THE BEST Travel PT Job

I get questions like this all the time: Where should I go on a travel PT assignment? How do I find a good travel PT assignment? Is working in this particular health care setting the best I can do?

The answer: I don’t know what is best for you!!!! These are personal decisions that rely on the balance of many different factors. The right assignment for you may be very different than what somebody else wants. To be successful in travel therapy, you need to be flexible where you can, but you also need to know what is important to you and pursue it. I’d like to explore a few of the factors that will play into you choosing the assignment that is (hopefully) the best one for you.

Location

Location has ALWAYS been my top priority traveling. Where you should go as a traveling therapist is a very personal decision. For instance, in the winter, I want to be where it is cold, snowing, and I can ski. I recognize that many other people want to be somewhere warm in the winter instead – our wants and preferences will vary wildly. If you have a very specific city or town in mind to travel to, you might need to be much more flexible in other details of your job search. If you don’t have any specific places in mind at all when you start to travel then you already have some good flexibility to your options.

…or mountains AND ocean… jobs available now in Sitka, AK. Click the picture for more info.

If you’re unsure where to go I recommend thinking about the types of things you would like to have around you when you arrive at your assignment:

  • Coast, Mountains, or Open Spaces
  • Hot or Cold
  • Rural or Urban

If you can easily pick a favorite in each of those categories, you are well on your way to finding a location that will make you happy. Some logistical issues that may help you further narrow down where to look for a job are the speed of a certain state for getting a license (perhaps fastest through the PT compact) and availability of travel jobs in a given area – your recruiter can help guide you in either of these criteria.

Traveling as a couple, my wife and I typically picked a city we wanted to live in and would give our recruiters an amount of time we were willing to commute to find two jobs within a reasonable radius of our homebase. More often than not a community hospital or home care agency would have two travel PT jobs available at the same time, but that’s something that can be very dependent on the region.

Clinical Setting

This is another very personal decision, but the more flexible you can be on setting, the better chances you’ll have of checking the boxes on all of your other priorities…. but is there such thing as being too flexible?

So often, I talk to new grads who have leapt straight into traveling. Many of these new grads are looking for outpatient jobs, but often told that SNF jobs are their only option. If you have no experience as a therapist, then you have very little bargaining power to explore anything but the options that are first presented to you. So, I advocate for two things – get at least a little experience before you travel and put up a bit of  fight before accepting a setting you absolutely do not want to work in – hold out, be patient, and be flexible about where you might travel to to get a setting you desire.

On the other hand, one of the things I love most about traveling is the variety of practice settings I have been exposed to. There is so much in PT that I never would have experienced if I hadn’t gone into travel. There is a balance to be reached between pursuing the setting you want and being open to other settings that you are willing to work in. Yes, please strive to be in the setting you most want to be in, but also work to acquire the experience and expertise you need to pursue those jobs. Also, be open to accepting jobs in other settings that might expand your clinical experience and allow you to grow with more diverse clinical skills.

Pay

Last, and least, pay. Yes, you can make lots of money in traveling therapy. But if you go into traveling for only the pay, you won’t last very long. I’m not saying to cast aside all thoughts of pay. It is very important that you are paid well for being highly educated and having the flexibility in your life to pick up and move for work. If two otherwise equal options present themselves, by all means, take the one that pays more! But don’t set pay ahead of all other factors, I believe you’ll eventually come to regret chasing the money in the absence of person and professional satisfaction.

You have to find that balance between your pay and the other factors that can make or break an assignment. If you’re not happy, you won’t last long in travel – the best travelers go into traveling therapy to live a better life. If you are doing it only to pay off loans or make as much of you can, you will burn out quickly and head back to a settled life in order to gain satisfaction in other life-areas you have neglected.

Finding both happiness and success in traveling requires a balance of several factors. Sit down, write down your priorities, and figure out where you are willing to be more flexible. Finding the balance that uniquely suits you is what will help you succeed, find joy in your work, and allow you to continue traveling.

Licensure Tips

hobo licensure tipsI find myself coming back to the topic of licensure a couple times every year. Licensure is the great challenge and barrier to a much more free travel life. If licensure was centralized in one place, we could go where ever we wanted, when ever we wanted. Nurses have co-ops between states that allow transfer of licenses across state lines in particular states, but PTs are at the mercy of each individual state’s licensure office to grant access into the state in a timely manner. There are plans in the works to improve reciprocity between states, but it will be several years before we see any of these changes.

Yesterday, I was speaking with some other travelers who are just wrapping up their first travel assignments and looking to move onto other states, but struggling with licensure. I realized I have taken for granted the jaded nature with which I view getting new licenses that has developed from years of being repeatedly disappointed by state licensure offices. Here’s my advice, from my acquired jadedness, that should help your transition to your next state go much more smoothly.

Start Early

Getting a license in another state is going to take longer than you think. Get started as early as you can. The more state licenses you already have, the longer you should plan for. For instance, Illinois takes 6 weeks to process anything, so if you applying to another state and have an Illinois license, you’ll need to get a verification from Illinois and this will add 6 weeks to whatever estimate you have for the time it will take to get the new license.

Snail Mail Verifications

Most states require you to have each state you have ever held a license in to send a verification by mail (yeah, real mail). Additionally, many states require you to send a written letter to them to get a verification. Does it make sense in 2015 to have to send a letter by mail to a state office to get them to send a letter to another state by mail? Absolutely not, but get over it, it is exactly what you have to do. Fortunately, there are a small number of states that are now accepting online verification – they will let you go online, print out that page that shows you have a license in good standing, and fax it into them. But, unless you have spoken to someone in the state’s office that says they will accept online verifications, do not count on getting away with this. The majority of states still require the pony express to get involved.

Follow Up!

When you request verifications from states, follow up by phone to see if the verification was ever sent. I have had checks cashed for verification by states that never actually sent the verification. 2 weeks after I send out my verification requests, I will typically call the state I am applying to to see which verifications they have received and which they have not. I will then call the states that they have not received the verifications from yet. This can be very time consuming, but it prevents me from waiting around weeks for verifications to arrive that will never be sent.

California

Build in at least 6 months to get a license from California. I’m not sure what you’ve heard, or exactly what the state of California is telling candidates for licensure, but it takes 6 months to get a California license. There is a finger printing process, there is a juris prudence exam, and there is no lack of bureaucracy. If you need to be in California in 3 months, you are too late, Just build in 6 months for California – add six weeks if you already hold an Illinois license. 😉

 Don’t Fret

The licensure process is there to protect the public from the worst of the worst, but the system is far more cumbersome than it needs to be. Don’t get all flustered by all the changes that need to be made to the system. Just know that with some patience and a little bit of paperwork, you will eventually get that state license you are chasing. The more level headed and methodical you can remain through the whole process, the less stressed you will be.

These are just a few simple tips on licensure. There are a few states that stand out from the pack that are better than others to get licensed in, but do know that your typical state licensure office is understaffed and will take weeks to do anything. I picture a cyclone of papers swirling around every licensing professional. If you want more info on licensure, click in the search box at the top of this page and type “tag:licensure”. Good luck!

Continuous Education

I recently gave up my Alaska license because I didn’t have enough CEUs to renew. For a long time, all the licenses I held didn’t require CEUs, so it hasn’t been on my radar. Alaska is the first license I have had that has requirements, but some of the states I’ve been licensed in for years are adopting new rules for continuing ed requirements. I am based in Colorado, the continuing education tracking will start there after the 2014 renewals. I’m somewhat personally to blame for this, I have long supported CEU requirements and have advocated for states to adopt these requirements. I’ve heard people openly criticize these requirements. They claim that all continuing ed requirements do is drive people out to order crappy CEU programs that have little substance. I think this argument itself is crappy and believe that most PTs who have to purchase continuing education to maintain their licenses are going to reach for something meaningful rather than be the bottom feeders of their profession and community. In my case, I have 3 years to meet my Alaska continuing ed requirements and can renew at any point during that time. I have already order and started a HIGH QUALITY home study course from APTA’s Ortho Section that I previously intended to get but have been procrastinating for almost a year now. So, to you naysayers of continuing ed requirements, here’s one PT that was forced into getting high quality education by the very requirements you dismiss. And to those who believe that your years of experience are a superior substitute for structured professional development, you are wrong. I may not have been practicing for 20-30 years, but I have been practicing long enough to see huge progressions in practice – the way we assess and treat low back pain, the way technology has drastically changed total joint replacements, the proliferation of dry needling and manipulation – the list goes on… Each year that goes by, I realize how much more there is to learn, if you don’t see this, you’ve already fallen behind. People have been criticizing con-ed repeatedly in public internet discussions (I’m looking at you PT Twitterverse) and finally I get to candidly respond: You don’t know what you don’t know, and by fighting continuing ed, you are making yourself sound self-righteous and crotchety. The majority of your peers will consistently choose high quality education over the path of least resistance. Stop talking down on continuing ed requirements, they are a good thing for our profession.

Whew, sorry about that. I guess that’s been building up inside for a while. I hope smoke is coming out your ears from reading that last paragraph (my hair actually burst into flames). OK! Back to the story!

On the beach? Best place in the world to read a journal or home study course for CEUs. Continuing ed has never been better.

On the beach? Best place in the world to read a journal or home study course for CEUs. Continuing ed has never been better.

It’s not that I haven’t been learning. I read JOSPT every month, I read other articles when I’m not sure of something in the clinic, I go to coworkers’ places to knowledge-mooch when they have ordered a webinar. Travel PTs are ALWAYS learning. Different clinics have different techniques, different patient populations, and all kinds of people to learn something from. As a traveler you may work at one hospital that has the latest and greatest in surgical techniques and then you’ll work in a private practice that runs a manual therapy fellowship. A traveler is surrounded by casual learning opportunities, but we are not surrounded by funding for formal instruction – that is our challenge, our weakness. Unless you travel with one company for more than a couple assignments, you are unlikely to see more than a couple hundred bucks for continuing ed courses. But, there are opportunities out there – great opportunities! Great courses! And many of them are convenient for the traveler.

I have written in the past (Traveling doesn’t have to mean professional sacrifice 4/11/2011) about the opportunities for travelers to take larger programs like residencies and certificate programs. These are a big commitment, but force you to stay on path of continued education. Many can be completed through a series of weekend courses offered all over the country, so you can access your next stage of learning where ever you go. As I eluded to earlier, dry needling is a technique that has gained popularity and has some very high-level and quality learning opportunities. It wasn’t on my list in 2011, but it should be now!

There are smaller things a traveler can do for continuing ed credits throughout the year. Many reputable journals have read-for-credit programs where you can hop online for tests to demonstrate your knowledge on their articles. Credits are small, but add up over a year or two. The Independent Study Course I recently ordered from the Ortho Section, Applications of Regenerative Medicine to Orthopaedic Physical Therapy, has me fascinated in the first portion of a 6-part home-learning program. It is very high quality and written by THE experts. I will take a test at the end and get 30 hours of continuing ed – 30 hours! I have a co-worker who is finishing up a Foot and Ankle course this way. It’s a great means for people on the go or far away from a big city to get high-quality learning.

There are ways to get continuing ed without a huge hassle and without resorting to lousy courses that blindly dole out CEU’s for entry-level knowledge. Plan ahead, learn your states’ requirements ahead of time, and you’ll be fine. I’m well on my way to being able to re-instate that Alaska license should an opportunity arise.

Out of the Inbox

Licensure issues keep coming into my life recently. Here’s a recent email I received that offers some food for thought on tricks to get around licensure hassles. Share any tricks you have used!

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Question:

Hi!

I am a recent grad (2013) and have been doing travel PT with my boyfriend for the past year in Wisconsin and Texas. We’re now looking at getting our next license. Since everyone talks about how annoying it is to get a verification sent from each state you’ve ever had your license in to the state you’re applying for, we thought of a better idea… but aren’t sure if it would work and wanted your opinion.

We were thinking that we should apply to about 5 more states at the same time so that we only need verification from Wisconsin & Texas for each of those 5 states, in the end, saving us the hassle of sending 2, and then 3, and then 4, and then 5 verifications to each state we apply for in the future. Would this work?

2nd question: We looked at Texas’ verification request form which allows us to send it to multiple states for one $50 fee. Can we send it to 5, 6, 7 states even if we haven’t applied for those states yet? Then in the next year or so, apply for those states which already have our Texas verification without having to pay another $50 fee?

Not sure if you know the answer to these questions but just thought they were 2 ways to save money with the multiple state license applications and fees that go along with it.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
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Response:

I like the way you’re thinking about licensure – getting all of those done at once by verifying only the 2 current states is a good plan and will definitely save you time and frustration. Although, over time, I don’t think it will save you any money, just because of renewal fees and that sort of thing, but it may be worth it for the trade off in reduced frustration.

I like the idea of getting multiple licenses at once, but I would only do the states you are sure you want to go to at some point. That way, if another state comes up that you want to get a license for, you don’t have to verify licenses you held but never used. Also, check the renewal process on these states ahead of time – check cost, CEU requirements, and timing. By timing, I mean that in some states everybody’s license expires on the same day – i.e. If every license in a state expires on January 1st and you just got your license today, you would have to pay a renewal fee in only 4 months.

As far as the Texas question, I think it’s a great idea to send as many verifications as you can if it’s all covered under one fee. I don’t see a downside. Typically, when a state receives any licensure paperwork on you (like a verification from Texas), they start a file. Some states keep an incomplete file 6 months, some keep it a year, some might keep it longer. You likely won’t have unlimited time to start the licensure process before they discard your verification, but I see no harm in requesting the verifications just in case you do decide to go.

After requesting all your verifications, I would follow up by phone to make sure they have all been sent/received. Also, I would send yours and your boyfriend’s in separate envelopes. In my experience, when my wife and I try to share an envelope, one of our verifications usually gets forgotten and our new license is delayed. Sadly, requests getting lost is the rule rather then the exception.

Hope this helps, I like your thinking!

James

The Downside

I have written many uncompleted drafts of this post over the years. For about 4 years, it sat uncompleted in my drafts folder titled “Trouble in Paradise.” I deleted everything I had written and started over – like a waste bin full of crumpled papers by a typewriter. I have a hard time expressing the cons of traveling PT because I do really enjoy it and can’t even seriously consider how different my life would be working the last decade in one place, doing the 9 to 5 grind. Uhg, the thought disgusts me. 🙂

But here it is, my attempt at talking frankly about the downside to travel PT. I’d also like to hear from other travelers about what they think the downside is. Here we go, back to rainbows and unicorns next week.

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There’s not much to gripe about with traveling physical therapy. After almost 8 years of travel, I’m beginning to think that the nightmare-assignment barely exists. In about 20 assignments, there is only one I’ve had to terminate the contract on early. If I had asked the right questions during the interview, I don’t know that I ever would have worked that assignment. Over time, I realized my boss was a unlicensed foreign chiropractor. I also realized that I was a PT giving massages, not a PT doing PT. After a couple agonizing weeks and all of the full-time staff quit, I managed to get that contract terminated. From that experience, I believe two things about bad assignments: 1. Awful assignments are pretty rare; 2. If you perform your due diligence in researching your assignments, you can easily avoid disaster;

Therapists that repeatedly finds themselves in difficult situations or putting out fires with their bosses needs to take a deep look internally and know their roll. As a traveler, you are frequently not treated as a full team-member; you are a temp filling a spot and may be a bit of an outsider from the other staff.  Even with facilities that are very welcoming, you may find yourself the work-horse while other overworked staff gets their long-needed rests. If you eventually accept more permanent employment from a facility, then, your role may change, but until that time, do not tell your boss how you think the facility could improve. I did this on assignment back in 2010 at a home care company – I was told, “We welcome your feedback, we want to know what could be done better.” Even if you are begged for feedback, you are a temp, do not tell your boss how the facility could improve. I have learned this lesson, don’t repeat my mistakes. The last day of that assignment came with one of the most unfriendly goodbyes I have ever experienced. That home care company has since closed their doors. OK, so maybe 2 assignments out of 20 didn’t go as smoothly as they could have for me. That’s a 90% success rate, I still believe really bad assignments are a rarity.

The only thing in travel PT that gets me riled up on a regular basis is the licensure juggling act. I think I have ranted about licensure in the past. After a period of time, Kate and I had let all our unused licenses lapse. We found ourselves in a jam last spring and started re-upping many of our licenses. We decided at that time that we would maintain all our current licenses as long as we traveled, because it’s too much of a pain to renew a license you have let expire. That strategy went to junk last week.

All Alaska PT licenses expired on June 30th. Can you imagine what this month is like in the Alaska licensure office!? Holy Cow, just hope you don’t have to contact them to get anything done in the next couple weeks. Anyways, Kate and I set into filling out the paperwork for licensure renewal which included a 20 question juris prudence exam heavily focused on the new continuing education regulations – also, you had to write down the statute number that contained the answer to each question. Over the last two years, I’ve attended several multi-day national meetings to discuss PT issues and practices, but this is not considered continuing education by Alaska. So, I set off on the internet to find a cheap courses that would provide the CEU’s I needed. Two hours into this process, we had the applications in the envelope (no email or faxing allowed), $240 checks written each for renewal, and I was about to order a lousy $300 online course for my CEU’s when we finally decided to pull the plug on staying licensed in Alaska. Kate and I may renew in the future, but the prospect of shelling out $800 to keep a license we might not use seems a bit ridiculous. I did end up ordering a much higher quality, online course from APTA that I’ve been wanting to take, so the 2 hours spent not-renewing wasn’t a total loss.

The licensure process stinks, it’s an antiquated process that bears no real function in the modern world, other than to satisfy the outdated rule books. I will soon write ANOTHER letter to FSBPT expressing my displeasure, but in the meantime, I just take it as the way things have to be done to continue traveling.

Licensure is the thing that bothers me most about traveling, but it’s a relatively small inconvenience. I think people’s primary fear about traveling is getting stuck in a nightmare assignment. As I’ve expressed, the really bad assignments are rare. If you find yourself in a bad assignment it will only last 13 weeks, and it will probably take you half of the 13 weeks to even realize you have accepted a bad assignment.  If it’s exceptionally bad, there are ways out, and a good staffing agency will have your back. Other than what I’ve already talked about, there is very little downside traveling physical therapy. The frequent moving can get a little old at times, but that process streamlines itself with practice. Who am I kidding, packing and cleaning will always be the worst – just awful.

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Stay tuned, lots of excitement happening in the initial stages of searching for an autumn assignment. I’ll keep you posted. And please do share your gripes about traveling PT… a one time chance. I will not write another negative blog for a long time.

Email From Traveling Physical Therapists

Traveling Physical TherapistI’ve been getting the same type of question from new traveling Physical Therapists a lot lately…. so let’s hash it out in public. The question goes something like this: “I want to travel, I know where I want to go, but where do I start?”

I have had a “getting started” page for a while now, but just tuned it up, it should be a good companion resource to this blog: https://hobohealth.com/wordpress/faq/

Below I have pasted an email conversation I had recently had (lightly edited for anonymity). I hope this helps some of you out there get your travel career going.

Email:

Hi James,

I am a PT, and I happened upon your blog after beginning to research travel therapy. My husband (also a PT) and I have been working for almost a year and are planning to become traveling Physical Therapists this summer. We have a couple of PT friends traveling now and have gotten some perspective from them, but their experience is still pretty limited.

Thought I would reach out to you for a bit more perspective. Here are a few things we’re curious about:

-best companies/recruiters to work with
-states requiring significant paperwork/time for obtaining license
-what comes first: obtaining a license or obtaining an assignment

Any other tips to get started travelling would be greatly appreciated!

Response:

Very glad you found the site!

My wife and I have been traveling Physical Therapists together for 7 years now… we originally thought we would travel for 2 years. We absolutely love it, and I hope you guys find some fun in it too! I started into travel after 6 months of working in private practice, and my wife started after a year of practice. I think you guys have done it right by getting a little steady experience before jumping into travel. I so often find myself trying to convince new grads to get just a few months of experience becoming a traveling Physical Therapist. So, good work, you’ve gone about it the right way!

We have worked with a bunch of different recruiters and companies at this point, and always search with 2-3 companies when looking for a job. I have heard of people sticking with one company for years, but I definitely don’t think that working with just one agency offers you the best selection of jobs available. I make sure to use recruiters that will have my back if something is not right about an assignment, and who won’t encourage me to continue working an assignment if it is toxic (i.e. ethical or scope of practice issues – rare).

California is notorious for licensure taking forever (4-6 months). I recently heard from someone that New Jersey is a pretty big process too. Otherwise, the process varies state-to-state, but shouldn’t take more than a month or two if you get all your ducks in a row with the paperwork. The more licenses you have, the more complex getting additional licenses becomes. So, I recommend that if there’s a few states you know you want to work in, get all of them now.

Start licensure ASAP, a lot of jobs won’t hire you until you have a license – but some will higher you conditionally with a projected start date if you’ve started the process. I would also get in touch with some recruiters soon. They can help inform you of how long licensure takes for particular states and help you start getting an idea of what kind of jobs may be available where you want to go – some agencies have resources to help you with licensure. New jobs pop up constantly and other jobs are filled quickly, so the sample of actual jobs will change, but the recruiter will be able to help you see what a particular geographic market is like.

OK! I’ve gone on too long. Here’s a simple page about starting travel PT if you haven’t seen it yet. https://hobohealth.com/wordpress/faq/ Let me know if you have other questions, and keep in touch about what happens with you guys!

James

Get a Haircut and Get a Real Job! (Part 2 of 2)

This is part 2 of a 2 part blog on the job market and job finding in traveling physical therapy. Find part 1 here.

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For the last seven years, I have been working as a travel PT. What a job! Every few months, I tell my recruiter where I want to go, what practice setting I would like to work in, and a few weeks later I have a job that fits my criteria.  …Or at least that’s how it worked until the past 6 months.

Key West, "Home of the Sunset." Also, by car, it is about half way between Colorado and Maine.

Key West, “Home of the Sunset.” Also, by car, it is about half way between Colorado and Maine.

My wife and I have been trying to find jobs in Southern Maine. We took our first shot at Southern Maine for the first half of the summer, but struck out. We were searching during a drive back to New England from Colorado, via Key West… a side-trip I recommend on any roadtrip. After we left Florida and were heading north through Connecticut, two possible job locations started to come together. Two jobs in Northern Maine and two jobs back in a sweet mountain town in Colorado. While turning around to head straight back to Colorado sounded like the most convoluted roadtrip ever taken, the chance to spend the summer playing in the mountains was pretty enticing. In the end, the Colorado jobs had one major flaw, Kate and I would be working opposite schedules and likely only have one day off together each week. What’s the point of travel PT if you don’t have the days off to enjoy your “home” town. To be honest, we weren’t psyched about heading to Northern Maine, but we recognized that it was the smart job to take – There were two jobs, they started on the day we hoped to start working, the location was relatively close to where we really wanted to be, and we were totally striking out on Southern Maine.

A couple blogs back, I wrote about our time in Northern Maine. The assignment turned out great. Goods jobs, good people, good times, but just a really, really far drive from everything. We had a few things working against us in looking for a job at the beginning of the summer. 1. We needed two jobs, not just one; 2. We only had active licenses in three states: Alaska, Maine, and Colorado; 3. We, as always, were pretty picky about our jobs. 

There were a couple things we could have done differently to address our above weaknesses: 1. Nothing can really be done about us needing two jobs instead of one, it’s the only downside about traveling with a companion. 2. We could have kept more licenses active to expand the potential search area. We previously had Massachusetts licenses, but had let them lapse. If we had applied for New Hampshire licenses, we could have lived in Southern Maine and commuted across the border to New Hampshire; 3. We could have been more flexible about what jobs we would work. We turned down SNF jobs based on setting alone, if we were more willing to work in a greater variety of settings, we would have found work more easily.

By mid-July, we were back on the job search, hoping to start-up down in Southern Maine the Monday following our Friday wind-down up North. Got it?

Northern Maine sure is beautiful, it's just really far from everywhere.

Northern Maine sure is beautiful, it’s just really far from everywhere.

After a few weeks of searching for jobs, it wasn’t looking good, again. Friday came and went, we moved out of our rustic one room cabin in Northern Maine and headed down to our condo in Old Orchard Beach (OOB). We had hoped to spend the next several months living in the condo in OOB, but after 4-5 months of keeping an eye towards the Southern Maine travel PT market, it seemed like a job, nevermind two jobs, was going to be really hard to come by. It was time to pull out the stops. Along with our recruiters searching for jobs for us, we were conducting our own search for clinics that might not be willing to work with a staffing agency but that would entertain hiring an independent contractor. I’ve written in the past about finding independent contracts, but it wasn’t meant to be this time. A couple phone conversations with office managers and clinic owners yielded nothing. It seemed that just as a job would start to look promising, someone who was willing to sign on permanently would swoop in and take the position.

I try to stick with 2-3 companies that I trust to find me the assignments I want. But, in a situation like I was finding in Southern Maine, it was time to start calling around to the agencies further down the list. “Phishing” was something I rediscovered through calling recruiters further down my list. Phishing is when you see a posting online for a job, but when you call the company advertising the job, the job doesn’t exist. They say something like, “Oh, someone just took that job. Let me see what else I have in that area for you.” Bottom line, the job doesn’t exist, it never did exist, and they’ll post the same imaginary job online next week. They just want to get information on you and see if the can talk you into taking a different job. It’s dishonest and dirty.

Luckily, one lesson had been learned from the search through Southern Maine several months earlier. We might need to expand the search beyond Maine’s borders if jobs continued to be elusive. We had considered New Hampshire licenses, but New Hampshire has a longer process for licensure, and it didn’t seem like having our NH licenses would make all that many more jobs available to us anyways. We each had an expired Massachusetts license and a number of friends living around the Boston area. We had started the process of re-activating our Massachusetts licenses, but had several states to get verifications from before the licenses would be ready. While we waited for the licenses to come through, we shifted gears to focus on Boston instead of Maine. Quickly, we had some options popping up. On Kate’s first phone interview in Boston, difficulties continued. The interview started backwards. Kate was to call the facility, rather than the facility calling her – the way it usually works. After several minutes of trying to make the receptionist understand that she was calling in for a scheduled interview, Kate was asked to call back later. So, she did call back a few minutes later. This time, she was connected to the person she was scheduled to interview with, except he connected her to a supervisor who told her that they were not interested in hiring a traveler at this time. By far the strangest interview either of us has ever not had.

Within the following week, two jobs had been offered in the Boston area, but as always happens, opportunities in Maine were popping up at the same time. In the end, a decision had to be made and 1 bird in your hand is worth 2 birds that are not in your hand (or something like that), so we accepted the Boston jobs. It left us with a couple weeks off, but it was far better to know the job searching was done. So a couple weeks were spent doing a lot of work around our apartment, doing a lot of couch-surfing at friends’ places, and sneaking in some beach time. One last speed bump and work would start on Monday…

Thursday before we started work, a scare – Our Massachusetts PT licenses would not be ready until Tuesday and our new boss was threatening to cut off the assignment if the licenses weren’t in hand when we were scheduled to start work. A series of frantic phone messages to the MA licensing board, an email, and maybe even a fax somehow produced our licenses on time.

Our view of Boston from our new abode. I'll be enjoying this view daily over the next 12 weeks.... guess we're down to 9 weeks already.

Our view of Boston from our new abode. I’ll be enjoying this view daily over the next 12 weeks…. guess we’re down to 9 weeks already.

…and that’s how we ended up working for the next 12 weeks in Boston. Our housing is another story for another day that also ends well, but the couch-surfing, or more accurately, futon-surfing, continued into the first week of work.

This post has dragged on much longer than I like, so it pains me to keep writing, but I believe this topic of the current job market is a very important one, and there are points to be made. I would like to discuss some highlights from the above story about how my wife and I finally got two jobs nearby where we wanted to be in what , locally, was a very difficult market. 1. We recognized a tough market locally and expanded our search methods through looking independently and using additional recruiters; 2. We were able to improve our possible job options by getting an additional state license and expanding our search area; 3. Even though the jobs we got didn’t start right away, we accepted them because we were willing to be flexible.

This whole post is about being flexible and opening yourself up to more opportunities. Carry extra state licenses, look with a couple recruiting companies, consider varied practice settings, and be willing to be patient for a couple weeks. Traveling physical therapy is a job that has a lot of upsides to it. We may be in a small dip in our employment options, but the market will recover quickly and there are currently numerous opportunities out there for anyone willing to be a little flexible. I hope that you can take some of these strategies, apply them to your own situation, and continue living the dream as a traveling PT.

I personally plan on reinstating more of my expired licenses to expand the possible jobs options. There’s a good job out there in a great location, open up your possibilities and allow yourself to find it.

 

The THE Series

The THE series. Of all our travel assignments this one has been the toughest to find THE housing, most unique in finding THE jobs, and longest of THE roadtrips. We left our apartment in Aspen 4 weeks ago today, we have put 4,500 miles on the car, racked up 8,000 frequent flier miles, and will finally move into our new place in one more week in Anchorage.

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I feel like one role of this site is to develop a knowledge-base of travel healthcare experiences in an environment not influenced by recruiting companies. Everything Kate and I have been through over the past 6 weeks needs to be shared with other travelers, and can be used as a template for how-to and how-to-not.

Expect in the coming weeks the THE series: THE housing, THE job search, and THE first few weeks (a working title). Thanks for tuning in, travel safe.

Legality Schmeegality

I don’t really like blogs that are a pointless rant, so I promise I’ll try to keep this productive and at least a little informative for anyone who hasn’t yet been through  getting a new state license.

Kate and I are currently seeking our Washington and Alaska licenses for some potential work this coming summer. We have 4 licenses in common; I have Illinois and Vermont, and she has Florida, 7 states total. To simplify things, we’ve dropped being current in all but two states, our Home State which is the Vacation State (seems contradictory), and Colorful Colorado. Simplify? Yeah, I thought so, until both Alaska and Washington requested official license verification from every state where I hold or have ever held a license as part of their PT License Application. That’s a spousal-total of 11 licenses that need verifying through mostly snail mail and hand written checks. Who uses mail and checks!?!? Even the USPS has online options so that you don’t have to use the mail!

The Best:

1. Florida – $25 and an online submission will get you verified

2. Colorado – No fee and you may fax your request.

 

The Worst:

1. Hawaii – For only $15 per request you can have a verification sent within 20 days of receipt of your written request via mail.

2. Vermont – Written request. They’ll deposit your check and then have no record of your request.    <– happened to me

3. Illinois – Don’t bother calling, you’ll be on hold for 2 hours.

 

So, back to point, I’ve spent four hours getting these 2 applications together and probably have another 2 hours to go. Most of this time is a result of pre-internet legislation that dictates you do things as you would when mail and and personal checks were pretty much your only options. Part of the reason these laws have persisted is that no one likes to open their practice acts. When a practice act is modified, it offers a chance for other professions and interests to alter the law for their benefit as opposed to the benefit of PTs, PTAs, and patients. HOWEVER! Should you find yourself in a state with an open practice act and the chance to have your voice heard, please beg that licensure be brought into the 21st century, argue against the arbitrary barriers that keep well qualified professionals from practicing in a place that could probably use them, and educate your colleagues on the difficulties these laws place on state employees who must waste their time dealing with all kinds of paperwork for information quickly and easily available on the internet (fsbpt.org).

Really, I’m being a little melodramatic. Getting your license in a new state is generally a matter of paperwork, if your status as a PT/PTA is healthy, there’s no reason you won’t be licensed if you can get the paperwork to the right places in a timely matter. We’ve been licensed in many states now and have a greater burden because of it, if you’ve only worked in one state, it’s pretty straight forward.

Well I have to run, I’ve got some applications to fill out and an currently open Colorado Practice Act to leave my mark on.  🙂