi-specialty physician recruiting.
Elina Sindhu
Healthcare Recruiting
Direct Hire Nurse Staffing
Our direct hire nursing recruiters proactively engage experienced RNs and specialty nurses who are open to permanent opportunities, helping healthcare organizations reach experienced RNs who aren't actively searching.
- Med Surg, ICU, OR, ED, L&D, NICU, PACU, and more
- Hospital, outpatient, and specialty care recruitment
- Hiring support from search kickoff through acceptance
Trusted by skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies & healthcare providers
Direct hire vs. travel nursing: What the numbers actually look like
Most healthcare employers evaluating nurse direct hire already know travel nursing is expensive. Fewer have run the annual cost side by side.
| Criteria |
Direct Hire RN Lower cost
|
Travel Nurse
|
|---|---|---|
| Employment relationship | Your permanent employee | Agency employee on a 13-week contract |
| Year 1 cost (1 FTE) | ~$110,000–$125,000 | ~$150,000–$240,000 |
| Year 2+ cost | Salary + benefits only | Same bill rate, typically renegotiated |
| CMS minimum staffing | Counts as facility staff | Counts while on contract, resets when contract ends |
| Institutional knowledge | Builds over time | Resets every 13 weeks |
| Retention risk | Lower | Higher, contracts end, and travelers move on |
ExpertHiring has no travel staffing division. That means we have no financial reason to recommend travel over direct hire. When we tell you a role is right for direct hire, there's no conflict behind the recommendation.
The staff nurse your facility needs isn't sending applications
They're already employed
The RN worth hiring has been with their current facility for two or three years. They're good at their job, not actively looking, but open to the right combination of pay, schedule, and culture.
They're not on Indeed
They're not responding to recruiter InMails either. They get several every week and ignore most of them. Generic outreach from someone they don't know usually gets deleted.
They respond to people they know
Our direct hire nursing recruiters build relationships with employed nurses before a search ever begins. So when the right role opens, we're reaching out to someone who already knows us, and they're far more likely to answer.
When your search opens, we're not starting from zero
We already know the employed ICU nurses in your market, who's open to the right opportunity, and what it would take to make a move. Your shortlist comes from that network, not from whoever applied to a job posting last Tuesday.
Nursing specialties we recruit
Our recruiters help healthcare employers hire experienced direct hire nurses across every major care setting.
01
Acute Care
- Med-Surg RN
- Telemetry RN
- Progressive Care RN
- Float Pool RN
- Charge RN
- Nurse Manager
- Case Management RN
02
Specialty Care
- ICU RN (CCRN)
- ED RN
- OR RN (CNOR)
- PACU RN
- Labor and Delivery RN
- Oncology RN
- NICU RN
03
Post-Acute and Community
- Home Health RN
- SNF Staff RN
- Long-Term Care RN
- Rehabilitation RN
- Behavioral Health RN
- Wound Care RN
- Hospice RN
Don't see your specialty? Reach out to us. Our nursing team recruits across a broader range than any single list covers.
What we verify before presenting any candidate
Direct hire RN candidates are not the same pool as travel nursing candidates. Our permanent nurse staffing model is built specifically around finding employed nurses who aren't actively searching. Before any direct hire RN candidate reaches your desk, we verify:
Active RN license in the required state (or compact license for multi-state roles)
BSN or ADN per your facility's requirements
Specialty certification where applicable: CCRN, CEN, PCCN, OCN, CNOR
Employment history verification - specialty, acuity level, and years of experience
Clinical experience match by setting and patient population
CPR/BLS certification - current
TB and background screening, OIG exclusion check
Professional references from prior nursing supervisors
Compensation expectations, shift preferences, and start date availability
Nothing replaces your interview. Our job is to eliminate the candidates who don't belong in the conversation before they reach your desk.
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 dedicated to your specific hiring needs
Roles we've recently filled
Identifying details withheld at client request. Timelines reflect search launch to accepted offer.
Med-Surg RN
28 days
ICU RN (CCRN)
30 days
ED RN
24 days
OR RN
27 days
Float Pool RN
32 days
Charge RN
26 days
Frequently asked questions
We don't rely on job postings. For high-demand specialties like CCRN-certified ICU nurses, CEN-certified ED nurses, and CNOR-certified OR nurses, the strongest candidates are usually already employed and not actively looking.
Our recruiters build relationships with specialty nurses long before a search begins, then reach out directly when the right opportunity comes along. We also identify compensation gaps early, so your offer is competitive before it reaches the candidate.
With direct hire, the nurse joins your facility as a permanent employee. With travel nursing, the nurse is employed by the staffing agency on a 13-week contract, and your facility pays an hourly bill rate.
Direct hire involves a one-time placement fee, but it's typically far less expensive over the course of a year. Permanent nurses also build institutional knowledge, become part of your culture, and aren't renegotiating their assignments every few months.
For the initial hire, yes. There's a one-time placement fee. Over the course of a year, no.
At current bill rates, a travel nurse typically costs $150,000 to $240,000 per year for one full-time equivalent. A direct hire RN in the same role, including salary, benefits, and the placement fee, usually costs around $110,000 to $125,000 in the first year and even less after that. For most facilities, the placement fee pays for itself within about six months.
Direct hire nurse staffing is a permanent hiring model where the nurse joins your team as a full-time employee from day one, not as an agency nurse on a temporary contract.
We handle the sourcing, screening, and vetting, and you pay a one-time placement fee when you make a hire. From that point on, the nurse is part of your team, on your payroll, building long-term knowledge of your organization, and contributing to retention. There are no ongoing hourly bill rates, no 13-week contract renewals, and no long-term reliance on agency staffing.
Of course! That's where many of the best permanent hires come from.
Most experienced staff nurses aren't browsing job boards. They're already employed, doing well in their current role, but open to the right opportunity. Our recruiters reach them through direct outreach and long-standing relationships, not job postings. It's a very different candidate pool from the one you'll find through traditional job boards.
Travel agencies are built around contract staffing. Their business grows when travel assignments continue.
Our focus is different. We specialize in permanent nurse staffing and helping healthcare organizations reduce their reliance on agency staff over time.
We don't replace your travel agency. We work alongside your existing contracts and focus on the positions where a permanent hire is the better long-term solution.
Your next staff nurse is already employed somewhere else.
As a direct hire nurse staffing agency, we identify, screen, and vet employed nurses before they ever start looking for a new role.
Get 1-3 pre-vetted nurse candidate profiles for your open role - free.
