Navigating Job Hunting

It’s that time of year when fourth year occupational therapy students are swamped with the last of their coursework and are feeling the pressure of finding a job for the new year. For many students this will be their first full time job and the idea of committing to a company/role without knowing what it will be like can feel overwhelming!

After spending the last couple of years supporting about 40 students on their clinical placements, I have gained some insight into the main stressors overshadowing the job seeking journey. I have put together below some things to consider when looking for jobs in the private sector to hopefully give you some tools to cut through the noise!

Support

Seemingly obvious, this is something you would’ve heard from your lecturers is essential in a new graduate role. We don’t just mean formal 1:1 supervision weekly, which is a requirement, we mean who is supporting you in the day to day? New graduates who are able to have a quick chat to other grads, ask questions of OT peers and seek guidance from supervisors in an ad hoc way feel more supported (Moir et al, 2021).

Practically, what does that look like? Most private practices have a mobile or community based element. This is a great way to see clients in their natural environment. However, if you don’t have access to a physical office that you go to see others face to face you can easily become isolated. Even if you are only at the office a couple of times a week, that face to face contact allows you to build relationships with your colleagues and feel more confident to ask them questions.

The research also tells us that being supported to reflect on your practice and develop your professional reasoning is essential to feeling confident and competent as a new graduate (Moores and Fitzgerald, 2016). Having a supervisor that is experienced in cultivating these skills is therefore essential, having an early careers therapist as your formal supervisor can be a bit like the blind leading the blind!

KPI’s or Billables

This may be a new concept but one that is essential to understand. As Occupational Therapists in the private sector, we charge clients for the time we spend working with them, working on their case, and travel to their location. Each company may have different ‘non-billable’ things that can contribute towards your KPI’s, such as engaging in learning tasks, supervision, planning time etc. It is important to find this out from the organisation.

Remember, if only client sessions count towards your KPI’s and your KPI is 25 hours, that is 25 clients in a week that you would be seeing.

Caseload

It is always going to feel intimidating and overwhelming going into your first role. So much learning happens in the first few years of practice that it is impossible for university to prepare you for. That being said, it is important that your caseload allows you to have a balance of clients you feel relatively confident with, and clients that you require more support with.

Look out for organisations that allow you to say ‘no’ when you feel a client is beyond your current scope, allow you to indicate preferences for the types of clients you enjoy seeing, and have strong structures in place to support you if a client ends up being more complex than initially thought.

If you're feeling overwhelmed or wondering how these topics might translate to an interview, reach out so we can chat!

References

Moir, E. M., Turpin, M. J., & Copley, J. A. (2021). The clinical challenges experienced by new graduate occupational therapists: A matrix review. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 88(3), 200-213.

Moores, A., & Fitzgerald, C. (2016). New graduate transition to practice: how can the literature inform support strategies?. Australian Health Review, 41(3), 308-312.