Choosing an Employer

Three Ways to Choose an Employer

Finding employment as a massage therapist could be as simple as answering an ad in the classified section of your local newspaper. But if you want your job to be a significant step in your overall career development as a massage therapist, you’ll want to first spend time thinking about your long-term goals.

When you land your first job, whether it’s your ideal job or one that you had to take because it was the only one available, you can use that experience to build toward your career fulfillment.

Identify target employers

Before you search for a job, understand your range of options. It is possible, depending on the size of your community, that fitness centers, hospitals, chiropractors, spas, resorts or independent massage therapy businesses have openings for a massage therapist.

Compare potential employers

Based on your long-term goals, consider how each potential employer could support your career development. Find out the basic description of each employer, such as:

• Name of owner/manager and hiring manager

• Number of years in business

• The reputation of the business in the community

• Clients in terms of age, gender, occupation, educational level and income

• Number of massage therapists employed

• Employee turnover, especially of massage therapists

Assess the match between you and employer

It's important to clarify the expectations of your employer from the first interview to determine if the place of employment matches your career goals. A few of the questions you may want to ask are:

• How is the massage therapist compensated? Per hour? By massage?

• What additional responsibilities are the massage therapist asked to perform?

• What types of massage are most commonly performed?

• How long are the massages? What is the time in between massages?

• Is there flexibility in scheduling?

• What benefits are offered? What are the expectations regarding continuing education?

• What type of management style does the company have?

Once you have prepared for your job search, go in confidence that you will find what you need and that you will be extending yourself in a way that makes a difference to others.

Browse openings on the AMTA Job Bank