DATE: September 27, 2019

TO: Dr. Haslam

FROM: Logan Christensen
SUBJECT: Career interview project

I interviewed an orthopedic physical therapist, Andrew Frost, for my interview project. I was
able to meet with him on a Sunday afternoon because it was convenient for him. During the
interview I was able to learn about the day to day life of the job, the training and education that
goes into it, and the perks and downsides of the career. It was great to be able to talk with a
person that had taken steps to get extra training and education within the field of physical
therapy. Because of this, I received insights that I wouldn’t have gotten with research alone. I
was able to gain a better understanding of what it would be like to be a physical therapist.

Training and Education

Mr. Frost explained to me that the education and training route he took wasn’t the most straight
forward and traditional route to become a physical therapist. Most physical therapists will go to
school for a Master’s degree. They will receive training for their career and then continue on to
help people. Mr. Frost, on the other hand, took more time to finish his schooling and took extra
training opportunities.

After having the interview with Mr. Frost, it became clear that more opportunities become
available to the physical therapists that finish out their schooling with a Doctorate’s degree. This
helps to receive the best spot in a career. He was able to be hired right after he was done with
school because he had taken extra time in schooling.

Along with schooling, one of the best ways to prepare for the job of being a physical therapist is
to take internship jobs. This will allow a person to try the different types of physical therapy to
find the one that best suits the person. For example, there are inpatient and outpatient physical
therapists. What Mr. Frost took advantage of was taking internships for each of these options.
This would allow for more experience and open up more job opportunities.

Work Life

The work life of a physical therapist consistents of the normal forty hour work week. The
difference in the schedule though is that for Mr. Frost, the schedule staggers on different days.
Because the company he works for wants to provide patients with options for scheduling, a
physical therapist won’t have the same hours each day. They can work from the morning to the
afternoon one day, and then work from the afternoon to the evening the next day.
During the day, a physical therapist will see a different variety of patients. They will have times
scheduled to meet with a patient for about an hour at a time. Because the need for physical
therapy comes from a variety of reasons, a physical therapist will help people from athletes to the
elderly. The work day goes by going through exercises and stretches that can help heal and
increase mobility for a certain area of the body. After the appointment is over, the patient can be
sent home with exercises that will help with improvement for the next visit.

Pros and Cons

When interviewing Mr. Frost, he said that his favorite part of the job was being able to work with
people. He had the opportunity to be a factor in helping a person heal up, and that is a great
experience. A physical therapist will have the opportunity to meet with a person several times
and see the improvement as they go. The biggest pro to the job of a physical therapist is the
chance to help someone in a way that they couldn’t do otherwise.

Once again, according to Mr. Frost, one of the biggest downsides of the job was the paperwork
involved. A physical therapist has to keep up on paperwork for each one of their patients, and
that would require extra work and time. Along with the paperwork, another con to the job would
be the staggered work schedule. In my opinion, having to work late into the evening would be a
downside to the job.

Interview Analysis

From this interview, I was able to gain an inside view of a career in physical therapy. Because I
suffered a concussion and had to get physical therapy done for it, I already had a perspective of
physical therapy. I gained a little bit of interest in the career, so I appreciated the inside view.
After having done the interview and some research, I decided that physical therapy wasn’t a
career choice that I could see myself going into. I learned that the pay was lower than I had
expected and a lot of schooling is required for the job. While I wouldn’t mind the schooling, I
would want a better return in salary for my years of schooling. Although the career isn’t for me, I
would enjoy having the opportunity to help people out. The job of a physical therapist is great
but just isn’t for me.

After reflecting on my performance as an interviewer, I felt like I did a good job. I felt like I
communicated my questions across clearly and maintained eye contact throughout the interview.
I found it easy to communicate my questions because I was able to articulate my questions in a
way that was easily comprehensive. What I would need to improve upon is the amount of
questions that I asked. I learned a lot from the interview, but I feel like I missed out on more
information because I wasn’t as prepared as I could have been. Along with this, I could have
made the interview feel more natural. I was too focused on maintaining eye contact and worrying
about what the next question I was going to ask was. This made the interview feel more awkward
than it should’ve been, and if I were to do it again, I would focus more on listening.