Getting Started as a Physical Therapist

Next Stop: Sports, Like Everyone Else

In 2019, I graduated from physical therapy school with my DPT and was immediately licensed in the state of North Carolina (I passed my Boards early, over two months before graduating, and so my degree completed my application for licensure). I was so eager to start working, I applied for jobs as soon as I passed the Boards. Here is the thing, though… I could not find a single opening in my “sub-specialty.” My “thing” was sports. Everyone knew it. I was a four-year NCAA Division 1 athlete at the same university I went to for graduate school, I had taken all of the sports specialization courses offered through my school, had been selected for special opportunities with my school’s Division I athletes as a student PT, volunteered for collegiate sports research and even did continuing education classes while still a student that would set me up to get a good sports job right away. I was pretty competitive, even with my friends who also wanted the same jobs in sports, which is in part why I took my Boards, started applying for jobs, etc. so early.

I Applied for What?

In November and December of 2019, there weren’t a ton of job listings to begin with. Graduating in December can be a slight challenge to getting started, in that the holidays can get in the way of people leaving jobs and hiring replacements. However, my husband and I were moving to a much larger city in NC, and I found a couple of opportunities in the form of PRN positions in two large healthcare networks. I applied to both, and scored an interview for one the very next week! I was stunned and so happy. It was not until the interview, sat in front of a panel of three interviewers, that I learned that the position was NOT orthopedics…it wasn’t even outpatient…it was coverage for inpatient rehabilitation and acute care over 8 hospitals in the Metro region. That was omitted from the job listing, and kind of the opposite of what I had worked so hard for. I laugh now because looking back at the interview, they asked me many situational questions and I kept pulling my answers from my outpatient and sports experience to the point where they asked, “We hear that you have a lot of outpatient experience, but what about inpatient?” The actual setting of this job. BUT, they must have heard something they liked, and I was offered the position shortly thereafter. In moving to a new city, I couldn’t be picky, and I was honestly grateful for the opportunity to get started in such an established and reputable healthcare network. My plan was to keep an eye out for other sports and orthopedic opportunities, which were sure to come up…

Let's Try Inpatient! In 2020...

Diving Into...Chronic Pain?

One positive to come out of the summer of 2020 was an opportunity to get back into the outpatient orthopedic world. I had established a good relationship with the insurance specialist/front desk administrator at my final, six-month internship as a student PT throughout the summer and fall of 2019. She reached out to me, offering an opportunity to interview for a PRN position at a local, physician-owned medical practice. After thinking it through and learning more about the clinic, I said yes, met with the small team there, and decided to give it a try, starting with one day per week. The patient population was not my dream - chronic pain patients currently in pain management. The PT department served as an adjunct therapy for these patients’ pains, and enabled the clinic to offer more than just medication for treatment of chronic pain. While I agreed with the premise of offering and providing willing patients an alternative or supportive therapy, in practice, it was not easy. But it was an opportunity. And over time, I was able to not only gradually swap my inpatient days for outpatient, but was able to diversify my patient population, hone my marketing skills, learn new techniques that actually work for treating patients with chronic pain, and so much more. And yes, in the end I did get to work with athletes, including youth athletes of all sports, NCAA Division I athletes, high-level youth sports clubs and even older adult athletes (who love lifting!).

Take The Odd Opportunity

None of these opportunities ever seemed like the perfect, “right” thing I had worked so hard for during school. While plenty of chances eventually arose to work in the prime sports and ortho clinics of the city, I was highly aware of the reputations these top places had for treating their PTs - overworking, underpaying and stressing out these therapists, who want to do good by their patients, but are stretched notoriously thin to do so. Aware of these reputations throughout my time in grad school, I knew which clinics I would want to stay away from, even if an opportunity were to come about. That was a conscious decision I made to protect my sanity, and though it likely delayed my return to the outpatient orthopedics world and forced me to cultivate a wide-ranging caseload of my own, I would not have it any other way. The clinical knowledge, clinical and non-clinical skills I have developed as a result are, to me, priceless, more than I bargained for, and I am so glad I did things “the hard way” while enabling a healthy work-life balance, the utmost flexibility in my schedule, and more.

Vet your opportunities and know that sometimes the less obvious choices can make the greatest difference in your life and career.

Getting Started as a Physical Therapist:

Next Stop: Sports, Like Everyone Else

I Applied for What?

Let's Try Inpatient! In 2020...

Diving Into...Chronic Pain?

Take The Odd Opportunity