TABLE OF CONTENTS
Who is the best travel physical therapy company/recruiter to work with?
Obviously, there is no one company or recruiter that works best for everyone. A place to start is to make a list of your priorities for what you seek in a company or recruiter, such as, certain benefits, retirement investments, CEU reimbursement, etc. Next, seek advice from experienced travelers on companies and recruiters they’d recommend. To me, this is much easier than sifting through the endless list of potential companies you may find with a simple Google search. Then reach out to several travel physical therapy companies. Get a feel for whether you and that recruiter will work well together. While it may sound daunting after you talk to a few different recruiters, it becomes clear which recruiters you mesh well with. Choose someone you can trust. Someone who understands who you are and your expectations, and what you want to accomplish as a travel physical therapist.
Please contact me for my personal recommendations on travel companies and specific recruiters that I trust!
Can you work with more than one company?
Yes! In fact, I recommend working with more than one travel physical therapy company. Typically each company has different job pools based on working with direct clients vs vendors. And the more people you have to search for jobs for you, the more options you have available! As long as the company fits your needs, I say definitely work with more than one company!
Do you get to pick the location/setting for each assignment?
Not necessarily. With fewer travel physical therapy jobs available, because of COVID, and more travelers applying to each assignment, the competition for jobs, particularly those in premier locations, has significantly increased. Since the rollout of the vaccine and relaxation of COVID restrictions, the travel market has seen a major improvement with job availability. Thus, while it still may be difficult to find a job in the EXACT desired location, you may get a shot at something very similar if you’re flexible. Even as a new grad, I have been able to get jobs in places like Maine during the change of the fall foliage, the foothills of Colorful Colorado during ski season, and on the coast in Southeast Georgia in early summer. The key is to keep your options flexible and enjoy the ride. Places you’d never expect to fall in love with may become your new home as long as you STAY FLEXIBLE.
Where do you stay?
After signing a travel physical therapy contract, we do a deep dive into all the possibilities of housing in the area or within a driveable distance. Because we want to find the cheapest yet livable option, we may have to sacrifice a few things. We look into apartments, hotel suites, Air BnB, Furnished Finder, and other short-term stay sites. There are pros and cons to all of the options, but it really depends on what your priorities are. Check out our blog post TRAVEL THERAPY HOUSING PROS & CONS for more information.
Do you get stipends for housing and food?
Yes! Most travel contract pay packages include a taxed hourly rate and tax-free travel stipends for both housing and food. This helps you cover the cost of living the travel lifestyle, with the added bonus of a decrease in overall taxable income.
How many hours a week do you work?
Hours can vary from assignment to assignment. Ideally, 40 hours/week would be perfect! But is anything ever perfect? Depending on what setting you are in, if there are other (less expensive) therapists on-site, and other factors, your hours could potentially change from week to week. If working a full 40 hours/week is a top priority for you, be sure to communicate this to your recruiter. You can always try to negotiate for “guaranteed hours” in your contract.
Are your hours guaranteed?
This again varies from contract to contract. I’ve had assignments where hours were not guaranteed causing my hours to trickle under 20hrs/week briefly when caseloads were low. On other assignments, I’ve had guaranteed hours from 32 even up to 40 hrs/week. Thus, ensuring I am guaranteed to get paid for a set amount of hours/week. If keeping a consistent weekly paycheck on your travel assignment is a priority, be sure to ask about guaranteed hours during each job interview. And make this a known priority to your recruiter.
What is the average pay?
Pay is going to vary depending on the area of the country the contract is in. The setting (home health vs acute vs OP vs SNF), and your job experience (new grads tend to get paid the lowest) all play a role. If you’re interested in seeing an exact pay package breakdown from my past assignments, please contact me.
Do you receive any health benefits?
Again, this depends on the company, but yes most travel physical therapy companies have first-day health coverage. This means that if you choose to enroll in their plans, you will be covered on the first day of your contract. Both companies I work with offer medical, dental, and vision, as well as, a free small life insurance policy.
Do you get PTO?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. Typically, most contracts will include a clause stating that you will get paid for any holidays that your hiring company observes as paid holidays. Otherwise, because your contracts are so short, you do not get any PTO. However, you can still request (unpaid) time off before you sign your next contract. I like to plan out all the dates I need to take off before signing a contract and make my recruiter aware of these dates prior to starting each new assignment. That way there is never an issue and they have plenty of time to plan around your schedule.
Does your travel physical therapy company match your 401K?
Most travel physical therapy companies offer a 401K account you can contribute to after working for them for x amount of hours. However, whether they match your contribution varies from company to company. Some offer no matching, others offer matching with a vesting schedule (either graded or cliff). This means the company may match contributions to your 401K account, but only a certain % may be yours. When using graded vesting schedules, the % of the ownership of the matched contributions increases over time. Whereas, a cliff vesting schedule one goes from having 0% to full ownership after x amount of time. This is a way for companies to incentivize therapists to stay with them longer. As well as, to save themselves money if you happen to jump ship from the travel physical therapy life early.
How long does each assignment typically last?
If all goes well, each assignment is typically 13 weeks. Oftentimes, you may be asked by the facility if you would like to extend, but ultimately it is up to you if you would like to move on or continue working with them. For peace of mind, I like to ask “Why is this job open?” and “Will you be actively searching to fill my position while I’m here?” during interviews. It’s always comforting to hear if you’re filling in for a maternity leave or medical leave since this demonstrates the company has a specific timeframe needing to be filled. For jobs that have had travelers cycling through with the intention of hiring someone permanently, be aware that if they find someone to fill the spot, your contract may end early.
Do I need to have experience before pursuing travel physical therapy?
In some cases, particularly in the outpatient setting, jobs request that all applicants must have ~2 years of experience to apply. For this reason, as a new grad, the job pool in a competitive market can become even slimmer. However, this does not mean all travel jobs require work experience. I’ve been working on back-to-back contracts ever since graduating in May of 2020. Being a new grad in a competitive market may force you to be a bit more flexible on location, pay, or setting, but there are plenty of jobs willing to hire if you’re willing to take the leap.