PTA student. Should I become an aide part time? Building resume..

[PTAstudent510]

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Hey guys,

I'm a current PTA student right now, will be graduating in 2 years. I'm located in California.

I went to UC Davis for undergrad as a psychology major, and the MOST important thing that I regretted was NOT finding an internship or having job experience. I realized that after I graduated, most employers don't even look at your GPA, they look for internships/job experience.

Now, I only volunteered at an outpatient PT place, and I did pretty much what Aides did: teaching patients exercises, cleaning, etc etc.

Now that I am a PTA student, I want to start building my resume. There is mandatory "clinical" that we have when we are 1 year into the program.. where we go to other hospitals to learn more hands on, on PTA techniques/etc...

Should I become an Aide during my first year part time? It seems like half of my classmates are currently aides right now. I only have a couple classes so I have time. Or is that not really necessary since and Aide and PTA job functions are not all that related?
I really want to distinguish myself from others. All my other classmates will have same clinical experience as I do, and I can't find PTA internships until I have clinical experiences (1 year into the program). What should I be doing in the mean time that can help distinguish myself from others?? I want to be successful and work at Kaiser Permanente, nursing homes, etc etc.

If so, how would I even become an Aide? Most people will not train you to become an aide unless you have volunteered for a long time because it only requires a high school degree. I volunteered at my last place for 3 months, and they told me they don't have an opening (too many aides), so I felt like I wasted my time trying to get a job there, volunteering for free.

Thank you all!!

 

[Bones26]

Years ago, I got my job as a tech by calling outpatient clinics in the area. The first one I called happened to have a tech leaving. I had an interview later that week and a job offer a few days after that. Just call or stop by places.

 

[PTAstudent510]

Years ago, I got my job as a tech by calling outpatient clinics in the area. The first one I called happened to have a tech leaving. I had an interview later that week and a job offer a few days after that. Just call or stop by places.

Do you think employers would want a recent PTA grad to have an aide/tech experience?

 

[DesertPT]

I think if you are a licensed PTA that is what they are going to care about...having worked as a tech is only an added bonus. If you really have the time, you might as well, then you'll at least have a little income coming in.

 

[markelmarcel]

Some people are techs and some people aren't.... Your experience will come from your internships during school; that's where you will shine as a PTA for PTA jobs!

 

[DesertPT]

Some people are techs and some people aren't.... Your experience will come from your internships during school; that's where you will shine as a PTA for PTA jobs!

Exactly, you're not going to learn how to be a PTA working as a tech anyway. Making some good connections during PTA school you will be what puts you in a good position for a job.

 

[PTAstudent510]

Thank you for the replies!!!

Connections with classmates OR teachers will get me a good job?

And also, everyone are REQUIRED to do the internship clinicals; I wanted to do something more to distinguish myself. I don't know how I'll be any different from others if we are competing for the same job because we would've had almost the same internships.

Only thing I can think of is being on Dean's list for honor role (good grades). Could you guys elaborate more on the connection with school, and shining in internships?

 

[markelmarcel]

Yes, everyone has clinical inernships as that's where you do most of your on-the-job learning. Make good connections with the people you meet on your internships. All of my clinical instructors were more than happy to write recommendation letters and/or be a reference on my resume once I started job shadowing. The same can be said for a a couple of my professors from school; if you foster good relationships with people, work hard and show that you are willing to learn then you'll give yourself a good base of knowledge to land a job. It's not too complicated, just work hard, learn as much as you can and be kind to others. Kind of like kindergarten 😉 you never know what relationships you foster during school will become helpful I'm the future!