Physical Therapy Business Tips
April 24, 2025
Choosing the right physical therapy interview questions is a non-negotiable part of creating a great interview process for potential hires. That’s because not only can a poorly conducted interview make it harder to assess top-quality candidates, it can also turn off great physical therapists from working at your practice.
Don’t stress, because in this guide we’re going to cover the most important physical therapy interview questions to make your interviews detailed and engaging every time. With a solid interview plan you can hire better staff therapists, help more patients, and keep your practice’s bottom line healthy.
The best physical therapy interview questions to focus on are specific and thought-provoking. Asking questions about what motivates your candidate, what they’re good at, and how they respond to difficult situations is key. It’s also good practice to weave in personal questions to understand the personality of your potential hire.
Similar to treating patients, having a specific plan is important for your interviews. Let’s take a look at some of the best physical therapy interview questions below that are sure to help you assess your potential hires with confidence.
Although simple on the surface, asking your candidate why they got into the physical therapy profession can tell you a lot about their background, current interests in physical therapy, and future plans. Always listen to the meaning behind the words when a potential hire answers this question, as it can help you understand if they truly have a passion for helping people and making a difference in the community you serve.
Asking your candidate about their physical therapy specialties experience serves two purposes. First, these physical therapist interview questions help you better understand their dedication to learning and improving their skills. Second, it gives you insight into whether or not this candidate can fill gaps in your practice and offer new avenues of marketing. For example, a Sports Clinical Specialist (SCS) may help your clinic appeal to runners and athletes, bringing in new clients and revenue.
Getting slightly more technical, this question is a great way to get a preview of your candidate’s general thought process when it comes to patient care. Is the therapist more of an abstract thinker, or do they have a line-by-line breakdown of their entire process ready to go for each patient? When selecting the right hire for your clinic, it’s helpful to choose therapists who can align with the standards of your clinic while also adding their own personal touch that may resonate with new clients.
If you’re running a successful physical therapy practice, then you already know the importance of keeping your patients motivated to follow through with their treatment plan. Asking physical therapist interview questions about what strategies are used to motivate patients is a great way to assess if and how a candidate is going to contribute to a positive and accountable energy in your clinic. If your candidate doesn’t prioritize this key component of patient care, they may not be a great fit!
All physical therapists are trained to treat a variety of patients, but most have only worked with a small selection of patient populations. Being up front with your candidates about the most common patient populations and conditions you see in your clinic is a great way to learn more about their professional experience while also looking for any red flags. For example, if your clinic works primarily with runners and your interviewee has in-depth experience with gait analysis, the value they can bring to your practice jumps significantly.
Understanding the thought process your candidate has with their treatment plans is critical to ensuring a quality experience for their patients. Key points to listen for are patient education, home exercise programs, understanding trends in physical therapy, and SMART goals, as these are consistently correlated to better patient outcomes and satisfaction.
If your practice is involved in long-term care, identifying whether or not your candidate has experience in long-term care should be in your pool of essential physical therapy interview questions. This is because the long-term care setting is not for everyone, and getting concrete examples where the therapist has worked with challenging patients can help you assess if they will thrive long-term (pun intended).
Most private practices treat pain as a primary diagnosis, and the majority of pain is related to movement disorders. Although you may not need to present a mock patient case to your potential hires, asking them their favorite movement disorders to work with, including details about their treatment plans, can speak volumes to the value they can bring in for your practice.
Asking candidates about common situations is helpful to understand how they operate in predictable moments, but asking about uncommon situations can be even more telling. Unhappy or otherwise agitated patients is a real problem that your practice can face, and having staff therapists who operate well under pressure can give you the assurance you need to keep both patients and staff safe in uncomfortable scenarios.
Just like uncomfortable situations, asking interviewees about unfamiliar situations can help you determine how well they think on their feet. Ideally, your candidate should share an example where even if they didn’t have all the answers, they were able to instill confidence in the patient and set a plan for follow-up, ideally collaborating with other team members to improve their understanding of the condition before seeing the patient again.
Like it or not, many physical therapists do not set clear goals or track progress in an objective way for their patients. Giving your potential hire the opportunity to share specific ways they measure and track patient progress is an effective way to understand their treatment philosophy and how committed they are to supporting the goals of your clients.
As one of the most classic physical therapy interview questions of all time, it would be a missed opportunity to let this one slide. Asking your candidate about their strengths gives you a look into their level of confidence, while asking them about their weaknesses tells you if they’re good at self-reflection and owning their mistakes. When asking about weaknesses, listen for a clear plan of action that was used to make meaningful progress.
Not all physical therapists are well-versed in setting expectations with their patients, especially if they are averse to uncomfortable conversations. Unfortunately, this can lead to unrealistic patient expectations and stagnating patient progress. Asking your interviewee how they would set expectations for a patient presenting with a challenging condition can help you decide whether or not they will be able to be open and honest with your clientele.
Similar to asking a candidate why they pursued the field of physical therapy, honing in on what keeps them in the field is definitely worth your time. This is a great opportunity to look for alignment in personal values and interests in physical therapy while also gleaning what would be needed to motivate them and help them feel successful in your practice.
Often overlooked by many practice owners, asking your interviewee career-related physical therapy interview questions gives you a look into what makes them tick and how they want to be challenged in the future. This is also a great way to impress on your candidate that your practice will be a good place for them to grow professionally and continue to enjoy their work.
Growing your physical therapy practice is a process that involves hiring the right staff, keeping current with professional organizations like the APTA Private Practice, ensuring a good location and quality equipment for your clinic, and optimizing your business with intuitive physical therapy software that saves time and money.
Learning how to start a physical therapy business is complicated enough, but growing it is the true challenging part. Once you’re satisfied with the location and design of your clinic, and you’ve got a consistent schedule of patients, you’ll be ready to bring on additional therapists to your practice. Asking the right questions during interviews is one of the most important factors for success, but investing time into creating compelling pay structures and professional development opportunities is another way to ensure that top-tier physical therapists are excited to join your practice.
Another key component of growing a thriving physical therapy practice is keeping up to date with professional organizations, such as the APTA Private Practice. A group like the APTA Private Practice allows you to network with and learn from other professionals who can help you avoid common mistakes and optimize niche areas of your business model, which is invaluable if you don’t come from a business background (as many physical therapists do not).
On top of all this, choosing the right practice management software to run your clinic is paramount to providing excellent patient care and generating stellar revenue. ClinicSense is an intuitive and innovative physical therapy practice management software that offers an all-in-one solution for charting, scheduling, patient communication, and invoice management.
If you’re not already using ClinicSense as part of your physical therapy practice growth strategy, you can download free physical therapy documentation templates or a PT soap note example now to help you get started.
When you’re finished putting together your physical therapy interview questions, you can get your SOAP note physical therapy free trial here. Happy interviewing!
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