OT Hub

The career go-to guide for Occupational Therapists working in Australia.

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS IN AUSTRALIA

Degree

Degrees: An undergraduate degree for an Occupational Therapist is generally 4 years of study at most Australian universities. 

Universities can offer Bachelor and/or Master level OT degrees. 

Studies can be a combination of face-to face-and/or online.

 

Placement: Placement take place in most if not all of the years of study. 

 

ATAR: The general ATAR scores published by universities to study an Undergraduate degree ranged from 60 to the mid-90s.

 

Work during study: Many OT students work as Allied Health Assistants or Disability Support Workers. They can also work in hospitality, tourism, retail, customer service, ride-hailing or food delivery services etc while doing their degree. 

 

“Occupational therapy combines science, art and a creative spirit…occupational therapy changes lives.” – Mandy Chamberlain, OT

Professional Body

An OT must be accredited with AHPRA – the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency – to practice as an OT in Australia. 

 

Occupational Therapy Australia – OTA – is Australia’s professional association for Occupational Therapy. It supports OTs with evidence-based practice, professional development and advocacy.

 

“Occupational therapy is where science, creativity and compassion collide.” – Jessica Kensky

Career Paths

There are many industries that hire Occupational Therapists. These include: Occupational Rehabilitation: Case Management of injured workers towards the goal of a successful return to work. This could be at a Rehabilitation Provider, Insurer or a final employer within their RTW co-ordination team. Some jobs include:

  • Rehab Consultant
  • IMA – Injury Management Advisor
  • RTWC
  • CTP Consultant
  • Life Insurance Specialist
  • Medico-legal Consultant
  • Catastrophic Claims Consultant
  • Self-Insurer Consultant

Clinical Services: This could involve working in:

  • a private or public hospital
  • private practice
  • NDIS
  • OHS
  • Aged care
  • Specialist Clinical areas like Mental Health OT, Paeds OT, Hand OT etc
  • Lecturing
  • OT-based research roles (generally subject matter experts).

NDIS: This involves working at an Accredited NDIS Provider where services are provided to clients under the NDIA. Some of these services include:

  • Functional Capacity Assessments
  • Assistive technology Assessments
  • Manual Handling Training
  • Therapy and Rehab
  • Dementia Care Planning
  • Falls Prevention
  • Home modifications
  • OT Driver Assessments.

These roles could involve working from:

  • an office
  • in a community setting
  • a mobile setting
  • a work from home setting.

A lot of our NDIS clients have AHAs to assist their OTs with service provision.

Work Arrangement

As an OT, you can work:

  • Full-time
  • Part-time
  • as a contractor.

Your role could be:

  • Community based
  • Mobile
  • Office-based
  • FIFO
  • Work from Home
  • A combination of some of the above.

Face-to-face and Telehealth options are widely available in most roles. This offers flexibility to OTs to schedule work around their life, as opposed to the other way around.

Locations

As an OT, you can work anywhere in Australia. You are in exceptionally high demand in metro, rural, regional or remote locations Australia-wide.

 

Check out some of our jobs available for OT’s right now.

 

You can work anywhere in the world as OT is a universal degree and your skills can allow you to travel while you work. 

Salary indicators

  • Graduates: $65,000 – $80,000 base + super
  • 1-2 years’ experience: $75,000 – $85,000 base + super
  • 3-5 years’: 80,000 – $100,000 base + super
  • 5+ years experience: $100,000 base + super and above. This is when Team Leader or Management level roles start to appear as well.

Keep in mind that the above are general indicators. There are always exceptions to the rule and unique circumstances e.g. location, industry, role depth, employer salary band-widths, work arrangement etc that also determine the wages offered to OTs.

 

“My boss told me to start every presentation with a joke. The first slide was my paycheck.” – Anonymous.

 

This will NEVER happen to you if you’re an OT. If you feel your salary is a joke, contact us, pronto!

Benefits

There are many benefits available to OTs. These may be part of the offer, or they may need to be negotiated. Contact us if you would like to find out if any of the below benefits can be applied to your OT role.

 

Financial Benefits: Regular Salary Reviews

  • Performance Bonus
  • Extra Superannuation Contributions
  • Salary sacrifice or Salary Packaging arrangements
  • Corporate Discounts

Tools of Trade:

  • Mobile
  • Laptop
  • Tablet 
  • Speech to Text Software

Admin & Reception Support: Free up time by dictating your reports and let the admin team do the rest.

 

Travel:

  • Pool Car Access
  • Novated Lease
  • Per km reimbursement
  • GoGet Car Access
  • Set amount per timeframe
  • Petrol Card 

 

Knowledge & Assessment Suitcase:

  • Subscriptions, both hard- and soft-copy
  • Professional development contribution
  • Comprehensive induction
  • On-going mentoring and in-services by subject matter experts.
  •  

“The best knowledge workers are working for more than money” – Marshall Goldsmith

Extra Leave:

For example:

  • Extra annual leave
  • Reservist leave
  • doona days
  • volunteer leave
  • pet leave
  • birthday leave

 

Parental Leave: One of our clients gives their staff the difference between their wage and the government mandated parental leave subsidy for the full 16 weeks. Read that again!

 

Social and team building: Paid for by the company. One of our clients paid for their whole team to do axe-throwing and a cooking class (not on the same day!).

 

Health, Wellness & EAP: Pool, yoga  or gym access or contribution | Confidential EAP to assist you when you need a hand.

 

Career Mapping: Our clients spend a lot of time and money training and supporting you. They would like to see you mutually thrive. Your success and growth = their success and growth.

 

There are so many more benefits that our clients offer, that can be customised to you. Check out some of our successful placement case studies to find out how Medijobs has added value to our job-seekers’ salary and benefits package negotiations.  

Advantages of being an OT

  1. Career constancy: As a qualified OT, you’ve got a career for life because it’s so easy to change industries. For example, you can work as an AHA or disability support worker while you study, work in a clinical practice on graduation, transition into a case management role in Occupational Rehab role as a physical rehab consultant. From there, you may choose to move into management-based roles, specialise in an OHS or traumatic injury role, work at a final employer as part of their RTW co-ordinator team or transition back into clinical work in the NDIS. You’ve got options!  
  2. YOLO: Travel across Australia and the world. Your role allows you to work anywhere and everywhere in the world.
  3. Show me the money: The salary and benefits that employer offer to attract OTs into their organisations are wide and varied. Graduates straight out of uni can get a starting salary of $70,000 – $80,000 base + super depending on the role, industry and location. Not to mention the many other perks such as a mobile phone, car, NFP benefits, performance bonuses, CPD and training $ etc.
  4. Flexibility: You can work full-time, part-time, as a contractor, in the community, WFH, from an office, via Telehealth or face to face. As your lifestyle and stage of life change, you can keep your skills current and customise your work around your needs.

“Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.” – Hillary Clinton

Challenges of being an OT

These are based on  conversations with thousands of OTs. 

 

  1. KPIs: Some OTs tell us that they find the idea of billable targets challenging as it associates their work with a dollar amount. 
  2. Case Management vs Clinical: Some roles, especially those in occupational rehab, involve applying your clinical skills in a case management setting. Some OTs have indicated that they find this challenging as they miss the clinical side of things. They say that the CPD helps.
  3. Walls 3 & 4 are quiet today: OT contractors sometimes find the lack of water-cooler conversations and a social atmosphere around them challenging and isolating.

 

“When I was 16 I worked in a pet store, and they fired me because . . . they had three snakes, and one day I braided them.” – Steven Alexander Wright

International OTs

International OTs need to secure their OT Board of Australia and AHPRA accreditation prior to being able to practise in Australia. We highly recommend starting your OT Accreditation process early in your migration journey to Australia to give you plenty of time to get your AHPRA accreditation. You’ll find all the information to register as an Internationally qualified OT here.

 

CLICK TO READ OUR SCOPE OF SERVICES FOR HOW WE CAN HELP YOU

 

Calling all Kiwis: “Occupational therapists who have current registration and a current practising certificate that allows them to practise as an occupational therapist in New Zealand can apply for registration as an occupational therapist in Australia under the Commonwealth Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997.” – Occupational Therapy Board. Read information for Kiwi OTs here.  

 

“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.” ~J.K. Rowling

International OTs

We provide project management services for internationally-trained Occupational Therapists seeking AHPRA Accreditation, Migration and Job-seeking Services.

All International OTs need to secure their AHPRA accreditation prior to being able to practice in Australia. Visit our Scope of Services page to find out more about how we can help you.

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The future

“The future is so bright, it’s blinding.” – Oprah

Medijobs Australia would love to have a chat with you if you’re considering studying OT as a degree, are studying OT right now or are about to graduate or are an OT at any stage of your career. We’re here to add value to your career journey – all you have to do is reach out.

Contact Medijobs Australia