December 1, 2011

Finding the Right Position


I have had a couple of massage students ask me how to find a job when they graduate from massage school. Oh heck, that’s a big one. How do you look when you are not sure what type of massage practice you want? If you have an idea of where you want to start, that is a big step forward.

Given the sluggish economy, though, going for your ideal setting may not be in the cards. You may be in an area where you need experience before you can decide what you want to do. How do you know you will like or fit into a setting before you have tried it?

My sage advice on this subject is to jump in. If jobs are tight, apply for lots of them. If no one is hiring, tell people you will cover on-calls or vacations. Get your license/credentials so you can start right away. Just get out there.

How you apply matters. I used to hire people a lot, and I saw some potentially spectacular therapists go down in flames for dumb reasons. It doesn’t matter how good you are, be on time and dress for an interview as if you are ready to start work. No jeans, no sleepy-head. No broken cars or missing babysitters. If you can’t show up and look nice for an interview, no one will ever discover your gifts.

Also, pay drops when jobs are tight. If you expect to be paid well even though you have no experience, it is not going to happen. Get in the door and ask during the interview for your performance goals. Keep notes and ask for help in achieving those goals. When you perform, managers will notice and will want to keep you around.

If you experience rejection, or blow an interview, remember everyone has an experience like that. Use it to your advantage and learn from it. Persistent people get jobs and become successful. People who give up at the first obstacle show up at bars at opening time.

There are lots of  “you”s in the above paragraphs, and that is what it takes. Effort, focus and follow-up, all done by you. Hey, if it was easy, everyone would do it.

P.S. Make sure your nails are trimmed and beveled. You don’t want to kill the client during an interview massage.

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