Jobs for Prelicensed Therapists—Warning Signs to Watch Out For

You may see plenty of potential employers posting jobs for prelicensed therapists. 

But, as a prelicensed therapist seeking a position, you don’t want just any job.

You’re looking for a prelicensed therapist job that’s a good fit for you.

You want a role that allows you to work with the clients you’re best-suited to serve under excellent supervision aligned with your values. And you also need a position that pays enough.

Balancing all of those requirements and interests can be challenging. 

You may find postings for jobs for prelicensed therapists with some of these attributes, however they could be missing the detail that is most essential to you. 
You also might find job listings that, at first glance, seems too good to be true. 

How can you discern worthwhile prelicensed therapist job opportunities from the ones to avoid?

4 Red Flags in Prelicensed Therapist Job Postings

Here are four red flags to look out for in the application and interview process when seeking jobs for prelicensed therapists.

1. The Employer Does Not Disclose the Salary

Several years ago I launched the #PostThePay movement in mental health care. 

It’s simple: When employers post job openings on social media that don’t include salary information, I will request that they add it. And others have joined me in commenting and requesting these employers add and share compensation information.

Disclosing the salary saves time for both employers and applicants.

When compensation is mentioned from the onset, neither side wastes their time on an interview process for an applicant who wouldn’t take the job if it is offered to them simply because the salary is too low.

Now, salary posting requirements are becoming more common in state laws.

Colorado and New York require most employers to include salary information in their online job postings, and California’s law (which applies to employers with 15 or more employees) took effect on January 1, 2023. 

These rules have been shown to reduce gender- and race-based pay disparities.

Even in situations where an employer is not required by law to post the salary in the job listing, I would think twice about an employer who was unwilling to answer the question when asked. 

Of course, pay can be negotiated. And the employer might have a range in mind. 

That said, if the pay is dependent on specific factors like experience, the employer should still be prepared to share what those factors are, and the salary range they expect to pay for various qualifications. 

An employer that will not tell you the compensation rate until they offer you the job is setting up a power dynamic that may prove problematic in other ways as well.

2. The Employer Doesn’t Know the Appropriate Title for the Role

In California, the state where my practice is located, a few years back we changed the title of post-degree jobs for prelicensed therapists from “intern” to “associate.”

To this day, I see postings of jobs for prelicensed therapists looking for “interns” when they really mean “associates.” 

In California and other states, some job listings ask for incorrect license or registration titles, or they aren’t clear about whether prelicensed therapists are eligible.

Sure, this can sound like a small thing. 

After all, many of those postings of prelicensed therapist job announcements are written by non-clinicians. 

However, it raises the questions: What other things does this employer not know? 

Are you, as a potential future employee, comfortable with the possibility that you’ll need to educate the employer about basic elements of therapist regulation, including the correct titles to use?

If you don’t mind being in that role, then it may not be a barrier. 

But if you don’t want to be in the position of having to teach your boss, consider a different prelicensed therapist job where the employer is more aware of the rules around titles and roles.

3. The Employer Is Not Familiar With Current Labor Laws

State labor and employment protections can vary pretty wildly by jurisdiction. But there are some identifiable trends. 

U.S. states have recently been moving toward protecting workers through a variety of policies including the above-mentioned salary disclosures, paid sick leave, and extended family leave. 

You should be cautious of smaller employers who do payroll on their own. While they may be fully compliant with the law, it can be safer to work with an employer who utilizes a payroll company. The payroll company will take steps to ensure pay and deductions are calculated and distributed correctly.

4. The Employer Views Clinical Supervision as a Burden

You can learn a lot about a potential employer by considering how they feel about providing clinical supervision. 

Those employers who see supervision as an opportunity to influence the profession and help bring new clinicians into the field are typically going to be good, collaborative employers. 

On the other hand, those employers who treat clinical supervision as a burden will put in the minimum time and effort legally required.

Through doing this, they are making clear that they hope to extract as much work from you as they can in exchange for as little guidance and oversight as they can get away with.

Of course, when you’re at the application and interview stage, employers are going to say all the right things. 

You may want to ask current and former employees about their experiences to get a clearer picture. 

You can also ask about the employer’s policies and practices for supervision contacts that occur outside of the usual weekly schedule. 

What happens when you need supervision but you’re not scheduled to meet with your supervisor for several more days?

Thankfully, in my experience the overwhelming majority of employers in mental health care are well-intentioned and eager to make the same kind of difference in their communities that you’re hoping to make. 

Most mistakes they make are genuine mistakes, and not the product of bad intentions or efforts to exploit workers. 

Even so, some employers of prelicensed clinicians are better suited to the task than others. 

You want to find and join an employer who knows what they’re doing, understands your value, and is eager to collaborate with you in service to the community. 
There are numerous employers out there who fit that description. And it may not be worth your time and energy to try to fix one who doesn’t. 

How SimplePractice Streamlines Running Your Practice

SimplePractice is HIPAA-compliant practice management software with everything you need to run your practice built into the platform—from booking and scheduling to insurance and client billing.

If you’ve been considering switching to an EHR system, SimplePractice empowers you to run a fully paperless practice—so you get more time for the things that matter most to you.

Try SimplePractice free for 30 days. No credit card required.

 

READ NEXT: 5 Keys to Working With Teletherapy Clients Across State Lines