As a traveling therapist you apply, interview, and accept jobs from afar. Phone interviews are often brief, and your only opportunity to learn more about the job opportunity. Asking the right travel therapy phone interview questions might be the difference between accepting a job you love or turning down an offer for a job you know you won’t vibe with.
I’ve been a traveling speech therapist for over 10 years and have the interview process down to a science. Both in getting positions, and weeding out jobs that I know aren’t a fit for me. I weed out the no-good jobs by asking the right questions upfront.
This is a bank of suggested questions for phone interviews that I have compiled over years of doing phone interviews with various facilities and interviewers. This is a rather comprehensive list, so before your interview determine what is important for you to know about a facility and your situation.
General Travel Therapy Phone Interview Questions
- What is the start date?
- What is the schedule? (Monday-Friday, Tuesday-Saturday, etc)
- Where is the facility located?
- What is the parking situation?
- How many hours per week is the position?
- Will I be expected to work any weekends?
- What will happen if the census drops? Will my hours be cut, asked to float, etc?
- Why is there a need for a traveler? (LOA, staffing shortage, etc)
- What is the productivity expectation?
- How many patients would be on a typical daily caseload?
- What is the type of documentation system?
- How much time will I have for orientation?
- Will I have to use an iPad, iPod, laptop, etc? Will I get my own device?
- Can assistants write weekly notes?
- How many therapists are on the team and what is the breakdown of PT, OT, ST, etc.
- If time off is needed (assuming that you submitted the time off request with your application) Did you see I had requested ____ days off, would that be approved?
- Will I have non-English speaking patients? If yes, which language? What interpreter service do you have available for use?
- What therapy materials will you have available for use? (Discipline-specific items i.e. ST may ask about testing materials, etc)
- Is PRN help available if the census gets high?
Inpatient Facility Directed Questions:
- What is the average therapy caseload at the facility across all disciplines?
- How many beds are in the facility?
- For SNF: What is the Med A vs Med B vs Managed vs Medicaid breakdown
- What is the typical patient length of stay in your facility?
- Will I have to float between buildings?
- What will be expected of me in my non-patient care time? (i.e. Team/care conference meetings, scheduling, etc)
- Will there be a rehab tech to assist with treatments, patient transport, etc?
Home Health Directed Questions:
- Average miles per day/week
- What is the documentation system?
- How many patients per day?
- Will I get a cell phone and computer?
- What is the driving radius?
- Will I have to do OASIS?
Don’t Ask About Money
Your travel therapy phone interview is not a place to ask about money. That is a discussion between you and your agency, not between you and your potential job. The person talking to you on the phone during the interview likely has no idea how much your agency is going to pay you.