How important is having your last clinical where you want to live?

[dpt18]

I was just wondering how important it is to have your last clinical where you want to live after you graduate. My school lets us request locations for our clinicals and I want to know if I should request a place where I want to live after I graduate or if I should just wait to move after I graduate since I will have more time to move.

Also, wondering how easy it to get a PTLA job after you graduate but before you take the NPTE.

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[jadedphysiotherapist]

It gets your foot directly in the door but obviously costs more compared to just taking one in your local area. You'd want to work directly at that clinic. Otherwise I'd say waste of money and time given the job market. Just send apps out six months before graduation and start looking where to move living simply

 

[Schland]

The only benefits to having the clinical where you want to live is if you want a taste of the area before making a permanent decision to live there or if you end up liking and doing well at your site and they end up wanting to hire you.

I have to disagree with sending out apps that far before graduation. Many places wouldn't even look at my application until I was licensed. Some on the online application systems weed you out if you don't put a license number and the manager will never see the application. I have no idea how that works with a temp license.

 

[dpt18]

Thank you for both of your responses! That was really helpful! I think that I will try to do my clinicals locally and then move after graduation if it doesn't make much of a difference and will save me more money.

Would you recommend working right after graduation as a PTLA? Or taking a few months off and only studying for the NPTE?

 

[Azimuthal]

Thank you for both of your responses! That was really helpful! I think that I will try to do my clinicals locally and then move after graduation if it doesn't make much of a difference and will save me more money.

Would you recommend working right after graduation as a PTLA? Or taking a few months off and only studying for the NPTE?

I'd work as a PTLA. Depending on the person, most people only need 2-3 hours of study time, 5-6 days a week, for ~6 weeks. The NPTE is baseline, many times, outdated knowledge. No one should fail it.

 

[jadedphysiotherapist]

I'd work as a PTLA. Depending on the person, most people only need 2-3 hours of study time, 5-6 days a week, for ~6 weeks. The NPTE is baseline, many times, outdated knowledge. No one should fail it.

What sources did you use?

 

[NewTestament]

There are so many staffing agencies and headhunters that you don't need to have a clinical in the area where you want to work. The internet makes it pretty easy to find a job in any market.

The NPTE is definitely outdated, but it can be tricky, and many answers are "right" answers but some are more right than others.

 

[pegasuscvc]

Whether or not your last clinical should be in your preferred job market depends a lot on the market and how hard it is to get into. The same can be said of how far out from graduation you start applying. Just based on my own experience, I started looking for a job in February when I was graduating in May. I had a job lined up in March, and they had me start mid-June with a temp license, pending taking the NPTE in August. However, that was in an area where employers were competing with each other for workers, rather than the other way around. I don't know if you could pull off the same thing in other areas. You should have no problem finding a job in most markets though, even if you have to wait until you're licensed to do it.

It also depends on your school and how well they can fill location requests to begin with. In my school, it was a bit of a joke to be honest, at least if you were requesting out of state. They just had us pick our top 3 from a list of clinical sites and tried to get everyone where they wanted to go as best they could. Most people got a place in their top 3 from the list, but getting a site in a particular city where your school didn't already have a site hardly happened at all. Doing that means your school has to start/build a relationship with the prospective site and get a contract with them to send students. Only two or three people in my class managed to get that to happen.

 

[DesertPT]

It's not what I'd consider mission critical, but if you talk to therapists who have graduated in the last few years you'll definitely meet plenty who did a rotation where they are now working. I've also met several who got their first job as a new grad elsewhere and then migrated back to somewhere they did a rotation after a year or two. So doing your clinicals in a different town then where you wan't to live won't prevent you from finding a job, but I feel doing it where you are going to live makes getting that first job after graduation easier, and potentially gets some experience under your belt if the setting/city you want to end up in has a relatively lukewarm market for new grads.

I have talked to several hiring managers both from OP and hospital settings and they say they will always try to hire former students first before moving to other applicants, as it saves them time and money in the onboarding and training process to have someone who has essentially already worked for them. Maybe that is only the culture where I live, but I imagine it would be true elsewhere too.

If you do a rotation at a hospital/SNF/OP clinic that is part of a large corporation or chain I think that is of some benefit too after moving. If you apply for any jobs in the new city that are under the same parent company, you will have the advantage of already being familiar with their system. Again, maybe not a major game changer but not something to disregard either.

 

[jadedphysiotherapist]

It's not what I'd consider mission critical, but if you talk to therapists who have graduated in the last few years you'll definitely meet plenty who did a rotation where they are now working. I've also met several who got their first job as a new grad elsewhere and then migrated back to somewhere they did a rotation after a year or two. So doing your clinicals in a different town then where you wan't to live won't prevent you from finding a job, but I feel doing it where you are going to live makes getting that first job after graduation easier, and potentially gets some experience under your belt if the setting/city you want to end up in has a relatively lukewarm market for new grads.

I have talked to several hiring managers both from OP and hospital settings and they say they will always try to hire former students first before moving to other applicants, as it saves them time and money in the onboarding and training process to have someone who has essentially already worked for them. Maybe that is only the culture where I live, but I imagine it would be true elsewhere too.

If you do a rotation at a hospital/SNF/OP clinic that is part of a large corporation or chain I think that is of some benefit too after moving. If you apply for any jobs in the new city that are under the same parent company, you will have the advantage of already being familiar with their system. Again, maybe not a major game changer but not something to disregard either.

All of this is accurate.

 

[NewTestament]

You can always find a job in a city that is 1-2 hours away from your desired location. They often pay as well and the cost of living is lower, and you still have the proximity of the city. Just get a job. I think too many new grads wants to live their best life now, when in fact their dream job in their dream city should be their five-year goal.

 

[jadedphysiotherapist]

You can always find a job in a city that is 1-2 hours away from your desired location. They often may just as well and the cost of living is lower, and you still have the proximity of the city. Just get a job. I think too many new grads wants to live their best life now, when in fact their dream job in their dream city should be their five-year goal.

This is such a healthy and financially wise piece of advice on this site.

 

[tpath11]

It gets your foot directly in the door but obviously costs more compared to just taking one in your local area. You'd want to work directly at that clinic. Otherwise I'd say waste of money and time given the job market. Just send apps out six months before graduation and start looking where to move living simply

What do you mean by 'given the current job market' I am going into first year of DPT and was just curious if you meant the market was not that great. Last I checked, PT was growing at a very fast rate.

 

[jadedphysiotherapist]

What do you mean by 'given the current job market' I am going into first year of DPT and was just curious if you meant the market was not that great. Last I checked, PT was growing at a very fast rate.

Rotating at a clinic makes it more likely to be hired there. Away rotations are a ridiculous extra financial cost since you don't get housing.

The market is fine and will be right when you graduate. Don't do aways if you can help it. Stay smart with your money....and effort.