Occupational Therapist (OT, OTR/L), Children's Hospitals
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Hiring an occupational therapist for your children's hospital means distinguishing pediatric interest from experience adapting daily activities around medical restrictions, developmental needs, and family routines.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
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What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
An OT may move between bedside dressing practice, upper extremity rehabilitation, caregiver instruction, and discharge planning during one shift. Your search should identify which patients and services the therapist will cover. We screen credentials, work history, and fit against that assignment, rather than treating all pediatric experience as interchangeable.
Start with the service mix. If the assignment includes hand rehabilitation, examine upper extremity experience separately from general pediatric practice.
Family participation also changes the work. A therapist may need to adapt an activity when a child is fatigued or a caregiver cannot attend. Ask how candidates explain goals, document progress, and coordinate with nursing and other therapists. Listen for specific decisions, not a list of diagnoses they have encountered.
We arrange locum tenens, travel and contract coverage on request. Credentialing, licensing and malpractice coverage are confirmed per engagement before anyone starts.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Credentials: We screen NBCOT OTR certification and the state occupational therapy license, including current status and disclosed restrictions. Ask candidates to explain any credential gaps. Your hospital completes its own credentialing and clinical assessment before assigning patient care. Daily activities: Ask, "How would you adapt dressing practice for a child with limited arm movement and reduced endurance?"
- A useful answer connects the activity to precautions, developmental level, assistance needs, and a measurable functional goal.
- Upper extremity rehabilitation: Ask which assessments, interventions, and orthoses candidates have used, and under whose supervision. Strong answers separate independent experience from observation and explain how they monitored functional change without overstating hand therapy credentials.
- Pediatric, hand, or neurologic focus: Ask candidates to describe a representative caseload and their responsibilities. Look for ages, care settings, treatment goals, and referral boundaries. A broad pediatric background does not automatically establish hand or neurologic rehabilitation experience.
- Caregiver teaching: Ask, "What would you do if a caregiver could not repeat a technique you demonstrated?" Listen for plain language, demonstration, teach-back, and adjustment of the task. The answer should describe documenting what the caregiver could perform.
- Shift coordination: Ask how candidates would handle a scheduled session conflicting with a procedure or a change in medical status. Useful answers identify whom they would contact, what they would clarify, and how they would document deferred care.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
We consider therapists from hospitals, pediatric clinics, outpatient practices, schools, and skilled nursing facilities. Hospital candidates may bring experience with bedside precautions and discharge discussions. School therapists may offer developmental assessment and classroom participation skills, but you should examine their preparation for medical restrictions and hospital documentation.
Outpatient and pediatric clinic therapists may seek closer collaboration with hospital specialists. A skilled nursing therapist may be moving toward pediatrics after relevant training or supervised experience. ACOTE-accredited programs are another source for candidates entering practice. For those candidates, examine pediatric fieldwork, supervision needs, and readiness for your service assignment.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is treating pediatric experience as one category. Ask whether the work involved school participation, outpatient visits, inpatient rehabilitation, or bedside care before comparing candidates. Another is advertising hand therapy coverage without defining the work. State whether the assignment includes orthoses, postoperative rehabilitation, or general upper extremity function.
Leaving supervision vague for a newly licensed OT. Identify who reviews difficult cases and how coverage works when that clinician is unavailable.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us the patient ages, services, schedule, weekend expectations, and expected pediatric, hand, or neurologic focus. We compare credentials, caseload history, and answers about daily activities, upper extremity work, and caregiver instruction. Compare shortlisted candidates using a hospital case discussion about a child's self-care limitations, caregiver availability, and discharge barriers.
Define the hospital assignment
Identify responsibilities shared with other therapists and tasks that need separate experience.
Review focused candidate evidence
You interview candidates against the actual assignment and complete your clinical assessment.
Assess the shortlist for hospital coverage
Ask each therapist to explain their assessment choices, documentation, and consultation boundaries. Decide whether their demonstrated experience supports the assigned services and what supervision they would need. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
The role and the setting
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Should we combine inpatient and outpatient coverage in one position?
You can, if the schedule and duties are clear. Ask candidates about moving between bedside care and scheduled clinic visits, including documentation and handoffs. Inpatient rehabilitation, acute care, and hospital outpatient clinics ask different things of an OT. If coverage includes children recovering from neurologic injury, ask about functional cognition, transfers, and adapting self-care tasks.
Can a school-based OT move into our children's hospital?
Yes, but examine medical-setting experience separately. Ask about fieldwork, precautions, documentation, and the supervision needed to bridge gaps.
How should we assess hand rehabilitation experience?
Ask for examples involving upper extremity function, orthoses, and relevant precautions. Distinguish completed training and independent practice from exposure during rotations.
What should we ask about pediatric discharge teaching?
Ask how the therapist checks caregiver understanding and adapts activities to home routines. Look for practical examples and clear documentation of assistance needs.
Could a newly licensed OT cover our pediatric service?
Consider fieldwork and the support available on each shift. Do not assume pediatric coursework alone prepares someone for independent coverage across every hospital service.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
Share your pediatric caseload, coverage pattern, and expected upper extremity duties. We can help you build a search around the work your OT will actually perform.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What if a candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask why the person wants to move and discuss competing decisions before an offer. A counteroffer can still change their choice. Keep the duties and offer clear rather than assuming more money settles every concern. Tell us early if parts of your offer cannot change, so the candidate hears it from us first.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.