As cash-based physical therapy practices continue to grow, the challenge of recruiting top-tier talent becomes more prominent. In this blog, we’ll dive into the strategies that are currently working in 2024 to attract the best physical therapists to your practice. Whether you’re looking to scale your team, remove yourself from day-to-day operations, or create a work environment that truly stands out, recruiting the right people is key to success.
The Recruitment Bottleneck: Why Physical Therapy Practices Struggle
The Impact of the Labor Shortage
Finding the right talent is one of the most significant bottlenecks faced by physical therapy practice owners today. While patient acquisition might seem like the top concern for many business owners, acquiring the right team is often the real challenge. In 2024, the landscape of physical therapy recruitment has changed dramatically, and many practice owners are struggling to hire qualified DPTs who fit their team culture and align with their vision.
The issue has become even more pressing due to the high rate of burnout in the profession. Recent reports show that 20% of physical therapists have left the industry due to burnout, and the outpatient world may be facing even more significant challenges, with an estimated 30-40% of PTs leaving for other sectors.
The Shift in Recruitment Strategies
Old Strategies Are No Longer Enough
In the past, posting job openings on platforms like Indeed or LinkedIn could be enough to attract a steady stream of applicants. However, in 2024, these platforms are no longer delivering the same results. The pool of qualified physical therapists is smaller, and job seekers are increasingly rare, making it harder for practices to find the right fit for their team.
So, what’s the solution? Practice owners need to adapt and find new ways to engage potential hires. One of the most exciting shifts we’re seeing this year is the move away from traditional job postings and towards more proactive, community-based recruitment.
Recruiting on Social Media: Instagram as a Tool for Talent Acquisition
Turning Social Media Into a Recruitment Machine
While social media has been a tool for marketing and patient engagement for years, it’s now being used strategically for recruitment. The goal is to showcase your practice culture, work environment, and the benefits of working with your team. Instagram has become a powerful tool for this—posting about the work environment, your team, and even sharing success stories helps attract the attention of potential hires.
To take it a step further, using LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows you to search for specific qualifications like OCS or CSCS in your area. By narrowing down your search, you can find physical therapists who align with your practice’s philosophy and reach out to them directly.
For instance, focusing on specific credentials like a CSCS can help identify PTs with a strong interest in sports performance or strength-based rehabilitation. Reaching out to them on Instagram, engaging with their posts, and sending personalized messages can increase your chances of starting a conversation about potential job openings.
How to Appeal to Top Talent: Compensation and Work-Life Balance
What’s More Important: Pay or Environment?
In the physical therapy world, many PTs are leaving traditional insurance-based practices in search of better work environments, and cash-based practices are uniquely positioned to offer that. Offering the chance to work with a limited number of clients, providing personalized care, and having a significant impact on patients’ lives are aspects that many physical therapists crave.
While compensation is important, it’s not the only factor that PTs consider when evaluating job offers. As Ben mentioned, many physical therapists are willing to take a pay cut to work in a more fulfilling environment. By emphasizing work-life balance, autonomy in treatment, and the opportunity to work with patients who truly value their care, you can appeal to those seeking a more sustainable and rewarding career path.
Utilizing Referrals: Reaching Out to Schools and Faculty
Building Relationships with Physical Therapy Schools
An often overlooked strategy for recruiting top-tier talent is building relationships with local physical therapy schools. As practice owners, it’s essential to connect with faculty and staff at schools that produce top graduates. One successful tactic we’ve seen is reaching out to adjunct professors and faculty members directly. By sending a personalized message explaining your practice’s mission and inviting them to connect with potential graduates, you can increase your chances of attracting qualified candidates.
Additionally, leveraging current staff members to help build connections can be extremely effective. If one of your team members has a strong relationship with a professor, ask them to introduce you. This personal connection builds trust and makes it easier to engage with top students.
New Recruitment Experiments: What’s Working Right Now
Testing New Strategies for Recruitment Success
At the forefront of 2024 recruitment strategies, we’ve begun experimenting with a more personalized, direct approach to recruitment. This includes reaching out to potential hires through LinkedIn and Instagram, as well as leveraging connections with physical therapy schools.
The key takeaway from these experiments is that top talent isn’t actively looking for jobs. Most of the best candidates are already employed and not considering a career move. This is why proactive recruitment is so important—reaching out directly and engaging with potential hires before they even think about switching jobs is crucial.
This approach has already yielded promising results, with several high-quality applicants reaching out as a direct result of these efforts.
Conclusion: Recruiting for the Future of Your Practice
Recruiting the right talent is no longer about posting a job listing and hoping for the best. It’s about proactively engaging with the best candidates and building a culture that appeals to the people you want to hire. By adapting to the current trends in physical therapy recruitment—leveraging social media, engaging with PT schools, and focusing on creating a desirable work environment—you can attract top-tier talent to your cash-based practice.
As 2024 continues to unfold, we encourage practice owners to experiment with new recruitment strategies and stay flexible in order to continue growing their teams and scaling their businesses.
Watch and Listen to the Full Video
For a deeper dive into a cash physical therapists’ journeys, make sure to listen to the full video. Click here to listen to the video: Recruitment Mastery: How to Build Your Dream Team in Cash Physical Therapy Practices
About Author:
Although the company eventually failed, it provided Jordan with invaluable learning experiences. He became passionate about designing world-class patient experiences and building efficient marketing & sales funnels for cash physical therapists. Utilizing this expertise, Jordan became the CMO of a well-known physical therapy media company, and consulted for and built marketing funnels for some of the top physical therapy business coaches.
Eventually growing tired of the typical agency and consulting grind, Jordan, alongside Max Zirbel, founded Clinical Marketer. They infused it with the hands-on support and mentorship that they benefited from in their initial venture. The company was a success from the start, aiding clinics in scaling to 6 and 7 figures in revenue. During its first launch, Jordan and his team met Dr. Ben Bagge, whom they later partnered with after helping him grow his business from $200K/year to over $1M/year in three years.
