Permanent vs. Travel Therapy Survey

TherapyJobs.com recently conducted a survey measuring career preferences between permanent and travel therapists. The results offer an intriguing look at permanent and traveling therapists throughout the U.S.

Therapy Career Resources

The survey results show that the 70% of those who participated in the survey are in mid - senior level positions of their career and 30% use the online job board as their number one resource when looking for new career options. Participants commented that online job boards offering helpful information, tips and related resources about therapy jobs were the ones most frequented.

Permanent vs. Travel Therapy Jobs – the differences

Permanent therapy positions were favored over travel therapy jobs which came as no surprise given the make up of the survey participants were largely permanent therapists. 58% feel that stability of the position was the over-all benefit to a permanent position. A consistent salary and potential for increased salaries and/or benefits were also high on the list. 30% hadn’t ever held or applied for a travel therapy job but expressed the importance of a flexible schedule.

On the opposite side, travel therapists enjoy the challenge of working in a new facility every few weeks. They usually enjoy higher pay rates and learning new skills with each assignment.

The ability to find the pay and the location desired is a challenge for both travel and permanent therapists. Travel therapists have the luxury of looking to their next assignment to find that critical mix of salary and location while permanent therapists look for another permanent position.

Both travel and permanent therapists felt working with a recruiting agency did not overcome the challenge of finding the right position at the right salary and location. Many participants did convey that they found working with agencies gave them many more choices then they would have if they conducted their job search on their own.

Very few permanent therapists welcome the idea of switching to the travel side while travel therapists seemed much more open at investigating permanent opportunities. Based on the makeup of our survey participants, this is not surprising. Anecdotal comments, however, show that many permanent therapists could be convinced to travel if the position salary and location were desirable enough.

Both sides have their pros and cons. In a permanent professional position, you can focus on settling in, becoming involved in your community and building relationships with our co-workers. For many therapists with a family, permanent positions are the only ones they will consider.

As mentioned above, traveling therapists usually enjoy a higher pay rate while discovering different parts of the country. They also have the ability to work with many different therapists and learn from each new co-worker.

Regardless of which type of position they preferred, therapists recognize they are in a good specialty. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, healthcare was the largest industry in the country since 2004, boasting 16.1 million jobs for wage and salary workers (with over 400,000 more for the self-employed). Currently, physical, occupational and speech therapists are in high demand.