Set Yourself Apart! :)

[SloanTriumph]

I saw this post a while ago and it got me thinking:

"As for your value to the employer: if you had a previous job before going to PT school, find a way to leverage the skills you had acquired in that career. If you were in marketing, mention to the employer you can help with designing flyers or spruce up the website for the practice. If you speak a foreign language (esp. Spanish), you could help tap a market niche that had been neglected till then. If you went to PT school straight from undergrad, try to "specialize" in one area while in PT school by taking some extra electives, working with a prof/clinician, helping write a research paper, etc. Always ask yourself, what is my competitive advantage? You will need one, in order to negotiate successfully. Otherwise you don't have a chance.'

What are some other ways you can make yourself stand out to an employer?

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[noyceguy]

Have a neat resume. Be polite at the interview. Have a current license. That is 95 percent of getting a job. The other 5 percent is personality/fit. No one cares if you can help with fliers, we have clerical staff for that.

 

[FoamCup]

BUMP

 

[jadedphysiotherapist]

BUMP

Being able to sell the rehab progression to patients and sticking to good CEU courses so you are t forgetting complex things as you practice. Patients come back, they get better, they spread your clinic brand in the community.

Clinics that value APTA membership like seeing local chapter involvement. Clinics that like to pull physician referral sources like to see that you k ow how to communicate and facilitate business. Clinics that are heavily focused on EBP continual update may like that you did a research project.

Pro bono work with a patient populationn if your school allows that will also be a negotiating factor if that clinic treats that patient population

 

[DaveMillerDPT]

Something I hadn't considered until I began the process of figuring it out is by actually offering value to your employer in a strategic way. Physical therapy has to sell its services to be viable. That takes marketing know how, sales knowledge. Understanding how marketing and systems in a business work can go a long way to offering true value. I can go a lot more in depth with this if there is interest but I did this with my employer. I pitched an idea he wasn't trying in his marketing and managed to promote my skill and move myself into a position that accelerated my place in the company. The big take away here is to put a dollar value on what you can do. Tracking outcomes, how well you sell your service and how you've expanded your personal practice within the practice. Being a good therapist doesn't set you apart. They are dime a dozen. Even being an amazing clinician only goes so far. If you don't understand how the business works you won't have much influence in adding value to your employer or your paycheck.

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[kschaub]

I am starting PT school this summer, but I have worked for a year as a front office manager at a PT clinic. I have learned SO much while taking a year off and working before PT school. I think this is great experience for me as I now have a head start compared to other PT students in regards to knowing how insurances work. Many certified PT's at my clinic often come to me for insurance questions as they are not fully knowledgeable in that area. Hopefully this experience will give me the tools to stand out when I graduate PT school to land a job I want. Also, an added benefit of working a front office position before school is that you understand how a clinic functions not only from a clinical rehab approach, but also from a clerical insurance approach which will ultimately help my open my open clinic one day!

 

[DaveMillerDPT]

Knowing how insurance works can be useful, you're right. Something to consider however is that usually the PT isn't expected to know and understand billing. Knowing that information as the PT isn't really valuable to the employer either most times. For instance, if the person doing billing is paid $15/hr the therapist is being paid $30, he wouldn't want you doing billing or spending your time doing billing work. The boss would want you treating. If you're doing billing you're actually less profitable to your employer.

The upside though is that you may know ways to make billing more efficient, perhaps you have a system that made you more efficient. Perhaps you have a way of explaining billing to patients that really makes sense and you wrote a phone script that covers all the main points of how to talk to patients when you're educating them on billing.

This is what adds value to your employer. You made that $15/hr job more efficient or improved. You provided a process or system that improves the business. You can then leverage that to negotiating higher pay or raises and even make yourself an expert on how to make the billing department better for the company.

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[kschaub]

Knowing how insurance works can be useful, you're right. Something to consider however is that usually the PT isn't expected to know and understand billing. Knowing that information as the PT isn't really valuable to the employer either most times. For instance, if the person doing billing is paid $15/hr the therapist is being paid $30, he wouldn't want you doing billing or spending your time doing billing work. The boss would want you treating. If you're doing billing you're actually less profitable to your employer.

The upside though is that you may know ways to make billing more efficient, perhaps you have a system that made you more efficient. Perhaps you have a way of explaining billing to patients that really makes sense and you wrote a phone script that covers all the main points of how to talk to patients when you're educating them on billing.

This is what adds value to your employer. You made that $15/hr job more efficient or improved. You provided a process or system that improves the business. You can then leverage that to negotiating higher pay or raises and even make yourself an expert on how to make the billing department better for the company.

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You do make some valid points. It probably wouldn't give me much of an advantage to an employer by working two different jobs within a clinic. However, I do think this experience would be a great foundation for hopefully starting my own clinic one day. Also, I could offer some valuable marketing strategies and ways to make the billing process more efficient working as a PT that the employer might find valuable.

In my own opinion and from what I've learned from some of these forums, is that entry level PT's need to negotiate their salary when starting, especially if you know your in an area that has a need for PT's. The need for PT's and the variance in different starting salaries alone is enough to negotiate and look for your best option as an entry level PT.

On a side-note, I currently am working as a front office worker at a semi busy clinic (30 pts a day, 2 PT's and a PTA). I only work 7 hours a day and I find myself surfing the internet/answering the phone for about 5 of those hours. I finish all of the clerical front office work everyday within 2 hours. What I'm saying is that if insurance/clerical work only takes a max of 2 hours a day, I would think a one person clinic wouldn't be so hard to pull off...

 

[DaveMillerDPT]

You do make some valid points. It probably wouldn't give me much of an advantage to an employer by working two different jobs within a clinic. However, I do think this experience would be a great foundation for hopefully starting my own clinic one day. Also, I could offer some valuable marketing strategies and ways to make the billing process more efficient working as a PT that the employer might find valuable.

In my own opinion and from what I've learned from some of these forums, is that entry level PT's need to negotiate their salary when starting, especially if you know your in an area that has a need for PT's. The need for PT's and the variance in different starting salaries alone is enough to negotiate and look for your best option as an entry level PT.

On a side-note, I currently am working as a front office worker at a semi busy clinic (30 pts a day, 2 PT's and a PTA). I only work 7 hours a day and I find myself surfing the internet/answering the phone for about 5 of those hours. I finish all of the clerical front office work everyday within 2 hours. What I'm saying is that if insurance/clerical work only takes a max of 2 hours a day, I would think a one person clinic wouldn't be so hard to pull off...

Of course. That experience is worth while. It makes you unique to your employer. I've found we as therapists often don't capitalize on that knowledge and turn it into actual products and value offerings to negotiate out pay.

It happened in an interview with me once. An employer asked how I will add value to her company. I answered by saying I was active in CEU Courses and learning, ambitious and balancing a schedule and management. I had supervisor experience etc... That wasn't the value she meant. Basically all I added was what every other average therapist offers, decent patient care and some management skills.

She gave an example, her therapist that she recently hired brought a large network with her and added a marketing opportunity for the company. I was new to the city and didn't have that but there are other ways to add value than doctor networks I didn't know of at the time. Knowing how online marketing works and how to expand and improve it, having materials and experience in writing and doing systems or a formula and way to track successful completion of plan of care, an onboarding/welcome process for new patients that improves compliance rates, etc... There are plenty.

Knowing and trying these things has really made my job more exciting and purposeful but also propelled my career forward much faster.

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[kschaub]

Yes, I agree with you 100%. I haven't even started school yet, but I find that most clinics especially in the city value patient retention, doctor networks, and getting new referrals in the door more than having a good quality PT working for them. I work at a very large PT company and they will literally do anything to get a new patient in the door. They provide free transportation services for pt's who cant get here on their own, online surveys, marketing materials, T-shirts, etc.... This may just be how a large national company works. They even hired an entry level PT who had a DUI 6 months ago, and his quality of care is nothing special either, and patients keep coming. Unfortunately, as many people know the industry is becoming more and more focused on the money as opposed to the patients needs. Personally, I think PT's who have business and marketing skills are extremely underrated and should be emphasized and utilized more within a clinic.