4 Ways to Use Travel Therapy Experience to Your Advantage When Seeking Permanent Placement

If you’ve spent time as a traveler during your career, you can use travel therapy experience to your advantage when seeking permanent placement. Each setting you’ve worked in adds something valuable to your resume, and can make a huge impact on your search for permanent placement. With the help of these do’s and don’ts, you’ll be hired in no time.

1.     Don’t list every travel assignment on your resume

If you’ve racked up a lot of travel assignments, it’s probably not necessary to list every single one of them on your resume (unless you want it to be 10 pages long!). Instead, highlight the skills you’ve acquired and settings you’ve worked in, rather than each individual assignment. If you’re applying for a position in acute care, for example, make sure that experience is at the top of your resume. Since you’re not listing all of your travel assignments and dates on your resume, make sure to show that you’ve been gainfully employed as a travel therapist, which can be mentioned in your summary or objective statement.

2.     Do highlight why you want to switch to perm now

One of the first questions a hiring manager will have about a travel therapist switching to permanent placement is “Why now?” Address this head on in your resume’s summary/objective statement. Highlight why you think permanent placement is the next phase of your career while emphasizing skills you’ve developed as a travel therapist. For example:

After traveling for <insert number of years> and experiencing many settings, I have found that <insert setting> best utilizes my strengths as a therapist, which is why I’ve chosen to seek this type of position on a permanent basis.

3.     Don’t limit yourself, but remain flexible

As a veteran travel therapist, you are probably used to a lot of flexibility each time you hunt for a new assignment – you can almost always find the ideal position when the entire U.S. is your search pool. Permanent placement can be different because candidates are often tied to a specific location and/or a particular specialty. You might even have a slight disadvantage if you have only done a few assignments within the setting you are applying.

For example, two travel assignments (averaging 13 weeks each) in home health equal less than a year of experience in that setting, making jobs in competitive areas difficult to land. However, if you are flexible, you can gain experience and background in your ideal setting by opening your options location-wise.

4.     Do work with a recruiter

You are likely already comfortable working with a recruiter, so use this to your advantage when seeking a permanent position. Choose a recruiter that specializes in permanent placement, preferably focusing on rehab therapists.

Want to keep traveling? Contact our travel therapy recruiters and find your next assignment!