After working in a smaller town in South Carolina, I was ready to move on to a bigger city. I applied for my Massachusetts physical therapy license and was ready to interview for a job in Boston!
Exciting, right?
The only problem was that this job started 6 weeks after my job in South Carolina ended. I wanted the job in Boston, but also knew I wasn’t ready for a 6 week vacation. So here again is where the flexibility of traveling healthcare can be really beneficial.
I told my recruiter and we began reaching out to places that had contracts that had been open for awhile and may be willing to accept a shorter than normal assignment length in order to bridge me until I started in Boston.
Almost immediately, we found a place in Springfield, Mass that needed short term help. So it benefited both of us to sign a 6 week assignment.
This allowed me to continue to work without taking a day off between assignments. I usually recommend trying to treat traveling work like a normal job. Meaning working every week and traveling between assignments over the weekend.
For this specific case, I chose to drive the 17 hours from South Carolina to Massachusetts in one day to avoid an unneeded hotel stop. This allows you to pocket more of your travel stipend! Most companies offer a travel stipend to get between assignments. My current stipend for this trip was $400.
But again, this is always negotiable. So even if they say $400 is a hard cap, it doesn’t mean they won’t comp you for a hotel stay or cover a moving expense from time to time. Travelers need recruiting companies and recruiting companies need travelers. Both benefit from a healthy relationship in which both parties are getting what they want. Try to always remember that when you are scared to negotiate and advocate for yourself.
The Assignment
The assignment was again a private practice outpatient clinic. It was a very high productivity clinic in which patients were coming and going in chaos, but a much more controlled chaos than in SC. We had techs who were great to help whenever they were needed.
This assignment also exposed me to a very heavy Spanish speaking population which was a very good experience for me in using translators and to the culture as a whole.
I have mentioned this often, but every clinician at this assignment was trained to become a fellow which is the highest level of education in the field of physical therapy. This allowed me to learn from these great minds every single day and push myself to become a better clinician in the process.
I understand that this may sound intimidating, but they were all so helpful and open to teaching me throughout my time there. I learned many new techniques and had my thoughts constructively challenged daily. It was a great career building experience.
I also was able to attend a free course on upper cervical assessment and treatment as a result of being on this assignment. Overall, this assignment has been my most intellectually stimulating thus far and all because I needed a “gap” assignment.
Conclusion
Never assume that there isn’t an opportunity for a shorter or longer contract than the normally quarterly contract of 13 weeks. Often these clinics would love to get any help they can get or possibly they may only need short term coverage due to injury, busy season, etc. It NEVER hurts to ask.
But 6 weeks goes by very quickly in the clinic and by the time I knew it, I was shipping up to Boston…Because I love the Dropkick Murphys…
(I was told that no matter what you really think, you tell Bostonians that you love Dropkick Murphys)
So like I said, I love the Drop Kick Murphys!!!
As always, comment below with any questions or traveling stories of your own. Or feel free to message me with specific messages here.
