Questions to Ask at a Physical Therapy Interview

The questions

Open any question to see why it works.

1. 1

   Can you walk me through a therapist's day here from the first patient to the last note?

   Ask for a real day rather than the schedule on paper. The gap between the two is usually documentation, and hearing where notes actually get written tells you whether the job ends when the last patient leaves.

2. 2

   How many patients would I be seeing in a day?

   The number alone is not enough, so pair it with visit length and overlap. Twelve patients in one-on-one hour slots and twelve in overlapping thirty-minute slots are different jobs with the same headline figure.

3. 3

   How long is a standard visit, and how much of it am I hands on with the patient?

   This is where clinic models diverge most. Ask what happens in the remaining minutes, since the honest answer is often that the patient is on a machine or with an aide while you are with someone else.

4. 4

   Do you use techs or aides, and what are they allowed to do?

   Their scope determines both your throughput and your billing exposure. Ask specifically who is supervising when a tech runs an exercise program, because the answer defines what your license is attached to.

5. 5

   When does documentation get done?

   Ask whether there is scheduled time in the day for it. If the answer involves evenings or a laptop at home, that is unpaid hours attached to the salary you are about to be quoted, and it is the leading reason therapists leave clinics.

6. 6

   What does the caseload look like: diagnoses, ages, acuity?

   The mix determines what kind of clinician you become over the next three years. A clinic that describes itself as orthopedic but is largely post-operative knees will build a narrower skill set than the job title suggests.

7. 7

   What are the productivity expectations, and how exactly are they calculated?

   Ask what counts in the denominator: evaluations, documentation, cancellations, meetings. A percentage means nothing until you know whether an unfilled slot counts against you, and that detail decides whether the target is reachable.

8. 8

   Is productivity connected to pay, bonuses, or performance reviews?

   This tells you what pressure will be applied when a patient should be discharged but the schedule has a gap. Ask what happens to someone who consistently misses the target, and whether anyone has been let go for it.

9. 9

   How much say do I have over a plan of care and the visit frequency?

   Autonomy varies far more than job postings imply. Ask who decides when a patient is discharged and whether anyone reviews your frequency recommendations, since that is the point where clinical judgment and revenue meet.

10. 10

    Who do I ask when I get a patient I am not sure about?

    You want a name and a location, not a policy. A clinic where the senior therapist works a different site or a different shift is one where you will be looking things up alone between patients.

11. 11

    What does mentorship look like in the first year, concretely?

    Every employer says they support new graduates. Ask how many hours a week, whether it is scheduled or informal, whether the mentor's caseload is reduced for it, and who did it for the last new hire.

12. 12

    What continuing education do you fund, and does it come with time off to attend?

    A stipend with no protected days often goes unused. Ask about the annual amount, whether it rolls over, whether certifications are supported, and if there is a repayment clause if you leave within a year or two.

13. 13

    How many therapists have left in the past two years, and where did they go?

    This is the most informative question you can ask and the one candidates skip. Where people went matters as much as how many: therapists leaving for other clinics reads differently from therapists leaving the profession.

14. 14

    Why is this position open?

    Growth, a replacement, or a role that has turned over repeatedly are three different situations. If it is a replacement, asking what the last person found difficult usually gets a more candid answer than asking why they left.

15. 15

    How is the schedule built, and who fills a cancellation?

    Whoever controls the schedule controls your day. Ask how far ahead patients are booked, whether front desk staff can add to your day without asking, and what happens to your productivity number when someone no-shows.

16. 16

    What documentation system do you use, and how long did the last new hire take to get comfortable with it?

    The software is a bigger part of daily satisfaction than most candidates expect. Asking about ramp-up time rather than about the system itself gets you a more honest answer about how usable it is.

17. 17

    How is compensation structured: base, bonus, and how is the bonus actually calculated?

    Ask for the formula and for what a typical therapist earned against it last year. A bonus tied to a threshold nobody in the clinic reached is a salary quoted at a figure nobody is paid.

18. 18

    Is there support for student loans, licensure fees, or professional dues?

    These are real annual costs for a new therapist and they are often negotiable when base salary is not. Ask whether loan support is a signing arrangement, an ongoing contribution, or tied to a service commitment.

19. 19

    Is there a non-compete or a repayment agreement, and can I see the language before I decide?

    Ask for the actual document, not a summary. Radius, duration, and what triggers repayment of sign-on money or continuing education costs are the terms that decide how easily you can leave if the job is not what was described.

20. 20

    Six months in, what would make you say this hire went well?

    The answer tells you what is actually valued here. If it is entirely about volume and schedule filling, that is worth knowing before you accept, and if it is about patient outcomes ask how those are measured.