Speech therapy is slated to be one of the fastest growing professions in the USA. Also known as a Speech Language Pathologist, a speech therapist helps people with a variety of speech and cognitive disorders. Such people may not understand what other people are saying or have difficulties making other people understand what they are saying due to inborn or acquired difficulties with language, articulation, fluency, and resonance.
Therefore, the main job of a speech therapist is to improve the communication skills of patients through vocal exercises and cognitive therapies. If you're looking into careers in health, perhaps this job is right for you.
Do You Require Any Certifications?
Having an educational degree is not enough to land a job as a speech therapist. You must also be certified as one. After obtaining your degree, you should enroll yourself in a clinical fellowship training program, then pass the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP) held by ASHA. As different states may have different laws, you may also have to acquire additional certifications as required by the state of your domicile.
Do You Require Any License?
Depending upon your state of residence, you may be required to obtain a license before you can work as a speech therapist. Beside your educational qualifications, you need to have the ASHA-accredited CCC-SLP to obtain a license in most states. Some states also accept the equivalent Canadian certification provided by the Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA). There are different levels of licenses and you will have to pass the required examination for each level to be able to practice your trade.
Why Choose This Career?
As a speech therapist, you will have employment opportunities in private practices, hospitals, clinics, schools, rehabilitation centers, care facilities, federal government agencies, local government health departments, long-term care facilities and other healthcare agencies. Most speech therapists are employed by private practices. You may also start your own practice if you are up to it.
In the USA, the median annual income of a qualified speech therapist is between $53,000 and $65,000. However, the top speech therapists can make upwards of $80,000 annually, which makes it a lucrative career, indeed.
What Education Do You Require?
To become a qualified speech therapist, you will need to have at least graduate level education. The degree preferred by most employers is a master's degree in speech-language pathology with a specified number of supervised hours and one year of field experience.
For undergraduate majors, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) recommends a strong foundation in liberal arts with course works in behavioral science, linguistics, psychology, anatomy, general sciences and math. If you are interested in working as a researcher or college professor, you may require a Ph.D.
What Qualities Do You Need To Become Successful?
You may easily get a job as a speech therapist with your education and certifications, but that is no guarantee of success in the field. To become successful, you will need to have qualities like tolerance, patience, sensitivity, persistence, and commitment. You must also have a genuine interest in your chosen profession accompanied by a general love for people and interest in improving their well being.
As in any other medical profession, success will open the doors to recognition and a higher salary.
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Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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