There are three types of clinicians. These clinicians are categorized based on experience: New grad, the advanced therapist, and the veteran therapist. Today we’re focusing on the new grad. The new grad is defined as a physical therapist who is 1-3 years out of school. They come out of school still high on the learning and high on the mentoring curve and are really focused on wanting to become the best therapist they can be. They’re seeking professional growth through continuing education outside the office and professional enhancement inside the office, therefore, a continuing education program is simply not enough these days. The top private practices across the country already know this and have solved this by creating internal mentorship programs for their new grad hires. This week we’re talking about how to best hire, train and retain the new grad therapists. But, this is only part one of a three-part series of podcasts in which we’ll be discussing all three of these different types of therapists and how best to hire, train and retain them.
Episode at a glance:
- Every new grad that you hire should have a mentor.
- New grads want to know that they are a better therapist this year than they were last year. Set up professional enhancement days, encourage them to use their continuing education budget for live training opportunities as opposed to online courses.
- The ad should open with a question. Create mystery that they want to know more about.
- People have the highest job satisfaction based on who they work with.
- Follow the five-step hiring process.
- You need a post-orientation checklist that gets done in the first week of employment so that they understand and can duplicate what they’ve learned.
Brian Gallagher, PT is the founder and CEO of MEG Business Management, LLC. He has more than 27 years of experience in the field of rehabilitation and 19 years in business and specializes in Physical Therapy practice management and executive coaching nationwide. As a licensed business management consultant, Brian has helped hundreds of business owners nationwide improve their business operations through proper restructuring to achieve improved systems of efficiency and productivity as well as marketing and sales with effective public relations which have proven results for double-digit growth year-over-year with businesses around the country.