How To Write Massage Therapist Job Descriptions: For Clinics

Hiring a massage therapist to join your practice can be a little nerve-wracking. Whoever you hire will represent your business and be a regular person in your work life. That’s why it’s important to find the right fit. Writing a well-crafted massage therapist job description is the first step toward finding the right therapist. Continue reading to learn how.

Why Creating a Detailed Massage Therapist Job Description is Important

A well-crafted massage therapist job description is used in job listings, training documents, massage therapy business plans, and business management systems. Having a detailed job description can help with the following:

• Attracting qualified massage therapists
• Determining appropriate compensation
• Measuring performance
• Dealing with disciplinary action

Job descriptions aren’t just for job ads. They are part of your overall business management system. It makes it clear what each person’s role is and what’s expected of them. When you hire a massage therapist, you can use the job description to measure their performance. It can also be used as a reference for pay increases and disciplinary actions.

How to Write a Massage Therapist Job Description

First, determine what role the massage therapist will play in your business. What will their responsibilities be? What qualifications are required? What other traits are you looking for in a new hire? Use the answers to those questions to write a massage therapist job description.

When you decide it’s time to grow your practice, the first question is  “how do I hire a massage therapist?” Before you can hire someone, you have to clearly define the job you need filled.

Your massage therapist job description can be broken down into 3 parts:

1. Job summary
2. Massage Therapist Responsibilities
3. Job Skills and Qualifications

Job Summary is an overview of what the job entails, what makes for a good candidate, and why your clinic is a great place to work. 

Massage Therapist Responsibilities outline the duties of massage therapists working in your clinic. Make this a bulleted list of tasks including both client and clinic responsibilities. Be as detailed as possible.

Job Skills and Qualifications breaks down what qualities you’re looking for in a new hire and what qualifications are required. Things like education, licensing, massage therapy skills, and soft skills.

Use simple language and bullet points as much as possible. Your job summary should be easy to read and easy to understand.

Massage Therapy Job Description Example

A good massage therapist job description should include a job summary, also known as an executive summary, job responsibilities, required skills, and required qualifications.  You might also include their licensing requirements or past experience you wish for them to have.  Here is an example. 

Job Summary

Are you a massage therapist who thrives on relieving pain? Do you have experience working with chronic pain and sports injuries? Mission Medical Massage is seeking a massage therapist to join their team. The ideal candidate is passionate about helping people and has experience working in a medical setting. This is a part-time position with competitive pay and continuing education reimbursement.

Massage Therapist Responsibilities

• Perform client assessments
• Design massage therapy treatment plans
• Document assessments and treatment plans in SOAP notes
• Perform manual therapy and other treatment protocols within scope of practice of massage therapy
• Educate clients on the benefits of massage therapy
• Promote wellness packages
• Assist in keeping the clinic clean
• Make referrals to other medical practitioners when necessary
• Following all clinic policies and procedures

Job Skills and Qualifications

• Understanding of Deep Tissue and Sports massage
• Willingness to pursue continuing education
• Excellent communication skills
• Good judgment and clinical reasoning
• Experience working in a clinical setting
• Health promotion and education
• Works well with others
• Strong desire to help people

Required Qualifications

• Hold a valid massage therapist license in this state
• Ability to handle personal information confidentially
• Adhere to current laws and regulations relating to massage therapy
• Pass background check and reference check

How to Prepare for New Hires

Before you hire a massage therapist, create a system to integrate them into your business. The system should include training materials and a way to manage staff. Make a plan for how employees will operate inside your business, and how they’ll be trained.

ClinicSense can streamline daily operations. Using this software, you can make keeping track of schedules, clients, and payments easy. Massage therapists can view their schedules and client intake forms. They can review and create SOAP Notes too. All your admin happens in one place, so training is simple. You control everything and set staff permissions for what they have access to.

Once you have a plan, document that plan for training purposes. Create a written training manual to ensure new massage therapists learn everything they need to know.  Include your massage therapist job description on the first page. Then, break down each system used in your business to complete necessary tasks. Assign someone to walk them through it step by step, or do this yourself. Take your time with this.

Don’t forget to educate applicants and new hires about the values of your business. Your staff represent your business. Familiarize them with your massage therapy mission statement and the meaning behind it.

How to Use Job Descriptions to Measure Performance and Deal with Disciplinary Action

Once a new employee is fully trained, monitor their performance. Use their job description to set expectations and tally their progress. Create a plan for how you’ll handle it when someone falls short of expectations.

Being responsible for your staff can be intimidating when you’re hiring your first employees. Having a written job description makes it very clear what expectations are. Include the job description in training material to ensure staff have access to those details. That will guide them and you through their time in your company.

How you deal with staff who underperform is up to you. Have a system in place to help you make difficult decisions. That system should include:

•  How you monitor progress on an ongoing basis
• What initial steps are taken to get the employee back on track when they fall short
• What shortcomings are cause for termination. 

Include this system in your policies, so employees are aware of it.

Your massage therapist job description can also help you monitor positive performance. Keep your therapist motivated by having a system for promotion too. Set sales and retention benchmarks for massage therapists to strive for. Reward them for reaching those goals with more pay or better benefits. When your massage therapists do well, so do you!