On the Hunt!

An overdue blog post incoming:

I recently completed my Master of Occupational Therapy Program at NSU, passed my NBCOT, and garnered employment at a facility I can grow with.

While the trek hasnt been easy and has required much persistence and stamina, I can say that seeing the culmination of your own work is highly rewarding and definitely has more pros than cons.

I would like to impart some advice to students and professionals currently undergoing these processes.

1. When studying for your NBCOT, dont limit yourself to one resource and DONT struggle to study 5 to 6 hours a day if you are not the type of person who has the attention span to do so.
   1. I spent about 5 to 6 days a week studying between 2 to 6 hours a day (it varied based on how i felt). Sometimes I would set aside the books and watch Youtube videos (GREAT resource) or open up my texts (especially Pedretti and Crohn) and peruse chapters. Overall, I studied for about 2 months and 6 days.
   2. I also used the test prep from AOTA and found that many of the answers can be referred back to word for work in our texts and are absolutely relevant to the boards.
   3. The actual test felt more like an endurance run than a test of knowledge, for me, anyways. A good technique i used in the testing center was to sometimes look away from my screen at the wall of the cubicle, take some slow deep breaths and remind myself that “I worked for this!”
   4. If you studied the concepts, even broadly and feel like you have a strong foundation, youre probably fine. Another awesome resource for practice questions I used was a book by Johnson, it was a much older edition written for the old NBCOT but the questions were useful nonetheless and the book was a bargain.
   5. WRITE out study notes, DO NOT type; a little EBP tidbit, science proves writing helps you retain more information than reading alone and/or typing out the information. While I was studying I made TONS of notecards for key concepts I thought i might need. Mostly taken from the TherapyEd book.
2. When job searching, esp. if you live in an area heavily saturated with Occupational Therapists, PUT YOUR NAME OUT THERE! Dont be afraid to contact a few staffing agencies (not too many or your applications could be voided), apply for positions some distance from home, and reach out to your professional contacts and peers to request using them as a reference.
3. When creating a resume, list your Fieldwork experience as work experience, include skills, certifications, publications, and professional affiliations 🙂
   1. PRINT your resume on card stock- It makes all the difference!
   2. Create and tailor a cover letter SPECIFIC to the job description you are viewing. Some places pick applicants based on how well these elements matched their job description using a computer program to weed out applicants.
4. When interviewing
   1. Be confident in your abilities, show enthusiasm and initiative to learn and grow; Stand for what you believe is right and if an environment doesn’t feel “great”  when you go on a tour, it probably isnt the place for you.