Sparked from a twitter discussion last night ...
As a soon-to-be-qualified OT, I've recently started taking more of an interest in the jobs on offer. More and more Band 5 OT jobs are now asking for post-graduate experience in certain areas. Given that this post-graduate experience is difficult to find when no-one will offer you a job in the first place it is not surprising to see an increasing amount of qualified OTs in non-OT roles. Last night I learnt that this is also affecting other professions, such as social work. This issue was reflected in a recent uni task, where we had to find a job not advertised as an OT, but one where we felt we could use our OT skills. Whilst there were many jobs put there, such as "rehabilitation officers" and "vocational advisors" that specified a desirable degree in OT, there is a lot of opinion surrounding this topic and it lead to a bit of a discussion.
The main themes that came out of a quick chat on twitter last night were:
It distracts from our unique skills base. We (and I'm speaking from experience) put a hell of a lot of effort into getting a degree in OT and this should be recognised with a protected title.
In a way it is good, as it allows OT skills to be spread to more people in need of our services, and we will be educating more people about OT who may have previously not heard of us.
However, OTs often struggle to identify a professional identity and definition as it is, and by moving away from the title of Occupational Therapist this may confuse us, and our service users, even more!
Ultimately though, it is becoming a necessity. If I want a job when I graduate where I can use my knowledge and skill base that I have built up over the last three years, then I am going to have to look further than the traditional roles and protected titles.
This topic is in line to be discussed further in a future #OTalk, so I may be able to update you with more experiences and opinions then.
Many thanks to @Clissa89 , @OT_Expert and @Ermintrude2 for the original twitter discussion :)
Hi Heather, I just stumbled upon this post! I find the debate about non-traditional OT roles very interesting. I personally love the idea of working in a non-traditional role. I very much enjoyed my role emerging placement and I actually feel that it has prepared me most for my transition from student to OT. I was constantly thinking about what OT was and what are core skills were and how I could use my clinical reasoning to apply OT practice, in a non-traditional way.
ReplyDeleteI vastly improved my communication skills and time management.
This placement made me confident in articulating my role as an OT, something I find many OTs in traditional settings find hard to do because of generic roles and role blurring.
I now feel confident that I could bring my OT skills to non-traditional areas of practice and regardless of it being in my job title. I will still be a registered OT and will have to demonstrate, that I use my skills and keep up to date.
I think that yes, non-traditional roles may be a necessity for some in this current job market, but they are also exciting opportunities to help develop the future of the profession.