Are you looking to make the next step in your career?

Have you just graduated and are looking for your first role…

…in a private clinic…

…in the NHS or…

…maybe you would love to work in professional sport.

Maybe you are still studying and you are worried about what the next months and even years are going to look like post covid-19…

…will there will be less placements hours available, impacting your future learning, hands-on experience and beyond that, will there less job opportunities when you do graduate?

Or maybe you feel like your progress has stalled and having qualified, what you are doing right now, is not what you hoped you would be doing.

I’m not probably telling you anything you don’t already know, but it is tough to stand out in the very competitive therapy world at the best of times…

…and harder now than ever before.

But you have a choice…

You either become a ‘victim’ or circumstances, blame covid-19 or something else, moan that there aren’t as many jobs available…

….may excuses like you dont have ‘connections’ or he or she got that job ‘because they already knew them’…

…and tell yourself that you will just wait until things are ‘better.’

Or…

You make yourself stand out, get ahead of your peers and do everything you can to give yourself the best opportunity to secure that next placement, internship, shadowing opportunity or job role.

If you are prepared to do a little work and learn what you need to do to stand out from the crowd and make that next step in your career then keep reading.

If you don’t want to progress, feel free to blame something or someone else…

…then set yourself a reminder to re-read this blog in a years time, when you are still ‘stuck’ and you haven’t made the career progress you had hoped for.

Your choice…

Why Is It Tough To Land A ‘Great’ New Grad Role?

Don’t get me wrong, Covid-19 aside there are still going to be jobs available.

But ‘great’ New Grad roles are going to be harder than ever to secure.

By a ‘great’ role I am referring to a job that pays you what you should be getting paid as a qualified therapy professional…

…that gives you the responsibility that a University graduate should get…

…and values your development and learning and has staff that will work with you to help you to continue to progress.

The growth of Sports Therapy and Sports Rehab over the last 10 years has flooded the market with more great therapists.

This is great for employers as we have more therapists to choose from, with different training and skill-sets.

But its not so good for you, especially when you are looking for your next career move.
The job market is a simple supply and demand problem.

More therapists = more supply.

This makes it harder to secure that next role, as more therapists are applying for the same roles.

More supply of therapists also has the potential to drive down wages with some therapists willing to take less money, less support and less potential to progress, just to get their foot in the door at that clinic, hospital or sports club.

Restrictions to budgets and resulting job opportunities is a necessary but unfortunate consequence that has and WILL continue to happen as a result of Covid-19.

I know therapists currently working in both private practice and sport that have already lost their jobs or been forced to take pay cuts of up to 30%…

…cuts that are likely to continue long after ‘lockdown’ has ended and they are back to working as they were pre-coronavirus.

With the exception of Premier League Football and some other high value sports teams, that are backed by multi-million and billion pound owners, who can and are prepared to swallow up these massive financial losses…

…jobs cuts, salary cuts and a lack of ‘great’ New Grad job opportunities are only going to become more prominent.

Take Action…

But you still have choice.

You choose to bury your head in the sand and accept it as too much of a challenge…

….or work hard to do everything you can to make yourself as ‘employable’ as possible and set yourself apart from other therapists in the same situation.

Remember…

NHS departments will still need students.

Clinics will still take placements and some will be looking to expand or take on new staff.

Sports clubs will still be looking for new therapists as existing staff move on.

So whilst there might be more uncertainty than ever before, there will still be opportunities available.
There may be less opportunities than a few months ago.

But they are still there.

You just need to know where to look and how to position your ‘offer’ so it is almost impossible for your potential employer at the clinic, sports club or hospital not to take you on that next available placement, say yes to your shadowing request or invite you to interview for their next role.

Just today as I have drafted out this blog post, I have been contacted by a local University and we have agreed in principle to open up some more placements for students, as soon as we can, at one of the professional sports teams I consult with.

As soon as feasible, myself and the staff at my private clinics will do the same and offer placements like we have done previously.

I’m meeting my business partner next week and top of our agenda is discussing the growth of our clinics and how we can continue to expand and take on more therapists.

Without question there will be opportunities for you.

People are still going to get injured and need your help, and look to access care via the NHS or in a private clinic.

Sport is starting to recommence and teams need medical staff.

But…

Whilst there will be opportunities to be had, these will be harder to come by…

…more so now than ever before.

So.. you need to do something different.

Nail Your ‘Pitch’

Think about those people that walk into the ‘Dragons Den’ and pitch their business idea.

If you haven’t seen it before, I’ll explain and show you how this relates to what you are probably doing wrong right now, when you send an email asking for a placement or even a job opportunity.

On the ‘Dragons Den’ individuals have a short amount of time to ‘sell’ their business idea to a number of successful business people, the Dragon’s, with a view of these of one or more of these Dragon’s agreeing to invest in their idea, for a share of their business.

What many people don’t realise is that just to get in front of the Dragon’s, these individuals have already had to ‘pass’ two other stages, just to be able to pitch their idea.

They have to apply and get invited to the studio, then they have to pitch their idea to the production team, before they even get the chance to enter the room and do it all again in front of the Dragon’s.

Your first contact with a potential employer, or the therapist that will decide whether or not to give you a placement or not is that pitch…

…and the person reading that email, or CV or letter of application for that job role is that Dragon.

You are pitching yourself and selling why they should give YOU that opportunity, ahead of all the other therapists that are vying for that very same role.

You probably think they are a Dragon too…

…most probably because they didn’t say YES to your request!

But maybe you just didn’t ‘pitch’ yourself in the right way.

Maybe you didn’t make a great first impression with that first email…

…and we all know how important first impressions can be.

Maybe that is the real reason you didn’t get a reply,

You need to be able to assert yourself in the right way to set yourself apart from your peers.

And this starts with that very first contact…

… your pitch…

Andy
The New Grad Physio Mentor

PS. Do you know that you should send on average, 5 emails, before you even think about asking for an opportunity for a job, placement or even a shadowing experience?

If you would like to know why you should do this and how to put yourself in the best position possible to make that next step in your career, secure your next placement or job, then email me at andy@newgradphysio.com and I’ll let you know.

Add the subject ‘Foot In The Door’ in the email so I see it straight away and I’ll get right back to you…