There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a staff physical therapist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $35.85 an hour? That's $74,567 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 22% and produce 54,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many staff physical therapists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed dexterity, physical stamina and compassion.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a staff physical therapist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 16.4% of staff physical therapists included physical therapy, while 15.9% of resumes included treatment plans, and 11.3% of resumes included patient care. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the staff physical therapist job title. But what industry to start with? Most staff physical therapists actually find jobs in the health care and professional industries.
If you're interested in becoming a staff physical therapist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 33.3% of staff physical therapists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 27.5% of staff physical therapists have master's degrees. Even though most staff physical therapists have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a staff physical therapist. When we researched the most common majors for a staff physical therapist, we found that they most commonly earn doctoral degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on staff physical therapist resumes include master's degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a staff physical therapist. In fact, many staff physical therapist jobs require experience in a role such as physical therapist. Meanwhile, many staff physical therapists also have previous career experience in roles such as student physical therapist or per diem physical therapist.
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a staff physical therapist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as supervisor, progress to a title such as case manager and then eventually end up with the title director of case management.
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Staff Physical Therapist. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Staff Physical Therapist Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Staff Physical Therapist resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationDurham, NC
Atlanta, GA
Chapel Hill, NC
Evanston, IL
New York, NY
Medford, MA
Gainesville, FL
Saint Louis, MO
Los Angeles, CA
Long Beach, CA
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 16.4% of staff physical therapists listed physical therapy on their resume, but soft skills such as dexterity and physical stamina are important as well.
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a staff physical therapist. The best states for people in this position are California, Alaska, Nevada, and Connecticut. Staff physical therapists make the most in California with an average salary of $98,936. Whereas in Alaska and Nevada, they would average $92,972 and $84,979, respectively. While staff physical therapists would only make an average of $84,346 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$92,972
Avg. Salary
2. California
$98,936
Avg. Salary
3. Nevada
$84,979
Avg. Salary