Guide To Part Time/Contract Remote Careers for Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, or Speech Therapy Moms/Dads/Parents

As a soon to be physical therapist mom, I thought it’d be fun to make a list of some of my top ideas for:

• Part time remote jobs for soon to be parents in PT, OT or SLP professions
• Part time remote jobs for new parents in PT, OT or SLP professions
• Part time remote jobs for current parents in PT, OT or SLP professions

All of these career routes were chosen because they require 1) very little extra education or no extra education, 2) they are simple transitions that still utilize our therapy degrees in some way, and 3) pay similar to our clinical salaries, and 4) they are remote or partially remote.

List of top part time remote jobs for PT/OT and SLP moms, dads, or parents:

Ergonomics:

Why do I love ergonomics for occupational therapists or assistants and physical therapists or assistants looking for a remote side hustle?

• You have one of the strongest backgrounds in anatomy and physiology
• You know how to quickly help reduce or prevent physical injury and pain
• You are skilled educators on preventing injury and pain
• You have a license and degree to back up your knowledge
• You were essentially made for this position. You know how to help people prevent injury and pain, reduce their pain, and provide patient education.
• If you think about it, you likely are already performing ergonomics….have you ever asked someone about their work history, work positioning and equipment and work duties? And have you ever recommended equipment or exercises due to work related injuries or pain? If yes, then you are already doing ergonomics!

Top pros of ergonomic positions:

• It pays similar to your clinical salary
• It has very little physical labor
• It often does not involve insurance (woohoo, no more headaches! Well, much less at least!)
• Your care is about prevention. Which we all know we wish we could do as PTs!
• No or little extra education required
• Top cons of ergonomic positions:
• Part time and contracting REMOTE ergonomic jobs are not as common as IN PERSON ergonomic positions
• It can be confusing to not write like a therapist/assistant, you have to use a certain language in ergonomics

What does a day in the life of a ergonomist look like?
So first, your day may depend on where you work. There are essentially 2 different settings – industrial and office. Office based positions often are with companies like Intel or more computer based companies. Industrial based positions are with companies that make paper, cars, print, tools – more assembly line type of companies.

But your day may entail:

• Providing individual or group education on hydration, preventing low back pain, preventing upper back pain, preventing neck pain, or preventing carpal tunnel
• Providing assessments of individual work stations
• Providing assessments of assembly lines or how workers lift materials into cars or other labor intensive duties
• Providing health coaching and basic exercises to address individuals pain or prevention of pain
• Paperwork to document the above activities

What do Occupational Therapists and Assistants need to transition into ergonomics?
The awesome thing is that unlike some new career tracks, you need nothing or at most a certification!

While you may not need a certification, here are several certifications out there:

• Board Certification in Professional Ergonomics (BCPE) : This is the toughest certification and is a national board certification. In the U.S you do not need this, but in some places like Canada, this is required. This certification takes years to complete and costs several thousands of dollars.
• CEAS I, II, III: Certified Ergonomic Assessment Specialist: This is a much more typical certification. It costs $645 and is an online certification that you can get in one day. This certification is for 1 year access only, no support, no updates, no business nor career section.
• Injury Prevention Specialist – Office Ergonomics and Injury Prevention Specialist-Industrial Ergonomics are our certifications.
  They cost $400 each and allow for lifetime access to all recordings and materials
  Lifetime updates
  Contains an in-depth career section with resume and cover letter templates, interview questions and answers, and job search list filled with key search terms and most common companies to hire to get your foot in the door.
  We also offer email and private Facebook group support

What is a salary of a ergonomist?
The median full time salary of an ergonomist is roughly $78,303 according to
https://www.salary.com/research/salary/posting/ergonomist-salary.  After speaking with several therapists who contract with companies like Briotix, expect to earn fairly similar to your clinical hourly salary and to earn several thousand dollars if you score a big contract where you are performing an ergonomics assessment and report for a company of several employees.

Adjunct Instructor:

Why do I love the idea of an adjunct instructor as a part time remote role for parents?
This is a role where it could work into a full time teaching position in the future. As a daughter of a teacher, often once you make your class syllabus and outline, you can reuse it each year, so after the first year of teaching, it becomes rather easy to at least prepare for your courses. And lastly it could feel rewarding to help therapists and assistants through their education.

Typical day in a life of a adjunct instructor?
Usually if you are a part time physical, occupational or speech therapy teacher, you’ll have maybe just 1 or 2 classes that you teach. You’ll be in charge of potentially creating the class, or in the class already exists, then just taking over the class. You’ll teach, have office hours, answer emails, and provide and grade tests.

What is a salary of an adjunct therapy school instructor?
Finding an appropriate part time or contract salary for an adjunct instructor role really varies. You have different sized departments, different sized schools, different funding, different cost of living by location all to influence your pay.

But my father works as an adjunct psychology instructor and he gets paid $5,000 per class, so you can use that salary to create a rough comparison potentially.

Top pros of adjunct instructors:

• Rewarding to help students
• You can teach students what you wish you learned
• One you get your 1st year under your belt, it becomes pretty routine

Top cons of being an adjunct instructor:

• The first year could involve lots of prep work
• You may need to have your education degree
• It can be stressful working with students
• There are more in person than remote adjunct roles, so this is not super prevalent

Who is an adjunct instructor role best for?
I think people who are detailed oriented, love communication, love teaching, and love their profession would make great adjunct instructors.

Utilization Review/Care Coordinator:

Why do I love utilization review and care coordinator roles as a remote choice for rehabilitation parents who want to work from home?
Utilization review type roles are one of my favorite remote roles because they provide extreme stability, similar pay to clinical salaries, and you do not need additional education. You’ll still be using your clinical knowledge, which is a plus!

What are utilization reviewers or care coordinators?
Utilization management is the broad term that refers to various roles that involve reviewing for medical necessity, appropriateness and overutilization or healthcare resources. Basically, these roles review to make sure healthcare professionals are treating patients appropriately and billing appropriately.

I want to make it clear that none of our students have ever felt that this role has pressured them into denying care. In fact, as a therapist or assistant, you don’t perform the denials – you just perform recommendations and it is up to the physician on the review team to make final judgement.

Within “utilization management” are many roles and each company unfortunately, titles their roles differently – which can be very confusing! But just know that when you see home health care coordinator, skilled inpatient care coordinator, appeals and denials coordinator, and therapist reviewer services or utilization reviewer, all these roles are roughly the same. The differences arise as some companies separate the titles by setting – ie. Home health care coordinators deal more with home health setting reviews.

What is the salary of a utilization reviewer or care coordinator?
$85,230 is the median utilization review/care coordinator salary according to salary.com (https://www.salary.com/research/salary/alternate/utilization-review-specialist-salary). After having over 600 students in our utilization review course, I think this number is fairly accurate – however to first get into this role, expect to earn about $75,000 is you have 0-5 years of clinical experience, 5-10 years of experience expect $80,000 and if you have 10 plus years of experience then expect a pay of about $85,000. From this, you’ll often get between 7-9% bonuses and have upward mobility.

Top pros of utilization review/care coordinator roles:

• Fully remote (other than SICC roles which are hybrid)
• Guaranteed 40 hours of work/full time
• No sales involved
• No extra work past your work time/no take home work
• Better for people who are less social as you do not have to do any sales work

Who is this the best fit for?
Utilization review and care coordinator positions are great for therapists and assistants who need a stable 9-5 role that has a guaranteed 40 hours. It also is one of the best paying non clinical positions for therapists and assistants. So this is a great route for someone who doesn’t want to do sales, wants to end their day on time with no take home work, and has similar to salary as their current clinical role.

Top cons of utilization review/care coordinator roles:

• Unfortunately, this role is more often a full time role. However, we have had students get contracting or part time roles – they are just less common.
• This role can get repetitive
• This role has a lot of reading and writing involved
• You need to enjoy reviewing charts/documentation
• You need to be well organized

Recruiting:

Why do I love recruiting as a remote job choice for parents who want work at home?

It’s very flexible in terms of duties – so if you have a new born, or a child that has increased needs, where you would have to randomly get up and help change diaper or feed your child, then this role is a great fit!

What is recruiting:
Recruiting is role where you are tasked to help find and secure a worker for “x” position. There are 3 different types of recruiting – there is recruiting for travel positions, for contract, and for full time roles. Within these roles, you also have lots of different professions or sectors – you could recruit for nurses, for the rehabilitation profession, for scientists, for really any profession out there!

Top pros of recruiting:

• Recruiting has flexible hours. You’ll work a full day, but you could take an hour mid day to walk your dog or buy groceries, but you’ll also maybe have to take 7pm call with a potential job candidate.
• There isn’t a salary ceiling. Many jobs have a limit of how much you’ll make. But with recruiting, you earn a combination of salary plus commission – which means the harder you work, the more you’ll get paid.
• While this role isn’t remote for every job posted, there are remote opportunities.
• You get to help people find a job. After witnessing both my husband and my dad loose their jobs, it means a lot when I can help people find work and I know as a recruiter, you’ll feel very rewarded when you help someone get hired.
• There is no extra education needed and no certifications needed
• No physical labor involved

Tops cons of recruiting:

• This is more often a full time role – so if you are looking for part time work, you may need to negotiate or have a harder time finding these roles (although they do exist)
• You could have later hours or times in the evening you’ll be working
• You’ll need to be close to your phone for rapid response to clients emails or calls
• This is not a standard 9-5 salary. You’ll be paid a small salary but mostly commission, so you’ll really have to earn your wages.
• You need to be outgoing and be persistent – this is a pro but could be a con for some.
• People will ghost you and you have to learn to be okay with that.

What is the salary of a recruiter?
As a recruiter salary is a combination of a small salary plus commission, the estimated salary can really vary. In addition, usually the longer you work and the more clients you have, you will be on a tiered system where you’ll earn even more.

But according to https://builtin.com/salaries/hr-recruiting/recruiter, average salary is $76,150. I searched several sites and you’ll see a wide range but after working with many recruiters for several years, I think around $75,000 is a vary fair median salary. I do know several people who earn $100,000 so it is very possible to earn much more than this standard salary.

Who is this the best fit for?
This is a great role for someone who is outgoing, organized, and doesn’t give up! You’ll have to make lots of calls and emails, and speak several times to people before they choose you as their recruiter, and many times you may get ghosted after taking lots of time to work with a candidate.

Example day in the life of a recruiter:
While you’ll work a full day, your hours may not be purely 8-4:30 as you may need to take a late call with a potential job candidate or answer a urgent email. This makes this role potentially great for some people while for others it may not be the best fit.

But here are some duties you can expect.
You’ll usually have a list of people to call – this may be people you have never spoken to before, perhaps they signed up a conference for travel roles, or this may be clients you have spoken to in the past. You’ll also have a list of emails made up of new, current, or past clients – reaching out to see their interest in a certain role.

In addition, you’ll maybe do a post or several throughout Facebook groups on job opportunities you have and answer some social media questions.

You’ll maybe have a client that you are submitting their paperwork for a role, or guiding them through the next steps of their hiring processes. And of course, they may be a sprinkle of meetings with your team or supervisors.

Virtual Reality:

Why do I love virtual reality as a part time remote career idea for physical, occupational or speech therapy professionals? We get to continue to help people, use our degree, but without the lifting and also while being remote. This role can hire assistants as well!

What is a virtual reality therapy position?
Very similar to in person therapy, you’ll be performing evaluations and treatment sessions – but they’ll be virtual and you’ll use virtual reality as the main treatment modality.

Top pros of working in virtual reality:

• Virtual reality roles are rewarding. You are helping people, just like you would in healthcare.
• They are often remote roles although you will find some in person roles.
• You need no extra certifications or education (many companies have their own training they provide)
• You get paid similarly to your clinical salary
• Easy transition as much of your treatment sessions will be just like in the therapy session
• No physical labor involved

Top cons of working in virtual reality:

• It may be challenging to care for patients but are limited to just virtual reality
• You’ll have to be very comfortable with technology and solving technology issues
• This may be a part time job or could be contracting, so it may be hard to find consistent hours of work
• There are not a ton of virtual companies in existence. As a result, there are not a ton of job, even part time or contracting, openings.

Average pay of virtual reality therapists:
According to Zip Recruiting, https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Virtual-Reality-Salary, the average salary could be $62,000. As virtual reality therapist positions are relatively new, I think this salary could really vary but likely expect similar to a clinicians salary.

If you are working as a contractor or part time role, I was unable to find clear averages, but if its similar to tele health contracting then you should receive similar to your clinical hourly wages.

Who is this the best fit for?
I think this role is great for someone who really loves patient care and wants to continue patient care, but perhaps can’t lift any more or wants to be more at home. This is also for someone who can be creative and is eager to learn new technology and skills.

Example day in the life of a virtual reality therapist:
Usually your day will be fairly similar to your therapy clinic days. You’ll have a list of patients and perform initial and ongoing therapy evaluations to determine if they are appropriate for virtual reality at home. From this, you’ll then create your plan of care and perform treatments and monitor your patient’s performance.

Technology and Sales Roles:

Some common titles that could be remote include:

• Clinical trainer or educator
• Sales roles
• Assistive technology consultant/educator
• CEU educator
• Customer success
• Digital marketing

There are so many roles out there that you can do! It’s just about knowing what to search, trying lots of different search terms, being persistent and going directly to the company website to see what you could perhaps apply for. Oh, and don’t limit yourself – apply to things you think you could be a good fit in!

As there can really be endless job titles to apply for, I suggest to first narrow down to a category/company type you want to work for. For example, try searching EMR companies first and see what they have on their career page. Or try companies that you have worked with in the past, like perhaps nugait, nustep, bioness, etc.

But here is a brief overview of some of the roles you could try to search for:

• Clinical educator or trainer – This would be a role where you learn the technology or the item, and either go into clinics, patients homes, or perform virtual demonstrations.
• Sales or assistive technology consultant: This could be a role where you would be selling a certain item, say a wheelchair or a walker. You perhaps would do follow up fittings and adjustments.
• CEU educator: More and more these technology or device companies are making their own education. You could help to make the education material and do presentations either to patients or to therapists/clinics.
• Customer success: This is someone who is maybe on a support line or helps when the device a person ordered or clinic ordered isn’t working. You may do webinars or in services to promote the products as well.

Common salary of therapy technology or sales roles:
As there is a broad range of roles you could apply for, the salary can really vary. But, according to Glassdoor, the average salary for a customer success $69,808 https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/TherapyNotes-Customer-Success-Salaries-E337029_D_KO13,29.htm. As this article is about part time roles, expect to make about half that salary potentially.

Top pros of working in technology or sales roles:

• These companies often have great perks
• Learn interesting new skills
• You can still make a great impact on people’s lives
• These roles are usually fully to hybrid remote
• These roles sometimes have more upward mobility options that other healthcare roles

Top cons of working in technology or sales:

• They roles may be more commonly offered as part time or contract work and thus not provide consistent hours or as many hours as you hoped
• You may have a lot of competition with those who have technology degrees
• As there are so many search terms, it may be a bit harder to find relevant roles
• There may be a larger learning curve
• More sales are involved, which not everyone enjoys, and more communication based
• May be a commission plus salary based role

Who is this the best fit for?
I think if you like solving problems and working with technology, then this is a great role! Usually these roles are good for self starters who are very creative, outgoing, leaders and innovative.

Example of day in the life of someone in one of these roles:
These roles can really vary by day in the life as there are just so many different roles you could apply for.
But if you are in sales role, you’ll likely be performing cold calls (calling strangers), cold emails (emailing strangers), reaching out to current clients to check in, checking in with clients who are currently in the purchase process, and thinking of ways to continue to grow your leads/connections and make more sales.
In a customer support role or educator role, you’ll be making sure those who bought a product have the education to know how to use their device/product. You may provide education via PDFs, via webinars that are in person or virtual to just on facility or to just on provider. Some companies have educators that would be in charge of creating CEU courses in regards to their product and would be in charge of getting these courses approved. You maybe would also be answering support calls and come in if a product was not being as effective or if a patient was having pain while using a product, for adjustments.

Telehealth

What is a telehealth therapy position?
Very similar to in person therapy, you’ll be performing evaluations and treatment sessions – but they’ll be virtual and you’ll have to get creative with how to treat and help your patients remotely.

Top pros of working in telehealth:

• Telehealth roles are rewarding. You are helping people, just like you would in healthcare but now remotely.
• They are often fully remote
• You’ll need no extra certifications or education (many companies have their own training they provide too)
• You get paid similarly to your clinical salary
• Easy transition as much of your treatment sessions will be just like in the therapy session
• No physical labor involved

Top cons of working in telehealth

• It may be challenging to care for patients but are limited to just remote care
• You’ll have to be very comfortable with technology and solving technology issues
• While there are part time roles out there, you may also find many contracting roles which do not guarantee your hours or your patient schedule
• Usually this role is only for PTs, OTs, or SLPS and not for assistants

Average pay of telehealth therapists:
According to Zip Recruiting https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Teletherapy-Occupational-Therapy-Salary, the average salary could be $74,000 a year. As telehealth positions are relatively new, I think this salary could really vary but likely expect similar to a clinicians salary. If you are working as a contractor or part time role, I was unable to find clear averages, but from the offer I had received to be a tele health contractor, it seemed pretty similar a clinicians hourly wages.

Who is this the best fit for?
I think this role is great for someone who really loves patient care and wants to continue patient care, but perhaps can’t lift any more or wants to be more at home. This is also for someone who can be creative and is eager to learn new technology and skills.
This is something you can easily add into as a side hustle or part time role.

Example day in the life of a telehealth therapist:
Usually your day will be fairly similar to your therapy clinic days. You’ll have a list of patients and perform initial and ongoing therapy evaluations to determine if they are appropriate for telehealth at home. From this, you’ll then create your plan of care and perform treatments and monitor your patient’s performance.

Health Coaching:

Why I love health coaching as a remote part time role for rehabilitation professionals?

I think health coaching is very rewarding, potentially less stressful than working in tele health or virtual reality, requires little to no extra education, and you can still make a great impact on people.

Top pros of being a health coach:

• Being a health coach can be very rewarding
• Being a health coach uses many of your health care skills, so it’s a very easy and relevant transition
• There is little to no extra education needed as it’s a relatively unregulated market

Top cons of being a health coach:

• There may not be a lot of part time roles, this may be a more common contract role, side hustle or full time role
• This can be a competitive role as you’ll have ATCs, nutritionists, nurses and many other non medical professionals vying for these roles
• With all of your medical knowledge, you may feel limited in what you can do and say as a health coach

Day in the life of a health coach:
You day as a health coach, whether it be contract, full time or part time, if you work for a company could include performing evaluations, performing treatments, emailing/messaging/or calling current patients for quick check ins, and writing up your documentation.

What is the average salary of a health coach?
According to salary.com, the average salary of a health coach is $61,650 and an hourly rate of $19.98 according to Indeed.com.

Virtual Assisting:

Why do I love the idea of virtual assisting as a part time remote roles for therapist or assistant parents?
Virtual assisting is very flexible. If you needed a role that could pay you and allow you to perform you duties almost any time during the day, as long as it was completed on time, then virtual assisting is a great role.

Who is a virtual assisting role best for?
This is best for someone who needs just a few hours of work each week (you can often work up to more hours). It’s also great for someone who needs extreme day flexibility. But you must enjoy problem solving, being proactive, taking orders, following deadlines, have attention to detail, and be good at technology as often virtual assistants will be in a technology based role.

Top pros of virtual assisting:

• This can have great upward potential as you scale your virtual assisting business
• Can be fund helping companies grow
• Very flexible in terms of hours and when you perform your duties

Top cons of virtual assisting:

• This is often a role you will not find within a company. This often would be a role where you would be your own VA company.
• You’ll have to learn taxes as your own company
• You’ll have to learn new technology not just to promote yourself but also to help your clients
• Some clients can be very picky or frustrating.

Day in the life of a virtual assistant:
Let’s take marketing out of the picture, and assume you just want to have 1 company that you are a virtual assistant for. You day would be getting instructions on a certain task, perhaps it’s making some graphics or updating a webpage. You would perform your tasks and then submit it back to your client for review. They may be happy with what you created or have further edits for you to perform.

Typical salary of a virtual assistant:
Despite what salary.com or Indeed.com may say, a virtual assistant salary can really vary. It can vary by how many clients you have, if you have workers underneath you, the type of tasks you chose to help with, and how many hours you work for each client.

As someone who uses virtual assistants, there is a big difference as well between United States virtual assistants which often charge $20 plus per hour, and often more like $50 per hour, and foreign virtual assistants which can run just a few dollars per hours.

You have full control over the price you charge, so it really varies on your skill level, your services, and other factors.

Teaching English as 2nd Language:

Why I love teaching English as a part time stay at home role for PTs, OTs, SLPs and assistants?
I think teaching English as a 2nd language is a great role for someone who needs just a few hours a week and wants to set their schedule. It’s great for someone who wants a less stressful way to continue to help people and make an impact on society.

Who is this role best for?
I think people who are detailed oriented, patient, love communication, love teaching, and love their students would make great English instructors.

Top pros of teaching English as a 2nd language:

• Rewarding to help people in different countries
• It’s different than healthcare, so it may be a nice change of pace
• Working with children can be fun and very rewarding
• It’s very flexible. Usually this role is more a contract work than set part time hours

Top cons of teaching English as a 2nd language:

• As mentioned in our pro section, this role is often not a set part time role but more of a contracting role. This can be great but also could be a negative if you were looking for set consistent work.
• You may not get a lot of clients at first
• You may have late sessions you need to perform due to time changes

Day in the life of teaching English as a 2nd language:
Once you get your client schedule filled with a few students, you’ll be busy doing prep work for your student, potentially reviewing homework, but primarily you’ll be teaching them online how to speak English. They are some reviews of your work as you initially become a teacher too so that these various companies can make sure you are doing a good job.

Typical salary of teaching English as a 2nd language:
As a English as a 2nd language instructor, you often get paid per class and each class is 25 minutes. The base pay for VIP Kids, for example, is $7-9 per class and so you could earn $14-18 per class and the more you teach the more you can earn as there is no cap on how many hours you can teach.

Summary:

I hope this has give you an in-depth guide into several part time or contract, fully remote or hybrid remote roles that you can pursue using your healthcare knowledge! All of these roles were chosen because you need little to no extra education and you can earn similar to your clinical salary!

• If you want a more in-depth guide into each of these career routes you can go to each of the respective blog posts here:

  • How to get a utilization review/care coordinator job as a PT, OT, SLP, COTA/OTA, PTA: https://www.alternativehealthcarecareers.com/blog/how-to-become-a-utilization-reviewer-rehabiliation-professionals
  • How to get a recruiting job as a PT, OT, SLP, COTA/OTA, PTA: https://www.alternativehealthcarecareers.com/blog/travel-therapy-recruiting
  • How to get a sales job as a PT, OT, SLP, COTA/OTA, PTA : https://www.alternativehealthcarecareers.com/blog/medical-sales-job-guide 
  • How to get a telehealth job as a PT, OT, SLP, COTA/OTA, PTA: https://www.alternativehealthcarecareers.com/blog/telehealth-job-guide 
  • How to get a virtual reality job as a PT, OT, SLP, COTA/OTA, PTA: https://www.alternativehealthcarecareers.com/blog/job-in-virtual-reality 
  • How to get a Technology (product, project manager, customer success, clinical trainer) job as a PT, OT, SLP, COTA/OTA, PTA :  https://www.alternativehealthcarecareers.com/blog/technology-job-guide 
  • How to get an Assistive Technology job as a PT, OT, SLP, OTA/COTA, PTA: https://www.alternativehealthcarecareers.com/blog/assistive-technology-job-guide 
  • How to get a health coaching job as a PT, OT, SLP, COTA/OTA, PTA: https://www.alternativehealthcarecareers.com/blog/health-coach-job-guide 
• How to get a job in ergonomics as a PT, OT, SLP, COTA/OTA, PTA: https://www.alternativehealthcarecareers.com/blog/OT-Ergonomist-Job-Guide, https://www.alternativehealthcarecareers.com/blog/PT-PTA-To-Ergonomist