When you are looking for that first job, it is important to give a lot of thought to what you want and need in that first professional paid experience. You may be looking at an employee situation or a self-employment (contract) situation, but either way there are factors you want to consider.
As a less experienced therapist, the availability of supervision from a more experienced therapist can make a world of difference as you start out your professional career. Will your first work situation offer an option for formal or informal supervision by an experienced music therapist? A supervisor can be helpful in refining therapeutic techniques, dealing with ethical questions that come up, increasing your knowledge of therapeutic resources for a particular client base and many other useful things.
Will your new work situation offer any benefits? Given the potential cost of health insurance, a job that offers health insurance that is at least partially subsidized can make a big difference in your monthly budget. Are there any sick days/personal days offered as benefits? While we all try to stay healthy, it is not unusual in the first year of work for a therapist to pick up more respiratory or other minor ailments than may happen later in one’s career. Having to go to work when you are sick because there are no options to recover at home is not fun.
Will there be any contributions to a retirement fund? As a young person, it is hard to look ahead and conceive of a time when you will not be working, but if you live long enough….that will happen. It is important to start saving for retirement as soon as you start working, and if your new job helps you in that way…that is an excellent benefit.
If you will not be an employee with benefits, do you have a reliable source of information for managing your self-employed income? You will need to buy health insurance, provide yourself with a buffer for sick days and emergencies, and begin to save for retirement. If you know how to file taxes as a self-employed therapist, you can do quite well, financially. Do you have an advisor for this?
A favorite uncle of Kathleen’s offered some valuable advice early in her career. He had been a social worker for many years in the southern California area. Uncle Jim’s advice included the point that having a variety of clientele is one key to preventing burnout. If all your clients are very low functioning and very challenging to work with, then burnout can occur much more quickly. Does your potential job (within the particular population you have chosen) offer work with clients of varying levels and needs?
Keep in mind that unlike some types of jobs, music therapy DOES require a significant amount of outside work in terms of completing required paperwork and planning/preparing for client sessions. A job that has you working many hours a week as well as on the weekends will not leave you time for paperwork and planning—and it will contribute to early exhaustion and burnout. Take a very realistic look at the work schedule that is outlined and ask yourself if it is truly manageable. A less experienced professional will likely need more time at first to complete routine paperwork and planning.
While you will not be compensated along the lines of an attorney or doctor, you should receive appropriate professional pay for your work. Be aware of the general rates in the area where you may be living—jobs that pay a great deal under a typical rate are not viable work situations. Pay cannot be based on marital status or family situation. Thus, a comment such as “most of our therapists are married, so this is really a second income for them and that’s why we pay a lower amount…” is not appropriate. The idea behind women’s rights is that women should be compensated in the same way a man would for the same job. The idea that a spouse will “subsidize” the partner’s low paying music therapy job should not ever be a consideration.
Try to look for job or contract situation that you believe you can remain with for at least two years. That will give you time to build experience and allow your clients to have consistency in therapeutic services. Bouncing from job to job or contract to contract is not good for professional reputation and clients and their families suffer when therapists are constantly coming and going in their lives. Your first job will not be perfect, but you want a situation you can live with, at least for a couple of years.
You may have an opportunity in a working situation where there is a combination of services being offered to clients—ranging from music therapy, to creative arts groups, to adapted music lessons to regular music lessons. Don’t rule out situations like this—it can offer variety in your work and give you a wider range of experiences.