Travel Therapy Jobs: Your Ultimate Guide To Success

Thinking about becoming a traveling therapist but not sure what that even means? Unsure where to find travel therapy jobs? You’ve come to the right place. This website is full of travel therapy resources created by an expert in the travel therapy industry to help you find success. 

So let’s get started.

What are travel therapy jobs?

In terms of this website, we refer to travel therapy jobs as when a PT, OT, or SLP takes a short-term contract anywhere from 13 weeks to 9 months. Travel therapy jobs are used to fill immediate staffing needs in a facility. 

Travel therapists might be needed because

• Seasonal staffing shortages
• Medical leaves
• Chronic difficulty staffing a building due to geography or poor management
• Therapists on FMLA

Who can work travel therapy jobs?

Generally, any physical, speech, or occupational therapist can work a travel therapy job, even for new grads.

Speech-language pathologists have slightly more restrictions during their clinical fellowship year because they need a supervisor, but they can still work travel therapy jobs, typically a 9-month school assignment. 

Where can you find travel therapy jobs?

There are 2 main ways you can find a travel therapy job. 

1. Connect with a recruiter and have that recruiter bring you jobs. This usually happens via phone calls, emails, or texts.
2. Follow travel therapy agencies and marketplaces that list travel therapy jobs and connect with a recruiter and agency that way.

Can I work a travel therapy assignment without a recruiter?

Yes, you actually can. Technology is developing so that you can apply for jobs online and not have to deal with a recruiter at all. The main company developing this technology at this time is Trusted. While Trusted started primarily as a nursing company, they are now expanding to travel therapy jobs. 

While you won’t have a traditional recruiter if you work for Trusted, you do have support from their customer support team to help you get everything you need to have a successful travel therapy assignment. 

Can I work travel therapy assignments without any middleman?

The short answer is yes. The long answer is, it’s difficult. 

A common theme I hear when talking about travel therapy jobs is that therapists don’t think it’s fair that staffing agencies need to be involved in the hiring process. Instead, they want to directly contract with the facility in need of staffing and create their own contract. 

I get it. It stinks to hear that your agency may keep anywhere from 22-35% of your pay to cover their expenses, taxes, etc. 

However, for 90% of jobs, staffing agencies are necessary. This is because the facilities don’t want to work with individual contractors. 90% of facilities are managed by something called a VMS (vendor management software) and those VMSs have specific requirements when it comes to onboarding a company to work with. Many VMSs require that your company already employs a minimum number of therapists and makes a certain amount of revenue in order for you to bid to take on their contracts. 

Therefore, most jobs are not available to a clinician who wants to contract independently. If you do find a facility that is in the 10% that doesn’t work with a vendor, you could absolutely negotiate a deal to work with them directly as a contractor. On this website, we don’t provide education about independent contracting for travel assignments. I recommend consulting with [TravelTax] to learn more about the requirements for setting up an agency to independently contract yourself. 

Where can I learn more about travel therapy in general?

Working as a traveling therapist can be complex. There’s a lot to learn and juggle. Here at The Traveling Traveler, we have a comprehensive library of information to help you be a successful traveling therapist. 

Free travel therapy resources

Whatever resources you need for your travel therapy journey, we have you covered. You got this!