Job Placement · Healthcare · LPN and LVN
Licensed practical and vocational nurses sit on their own licence, their own national examination and a scope of practice that genuinely changes at the state line. BEG places permanent LPNs and LVNs on Tier II milestone billing at $9,381 to $11,257, not hourly agency cover.
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TL;DR
The arithmetic on this licence is unusually stark. In 2024, 44,693 first-time United States educated candidates passed the NCLEX-PN. BLS projects about 51,800 openings a year in the occupation. The qualifying cohort does not cover projected openings, and BLS expects only 3% employment growth over the decade, so almost every hire is a replacement recruited from another employer. Add a scope of practice that varies by state and this becomes a search rather than a posting. BEG bills $9,381 to $11,257 on milestones against $12,880 to $16,100 as a percentage of the median.
Why The Pool Is Smaller Than The Headcount Suggests
Because the annual qualifying cohort is smaller than the annual openings, growth is flat, and the licence itself does not travel cleanly between states without board action.
Four Checks Before The Offer
Licence status in your state, what your state actually permits the licence to do, the setting the candidate is coming from, and the shift pattern. Each one is a common reason an accepted offer collapses.
| Check | What it establishes | The failure it avoids |
|---|---|---|
| Licence status in your state | Whether the candidate already holds a current practical or vocational nursing licence issued by your board. | An accepted offer with a start date the board has not agreed to. Endorsement timelines belong to the board, not to your rota. |
| Scope under your state act | Which tasks your nurse practice act permits this licence to perform in your setting. | Hiring for a job description written around what an LPN could do in the state they came from, which your state may not allow. |
| Setting the candidate is leaving | Long term care, home health, clinic and correctional work are genuinely different jobs on the same licence. | A clinic-trained LPN placed onto a 40 resident hall, or the reverse. Both leave quickly and neither is the candidate’s fault. |
| Shift pattern and weekends | Exactly which shifts, how many weekends, and what the differential is worth in real money. | The single most common early resignation in this role, and the easiest one to prevent by putting the rota in writing during the search. |
Licensure is the board's decision and scope is your state's law. Neither is something a recruiter files or interprets for you. What BEG does is surface both before an offer goes out, because in this role an offer made on an assumption is the most expensive kind. More detail on the healthcare placement service page, and note the distinct route for registered nurses, where compact licensure applies and here it does not.
A Narrower Gap, Stated Honestly
At the $64,400 BLS median, a 20% contingency fee is $12,880 and 25% is $16,100. BEG's Tier II milestone fee of $9,381 to $11,257 is roughly $3,500 to $4,800 less, which is a real saving but a smaller one than on the senior roles where contingency percentages compound against six-figure salaries. We would rather tell you that than imply the gap is dramatic. What does not change is that the fee is fixed at the start and does not climb with the offer you make.
What The Gap Costs In Agency Hours
The unworked time on an open LPN line is roughly $1,238 a week at median, which understates the real cost badly, because the hours do not disappear. They are covered by agency at a premium hourly rate, or by your own nurses on overtime, or by the residents and patients waiting longer. In long term care the daily nurse staffing data has to be posted for residents and visitors to read under 42 CFR 483.35, and retained for 18 months, so the gap is visible to families too.
If You Are Currently Booking Agency Shifts
Three different commercial arrangements. Two of them rent hours. Only the third leaves you with a licensed nurse on your own payroll and your own rota.
| Model | Who employs the LPN | How you pay | Right when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency or per diem shifts | The agency | Hourly bill rate, booked shift by shift | You have holes in next week’s rota and the designation or ratio has to be met regardless. |
| Temp to hire through a staffing firm | The staffing firm, until conversion | Hourly rate, then a conversion fee if you keep the nurse | You genuinely cannot assess fit without seeing the person work, and you accept paying twice for the privilege. |
| BEG permanent placement | You | Tier II milestone fee of $9,381 to $11,257, fixed at the start | The line is permanent and budgeted, and you want the cost known before sourcing with a 45-day replacement term. |
BEG does not employ nurses, does not bill hourly and does not run temp to hire, so we are not a substitute for agency cover and do not claim to be. Many providers run agency while a permanent search is live, which is reasonable. What is not reasonable is a permanent agency line item, because that is a hiring problem being paid for as an operating cost. See also medical assistant and CNA recruiting, where the regulatory picture is different again.
FAQ
A practical or vocational nursing licence, issued by the state board after the candidate completes a state-approved programme and passes the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses, the NCLEX-PN. BLS notes that every state requires the examination. It is a separate credential and a separate examination from the RN licence.
Functionally yes. The title licensed vocational nurse is used in California and Texas, and licensed practical nurse elsewhere. The candidate pool, the examination and the search are the same. If you are recruiting across state lines it is worth using both terms in the advert so you are found by both groups.
Yes, materially. Each state nurse practice act sets what a practical nurse may do, and the differences cover things that matter operationally, such as assessment responsibilities and certain procedures. Confirm your own state board position before writing a job description, because an LPN moving from another state may have performed tasks your state does not permit, or the reverse.
An LPN or LVN is a Tier II search at $9,381 to $11,257, billed against defined milestones. A 20% to 25% contingency fee on the $64,400 BLS median for this occupation would be $12,880 to $16,100, so the gap is narrower here than on higher-paid roles, and we will say plainly when a search is not the most economical route.
No. Agencies employ the nurse and bill an hourly rate for shift coverage, which many long term care providers use heavily. BEG places a permanent LPN or LVN your organisation employs directly. If the problem is weekend coverage rather than an open budgeted line, an agency is the honest answer and we will say so.
Smaller than the demand. NCSBN recorded 50,570 first-time, United States educated candidates taking the NCLEX-PN in 2024, of whom 44,693 passed. BLS projects about 51,800 openings a year for this occupation, so the entire qualifying cohort does not cover projected annual openings even before anyone changes employer.
Barely, in headcount terms. BLS projects 3% employment growth for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as average, and notes that many of the 51,800 annual openings come from replacing workers who move to other occupations or leave the labour force. This is a replacement market, not an expansion one.
BLS reports a median of $64,400 in May 2025, with the lowest tenth under $49,740 and the highest tenth over $83,440. The band is relatively tight, which means your differential structure, shift pattern and benefits usually decide the offer rather than base pay alone.
In long term care the regulation refers to a licensed nurse for the charge designation on each tour of duty, while separately requiring registered nurse services for at least 8 consecutive hours a day, 7 days a week. Whether your own building uses LPNs in charge is a policy decision on top of that, and it changes who you should be recruiting.
Most often licensure timing or shift mismatch. An out-of-state candidate needs licensure in your state before the first shift, and a candidate who accepted a days role while expecting flexibility will not last. Both are avoidable by settling them during the search rather than after the offer.
Long term care, home health and outpatient clinics are all recruiting from the same pool, and they compete on very different terms. Clinics offer weekday schedules, long term care offers stability and progression, home health offers autonomy. Knowing which of those you are actually selling is half the search.
A 45-day replacement guarantee plus 50% off a repeat search for the same line. For this role the most useful thing we do before the guarantee ever matters is confirm licensure status, scope expectations and shift pattern in writing, because those three account for most early departures.
Staffing the whole floor? See registered nurse, medical assistant and CNA, charge nurse and clinical lead and director of nursing, or all healthcare placement.
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