When we were starting out as physical therapists, we were like most new grads. We planned for a “normal” career, working Monday-Friday, and had limited to no knowledge on what exactly travel therapy was.

So how did we transition from outpatient ortho and outpatient pediatrics to travel therapy? We had a mentor guide us through the process for our first assignment. One of Kari’s co-workers was a traveling therapist for several years and she began to answer all our questions. Between her help and countless web searches, after working just 18 months from graduation, we embarked on our first travel assignment.

Having now been through 7 assignments, we want to outline the steps we took, and the ones we wish we knew before our first assignment.

1) Recruiters

It’s never too soon to contact a recruiter. There are no strings attached, no upfront contracts you have to sign, and it helps to build relationships. Talking with several recruiters will also improved your communication skills, particularly in asking for what you want out of an assignment. They can also answer a lot of your questions about how travel therapy works.

These initial conversations help your recruiter understand your interests, as well as give you insight into the company you may be working with. It is a good time to ask questions regarding what their company offers. This may include retirement packages or health benefits. We would also recommend speaking with recruiters from multiple companies to find the company/recruiter that seems to work best for you.

If you would like recommendations for recruiters, you can contact us here

At this point, there isn’t a rush to have a start date in mind, but looking back to our first assignment, it was approximately 6 months from our initial contact with a recruiter to our official start of becoming travel therapists. It can be done quicker than that, but it worked well with us leaving our first full time jobs.

When initially contacting recruiters, it is good to find 1 or 2 recruiters you can trust, and begin searching for jobs. If you want to develop a close relationship and have only one recruiter, that works too. If you want to know more about how many recruiters we use, you can check out our blog post.

Why Consider Using Multiple Recruiters

Once you have selected one or more companies to work with, they will send you links for their online applications. Each company will have some sort of online application that includes a skills checklist, some background questions on your interest, and will have you send a resume and likely references.

This is NOT a contract to work with this company, but needed information so they can submit you to jobs in the future. There is no contract that requires you to take a job with any company. Actually, the only contract you have between yourself and the travel company is the 13 week (or longer) assignment, which upon completion, you are free to work with whomever you want.

Putting off the application paperwork can delay you, and potentially cause you to miss out on a job. Recruiters are good about asking you to update your application when needed.

Recruiters are literally always ready to sign you to a contract. So this whole first step of contacting a recruiter can go as quick as you like. If you are unsure whether or not to jump into travel therapy, don’t let that hold you back from calling a recruiter. We made the call and it took us 6 months to decide on when to start our first job. If you are dead set and ready to go, you can also make this happen within weeks.

2) License and resume

Unless you plan to only work in your primary state of licensure, it is best to start the licensing process early. Depending on your situation, some recruiters will help you apply for a couple licenses up front, while others may want you to accept a job first.

For our first assignment in Alaska, we agreed to the job, and our company assisted with the application process and reimbursed us for all the fees. You can also apply on your own and the travel company can reimburse your for the expenses once you sign a contract in that state (save your receipts!).

We go into detail on how to obtain your own license through applications or through the company you plan to work with.

What about your resume?

If you haven’t sent an updated resume to your recruiter, it’s time to finalize it and send it over. What do you put on your travel resume? It’s really no different that any other professional resume.

When we started, we had our one and only employer listed (permanent at that time) as well as other typical professional achievements. After each travel assignment, we add the employer, setting, dates worked and a short description of our duties. We also include documentation systems we are proficient in.

3) tax home

When we started traveling, we had no idea about tax homes and despite living with my parents to save money right out of school, we were unsure if we could claim that residence as our tax home. That left us without a tax home for our first two assignments, meaning we didn’t get to claim any per diems for living or meals. We still made good money, but left a lot on the table that we could have claimed.

We have learned a lot about tax homes and wrote an entire blog post on it. If you have any questions, I would start by clicking below.

What Is A Tax Home

Remember, WE ARE NOT TAX PROFESSIONALS, and I would then go to TravelTax and read their FAQ page. Unbelievably helpful.

The takeaway message: A tax home needs to be established so you can receive the living stipends and meal stipends tax free, which account for a large portion of why travel pay is so much higher.

As I said, go to TravelTax and read everything!

Hiking in Lassen National Park, Northern CA

4) organizing the essentials

Beginning a travel career will undoubtably include packing, packing and more packing. Whether you are renting a furnished or unfurnished apartment, living in an RV, or even living in a van, will likely influence what you pack.

To help with organizing our stuff, we bought several large tote boxes that would fit neatly into our truck bed. We also bought a camper shell to keep them dry, which came in handy on our very first road trip driving through several days of rain and snow on our way to Alaska.

Honestly, our first trip or two were generally organized chaos, and we have improved and learned to pack more efficiently. For us, what we have found that works best is having a large tote box that holds our “winter” and “summer” clothes stored away in vacuum sealed bags. That way when we travel to different assignments, we know which box (or vacuum sealed bag) we should open when we arrive.

We have had a lot of success using the vacuum seal bags that suck down all our clothes! Using this packing method, we are able to carry enough clothes that will allow us to handle an Alaskan winter, straight to a Louisiana summer, without having to purchase anything.

Depending on what you drive and how much room you have for packing (we have a truck and chevy equinox), you may have to pack less. We aren’t exactly your typical “light travelers”. Here is a short list of what we travel with, and it is by no means exhausted.

Tupperware boxes for lunches and to store our food in the fridge (we live on leftovers)
A couple suitcases for long travel weekends (which are used to pack clothes from assignment to assignment)
camping tent (camping essentials)
magic bullet blender (Tyler loves his morning smoothies)
Cupcake tin and holder (kari loves her cupcakes)
And believe it or not, an entire weight set lol. Yes we actually have a squat rack, hex bar, barbell, and several dumbbells and plates. Our truck is full! But no gym membership required!

As you can see by how we travel, all “essentials” are dependent on what you will use while on assignment. We didn’t start with everything we now carry. No tent, no weight set, and less than we have now, but we have accumulated a few things that truly make our assignments worth while.

Our take away message…keep it simple enough to pack into your car, and hit the road when an assignment ends.

5) online banking and snail mail

Now is the time to become adept at using online banking.

At a minimum, ensure that your primary bank is national and has a large number of branches, in case you need to use them while on assignment. Companies will direct deposit your weekly check, but having an option for banking wherever you are is nice.

It is also beneficial to have the online app to your bank account. It has saved us several times when our cards lock up after purchasing items out of state. You can quickly go online, select which states you will be traveling to ahead of time and save yourself from trouble. Also, it is very easy from the apps to lock your cards if you lose your wallet or notice fraudulent charges.

What about your mail? You may have to find a way to consistently forward your mail to your travel location. We have all our mail sent to our family, who then will send a monthly or bi-monthly package to us.

6) Finalize contract & find housing

Having completed all other items above, at some point you will have your first interview for a job, and hopefully a successful one.

Make sure to review all the details and have everything in writing!

We wrote an entire post on this topic. Click below for the specifics and to make sure you understand your first contract.

“A Traveler’s Contract: Breaking It Down”.

If the contract looks good, then you are set, otherwise we have sent some back to our recruiters with revisions. Once a contract is offered, most companies will expect a 24-48 hour turn around to accept or decline.

While waiting on a contract to be sent over, it is important to start looking up housing options so you have a good idea of what housing will cost. No matter how good a job is, it can turn challenging if there are limited to no housing options, or only very expensive options.

When we are sent a job from a recruiter, which should always include pay breakdown, we begin searching housing options to better understand our expected costs for negotiation of a contract. If you would like more information on housing as a traveler check out our blog post below.

“Finding Housing As A Traveler”

Our most common websites used include AirBnB and Furnished Finder. Both have pros and cons, but of all the other travel housing websites, these have been the most consistent for quality and convenient housing.

Kari Ice Climbing In Acadia National Park, ME.

congratulations

That’s the basics of How To Become A Travel Therapist. If you can make it through all the steps above, you’re ready for your first assignment. Well ahead of our starting point for our first assignment.

If you are truly considering becoming a travel therapist and would like mentorship, questions answered, or just want to say “Hey”, we would love to help.

Feel free to contact us through our email here, or reach out to us through DM on Facebook or Instagram.