Interviewing As A Traveler

Working in San Francisco

How many interviews have you had as a professional?

Maybe you have had some experience prior to school or it could be completely new.  Either way, travel therapy interviews can be slightly different than your typical permanent job. 

Having accepted and nearly completed 10 assignments each, we have been through a minimum of 20 interviews.  While we have felt successful with our interview skills, we wanted to share our experience on the interview process as a traveler in hopes that it will help you in landing your next job.

So what’s the process? 

As you and your recruiter discuss job opportunities, go through pay breakdowns, and decide on locations to be submitted, be aware of how fast an interview can take place.

Once submitted, a company can decide if you are a possible candidate and call that same day, or take over a week to reach out.  We have experienced it both ways.  

There have even been times, where I was submitted at 8am and I was getting a call on my lunch hour about a job.  It’s not always known when someone will call for an interview.  

Most jobs though have requested ideal times/days to contact us and we can plan accordingly.  The key take away, is always be prepared for an interview if you agree to submit to a job.

There are also different types of interviews.  I think it is best to break them up into two categories as a traveler. 

1. The formality: Congratulations you’re hired. The company is interested and wants to confirm you are a good fit.

2. The Standard: We’re interested, but there may be other candidates or/and we want to confirm you’re a good fit/competent before we hire you.

As I said above, we have had at minimum 20 interviews, and while I think it’s important to have good interview skills, out of those 20, only a handful  were very in-depth interviews and 3 or 4 made us really have to showcase our skillset. 

So what should you expect as a traveler? And how should you prepare?

Most jobs are about timing. While the interview matters, if you can fit the dates they need filled, have some experience in that setting, and are well spoken on the phone, you more than likely can land the job. 

This brings us to interview type one 

1. The formality: Congratulations you’re hired. The company is interested and want to confirm you are a good fit.

For these jobs, we have had interviews that are very brief, straight forward, and sometimes can sound like a first day orientation. 

If you 

1) Meet their qualifications

2) Have a good fitting start date

3) General good attitude when you answer your phone for the interview

You got the job.

How I feel when a new assignment starts………ready to explore the unknown! (Hiking to Grewingk Glacier in Alaska)

One very import thing to keep in mind during these interviews is don’t get caught up in the excitement of possibly landing the job. Make sure you keep your cool and ask the questions you need answered to determine if this facility is a good fit for YOU.

Early in our travel career we would get excited and completely forget some of the questions we had planned.  Included at the end of this post will be our sample questions we like to ask during an interview.  

Most interviews are straightforward and may include a discussion of some of your past jobs and settings you have worked in, as well as some common diagnoses you’ve encountered.

So if most of our travel job interviews have been straightforward , what about the others? The others have been more in-depth and require you to be ready to showcase your skillset.  Displaying confidence in your ability as a therapist, but also not being arrogant. Showcasing your skills and professionalism through a phone interview that may only last 15-20 minutes can be challenging.

Out of all our assignments, there’s been a handful where the interview was very thorough, we knew multiple other therapist were trying to land the job and these were very competitive work places that would be hard to land even as a permanent therapist.

Some of these locations include UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, Stanford Ortho and Sports Physical Therapy, Shriners Children's Hospital, Spaulding Rehab, and St Lukes Hospital.  

While we have worked multiple settings and locations over the last 4 years of travel (starting November 1st, 2017), we have been fortunate to have some pretty amazing experiences.  

I think most people can land jobs like these if you meet their qualifications, and have their ideal start date. Having a great recruiter looking out for you and “selling” you to the facility also can’t be said enough.  We have had some amazing success due to our recruiters pushing us for jobs and being honest about the position.

But what made these job interviews different?

Well for starters there were clinical questions. Yes, we have both had specific treatment questions/approaches asked during interviews where multiple travelers were being considered.  Despite being nervous in our initial response, having the confidence that we knew our field of work and expressing our thoughts clearly was all that was needed. 

These interviews were lengthier, more serious in tone, and even included questions regarding our recent continuing education, barriers/challenges in our field, and future plans we may have.  

This is one of the great reasons why we say be prepared not only with your own questions, but know the facility you're submitting to and run through some scenarios that they may ask in an interview. Don't let yourself be caught off guard. 

For these thorough interviews, where multiple other applicants have applied and are competing for the same job, we didn’t do anything special.  We always have the same process and prepare as if it is our dream job/location/setting to ensure we put all our effort into what we are pursuing.  

I want to add here one other aspect about travel that we found to be untrue.  Early on, we heard, “those are jobs that no one wants”.  Referring to travel jobs as either terrible location, work conditions, or just not great settings/facilities.  As I listed above you can see we have had some amazing opportunities thanks to travel therapy.  

For those of you that are looking for rewarding experience and job satisfaction as well as travel, just know they are out there.  Not every single one of our travel jobs has been a “dream job”, but we have enjoyed all our assignments, and have had what some people would consider “dream jobs”. 

So what's the big Takeaway?

You just have to be prepared and know what you're getting into. Don't get caught off guard with a phone call you were expecting. When you submit to a job you should know you are more than likely going to have an interview and even if they say they have a scheduled time it may be earlier.

Simple ways to prepare would include always answering your phone professionally and at the very minimum with a pleasant “hello” when you're expecting an interview. 

Below are some sample questions that we have pre-typed in the note section of our phone so we always have our go-to questions ready.  Sometimes we get a call at work during our lunch hour, and if you don't have the questions with you, it doesn't look good to stumble through.

Hope this helps with your next interview and keep enjoying travel!

QUESTIONS BELOW

Here are some of the questions we will ask during the interview process. We try to be as thorough as possible so you have what we consider to be a pretty good list. While we may not ask every single one of these, at some point throughout the interview these will be answered. And if we forget one, we will immediately send an email to our recruiter and have them find out the information. Here they are

-What is the typical caseload?

-How many patients a day?

-Productivity expectations?

-Who else is on staff (PT/OT/SLP/support staff)?

-What is the documentation system?

-What are common diagnoses seen in the clinic?

-What is the reason for travel opening?

-How much time for evaluations/treatment? (more outpatient based question)

-Will I be supervising an assistant?

-What is the onboarding process/training?

-What is the dress code? (If it hasn’t been answered already by your recruiter)

-What is the expected schedule? (4x10s, weekends etc.)

-For pediatrics, what are common assessments utilized in the clinic?

-Am I covering one location or will there be multiple facilities?

DON’T ASK ABOUT PAY, THAT’S BETWeEN YOU AND THE ReCRUITER.  

Hope this helps you prepare for your next interview and we wish you good luck with all your adventures.

How I feel when an assignment is about to end………LET’S GO! (Water taxi after hiking to Grewingk Glacier in Alaska)

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