• In general - you cannot “spray and pray” the same resume you used for your clinical job. You have to make a separate resume for each job application
  • This writer (Emma Brady) would recommend spending your time networking and skipping this all together as much as possible, but if you keep reading you will see there are lots of opinions on this topic!
  • That being said, at some point you will probably need a resume, at least as a formality. I recommend the Non-Clinical PT for very reasonably priced way to get a professional resume with just a little elbow grease needed vs. paying someone a ton of money to do the whole thing for you. YMMV.
• This is an area where your mileage is going to vary and everyone is going to give you different advice that probably conflicts with the advice someone else gave you 🙃

Here are some comments from a recent TCT thread

• “If looking to transition into something nontraditional - it's imperative to highlight transferable skills and quantify achievements. This is especially important in leadership, administrative, and director roles. If you're applying to a large organization, like Navihealth, for example, your resume has to make it through an applicant tracking software before it is reviewed by a human. If the resume doesn't meet certain criteria it will never reach an actual person.”
• “#1 Get three GREAT letters of rec to speak to your abilities as they relate to the job. "so good they will make the person reading them want to cry" as I remember

#2 Get a brown envelope and put your resume with letters of rec inside. This makes it seem official and like a really important piece of mail.

#3 Hand deliver it to the place you want to work. (this was prior to covid)”

• “#1: Network

#2: Resumes have made little to no difference in my hires. Assuming someone has a skill set or credential that meets a specific role, I do nothing more than skim the resume. They all look about the same.

People that earn an interview have done their homework on the practice and can easily and enthusiastically speak to how their ambitions and skills align with ours.

Pro tip: Hand write and mail a letter indicating the specifics of your interest in the company and how you would like to be a part of it. If someone can speak to the information on our website, staff bios, and/or reference a specific blog / social media post, they’ll have my attention. Follow that up with a call and request for at least an informal conversation with whoever is in charge of hiring. The last PT I hired clearly did her homework on my practice before connecting. I made a position for her that didn’t exist because she was so prepared. Her resume was an afterthought.

Resumes via email, Indeed, faxes get attention after hand written and personalized letters with resumes attached.

Stand out by your behavior, not resume formatting.”

• “Your resources are much better spent networking than on a professional resume. Maybe if you had something significant (huge work gap etc). You will still need a decent resume but there are so many free resources online. That being said, sometimes it really is just easier to start with the experts. Meredith Castin has good resources on her website that are good bang for buck.”
  • I second x’s recommendation. Network your ass off. These transitions take time and effort through relationship building > resume building.
• “ I completely disagree with x on the value of a professional resume, but that’s ok. We all have opinions. I find PTs really need to showcase their skills in a way we are not accustom to doing to achieve a non traditional role. As a traditional PT, when I wanted to get into more administrative work, I had a professional resume designed to showcase my KPIs and downplay my job title and clinical work. I got many more interviews with the change in resume. I think it is something that is grossly overlooked by todays career seekers.”
• “From my experience, here are some key points:

1. Highlighting your transferable skills is key.
2. Adding data to your resume really helps market for the non clinical roles as well, showing that you have an understanding of key performance indicators. Which is true but we just don’t realize it as clinicians that we actually do it every single day.
3. Also adding any process improvements you have been a part of is always helpful eg: fall prevention programs.”