Top 5 Reasons to Become a Travel PT:
#2 – Travel PT Lifestyle
In this mini-series we will go into the Top 5 reasons to become a travel PT. Over the next few days we will dive into both the obvious and the unspoken reasons for becoming a travel therapist.
Coming in second in our Top 5 Reasons to Become a Travel PT is Travel PT Lifestyle!
Check out the other Top 5 Reasons:
Reason # 2 – Travel PT lifestyle
The travel PT lifestyle, in all likelihood, might ruin me.
When I look back at my lifestyle prior to becoming a travel therapist it is a bleak picture. 10-12 hour days in an outpatient orthopedic clinic with a maximum of 2 weeks off per year. Sure, we were in one the most beautiful places on earth (in our opinion), but we never got to enjoy it! And I loved the work I was doing with my ortho patients. After all I sought my clinical specialist certification in orthopedics. It’s just that the job became my lifestyle, not part of it.
The travel PT lifestyle is a 180 degree change. Here is why:
1. Unlimited time off between contracts – sort of
So in one of our biggest contract negotiation blunders, Ellen and I got roped into a perm contract, at the same clinic, with 2 weeks off/yr (like above), but because we are married, we could only take 1 of those weeks together! I can’t believe it as I type it out again… Needless to say that job didn’t last very long. We immediately took a travel job for 13 weeks and following the contract spent 6 full weeks on vacation! (Here is how we spent part of it)
One of the best things about the travel PT lifestyle is having full control of your time. When you are off of contract you are not beholden to anyone or anything. You can have as long or as short of a gap between contracts as you choose. For us, we have done everything from 1 week to 8 weeks between jobs. Some travelers just take a weekend. Others take months and explore the world.
The point is that it is all up you. If you have the wherewithal to budget correctly, it is amazing what you can experience between contracts!
2. 40 Hour Guarantee
Often contracts contain some number of guaranteed work hours. If you can effectively negotiate, obtaining a guaranteed 40 hour work week provides you with tremendous peace of mind. Knowing that regardless of the patient census you will be paid full time hours allows you to focus on patient care more than patient productivity numbers.
*Note: This does not mean that you get to slack off and underperform. It simply means that if the facility is unable to provide you with 40hrs of work, you are still compensated for 40 hours. Also, any weeks that you request time off nullifies the 40hr guarantee. It is called a 40 hour guaranteed work WEEK, not five 8 hour guaranteed work days.
3. Pre-Negotiated Days Off
Continuing the theme of peace of mind are pre-negotiated days off. Pre-negotiated days off are a haggle free way to ensure that you can take a long weekend trip or attend a destination wedding all while in the middle of a contract. When your recruiter asks you “so what dates do you want to submit for?” this is your time to secure these days off.
One trick that some buddies of ours showed us was to write into the contract “2 undetermined days off.” They use this phrase to give themselves some wiggle room to do some exploring that they had not scheduled out prior to the contract. This is especially useful for longer contracts where you may not know what events or excursions you will want to take months down the road.
4. Contract Locations
The only thing better than a vacation to a beautiful location, is getting paid to live in that beautiful location!
How many other jobs allow you to relocate to nearly anywhere you choose! As a travel PT, the job market is in high demand of your skills. There are travel assignments in incredible towns all along the coasts and even tucked into some mountain towns. If you are a big city person, there are jobs there too! True, there may not be jobs in the exact spot you have always dreamed of at this exact moment, but if you can afford to be patient enough it is almost certain that one will pop up.
This aspect of the travel PT lifestyle is the single biggest reason why the average travel life of a travel therapist is 3.5yrs. Many of us find dream jobs in dream locations and end up going perm!
All in all the travel PT lifestyle is unlike any other in the rehab professions. The freedom to curate the lifestyle that you choose is unparalleled. With some careful planning and preparation your options for adventure are nearly endless!
Written by: Stephen Stockhausen
