Jenna:  Okay Phil, so a lot of physical therapists are about to start their very first job as a physical therapist.  And I want you to tell them one thing you wish you had known starting your very first job.

Phil:  The one thing I wish I would have known is that you you aren't going to feel confident, and that's okay.  And you will be able to help a lot of people. But even though you may not feel like you have the ability or skills or anything, you know so much to be able to help people, and you will get better. So use both that lack of confidence to drive yourself to be better, but don't disparage yourself, don't get down on yourself, and don't think that other people can do it better than you. Because actually what we find is that new graduates can impact people's lives more than seasoned clinicians because they care so much, they're so much more detailed, they don't go on previous biases nearly as much. How about you?

Jenna:  I would say that it's going...

Should you consider both your personal and professional values when making a career change?
Is it even possible to have a career that is in alignment with your personal and professional values? When you’re thinking about making a career change, do you consider both your personal and professional values? In this video, Jenna and Phil share their opinions on this issue.

How do you become a continuing education instructor? This is the second video in a 2-part series where we explore the steps necessary to becoming a continuing education instructor.

How do you become a continuing education instructor? (part 1)

We have advisors during PT school and some of us have mentors early on in the clinic. Should we continue with the mentorship process throughout our career?

Many of us come up in the field wanting to make an impact. We see leaders from the time we are students and want to someday become one. But how does that happen? Is there something we can do?

PTs leave a lot of money on the table.  It is a mix between not being taught what to do and not knowing exactly how to go about the negotiation process.  We weigh in on how to go about a negotiation so that you can get what you're worth and still build the relationship.

Wondering how your salary compares? Use our free salary calculator

Dear PT Students,

Have you ever seen an amazing public speaker and just thought about how incredibly talented they were?

As I started the process of becoming better at public speaking, I was always in awe of the people that just had such a natural ability for it.  They moved intentionally, spoke smoothly and had a presence that could not be ignored.

The admiration mixed with intimidation I had for public speakers was the same admiration and intimidation I felt as a student and as a new grad when I was with awesome clinicians.

But the farther I got into public speaking, the more it became apparent that it wasn’t all talent.  In fact so much of what each engaging speaker did was something that could be learned.  How to move on stage, how to manipulate tone, and timing were all things that could be taught and practiced.  It wasn’t talent, it was training.

The same is true for the clinicians you admire.  They studied, they practiced, and they got...

In this video, we discuss the difficult question of how do you know if it is time to leave your physical therapy job. While the answers to this question are certainly complex, thinking about it as we discuss in the video might help to bring some clarity.