How to Hire a Physical Therapist

Why hire a physical therapist?

A quality physical therapist hire can enhance the services you offer to patients. Having one supports the quality of care provided by your business, which will boost your company’s reputation. This will increase overall revenue. A physical therapist can also:

• Increase the number of appointments your practice has
• Provide excellent care for your patients
• Offer new services

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance physical therapist

There are a variety of reasons a business or an individual might look into hiring a physical therapist. Businesses, such outpatient care centers and hospitals, may hire freelance physical therapists when the need for physical therapy exceeds the amount of therapists on staff, reducing the workload of the full-time employees. Small facilities that don’t have a frequent need for physical therapists may also hire freelancers as needed.

Large facilities and hospitals, however, almost always need a full-time physical therapist on staff to support people with mobility, pain and other daily functioning issues, including post-operative patients, seniors and athletes. 

What are the types of physical therapists?

Similar to most areas of health care, physical therapists can specialize in a variety of fields. Some of these areas include:

• Pediatric physical therapy: Pediatric physical therapists help children who may be growing disproportionately. If a child’s skeletal system is growing too fast for the muscles to keep up, a physical therapist can help them develop their muscles. 
• Geriatric physical therapy: Geriatric therapists help older patients who have physical issues that interfere with daily living resulting from age, injury, illness or disease, such as a stroke. 
• Orthopedic physical therapy: Orthopedic physical therapists can help patients who’ve had surgery or an injury rebuild their muscles after a period of nonuse. 
• Neurological physical therapy: Neurological physical therapists help patients who’ve suffered disease or injury of the nervous system. While physical therapy may not entirely repair the damage done, it can improve the patient’s quality of life. 

Where to find physical therapists

To find the right physical therapist for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Build relationships with local physical therapy schools. Schools that teach physical therapy can point businesses in the direction of promising graduates in the field. Reach out to these schools and set up interviews with potential candidates.
• Post help wanted signs. Hanging up flyers about the open physical therapist position can attract interested and quality candidates. 
• Communicate with other health care facilities in the area. Health care facilities in the city can send you information regarding physical therapists who may be searching for employment. Contact these individuals and set up interviews. 
• Post your job online. Try posting your physical therapist job on Indeed to find and attract quality physical therapist candidates.

What are the types of physical therapists?

Similar to most areas of health care, physical therapists can specialize in a variety of fields. Some of these areas include:

• Pediatric physical therapy: Pediatric physical therapists help children who may be growing disproportionately. If a child’s skeletal system is growing too fast for the muscles to keep up, a physical therapist can help them develop their muscles. 
• Geriatric physical therapy: Geriatric therapists help older patients who have physical issues that interfere with daily living resulting from age, injury, illness or disease, such as a stroke. 
• Orthopedic physical therapy: Orthopedic physical therapists can help patients who’ve had surgery or an injury rebuild their muscles after a period of nonuse. 
• Neurological physical therapy: Neurological physical therapists help patients who’ve suffered disease or injury of the nervous system. While physical therapy may not entirely repair the damage done, it can improve the patient’s quality of life. 

Writing a physical therapist job description

A thoughtful description is important to finding quality physical therapist candidates. A physical therapist job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your physical therapist job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on physical therapist jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Physical therapist
• Physical therapy
• Pediatric physical therapist
• Home health physical therapist
• Outpatient physical therapist
• Physical therapy aide
• Physical therapist home health
• Physical therapists
• Physical therapist therapy
• Sports physical therapist

Interviewing physical therapist candidates

Strong candidates for physical therapist positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Knowledge of exercises
• How to treat injuries
• Medical software

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of physical therapist interview questions for examples (with sample answers).