Unless we stay in private practice for our whole career, we all have to interview for a job. Some of us end up interviewing several times—when we switch jobs or relocate, to upgrade our income, etc. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone gave us the key to what employers are looking for that results in one massage therapist being hired and another turned away?

Here’s a list of the top 5 things, from my perspective as an employer, that can determine whether a therapist gets hired:

1. Massage technique. Make sure you manage your time well, address all the areas discussed, and use several techniques. One of the biggest things that can make an employer turn away a therapist is an over-reliance on one technique, resulting in a massage that’s ineffective or boring.
2. Eye contact. So simple, and yet, I’ve seen many candidates who would barely make eye contact. Make it a habit to maintain reasonable and healthy eye contact with your interviewer.
3. Energy and enthusiasm. When I’m interviewing someone, I’m very aware of their level of energy. If they respond to questions in a monosyllabic way, seem to be reluctant to share anything about themselves, or generally feel like a low-energy individual, I’m unlikely to hire them. So, get plenty of sleep, meditate—whatever you have to do to show up in a good mood, with a sparkle in your eye.
4. Personal appearance. While we are all beautiful beings, remember that the interviewer is looking at you through the lens of how their clients will see you. Come for your interview dressed similarly to how you would dress when actually performing massage on clients, especially if you’re going to be doing a demo. Showing up looking sloppy, disheveled, or unprofessional is a clue to the employer that you are not really serious about your career, or about getting this job.
5. Client focus. While you may be already have years of experience, making you a massage therapist superstar, it is important that you focus on your client’s preferences. Preferences for temperature, music, massage techniques, etc. all need to be client approved. This will create trust between the client and the massage therapist and a general sense of caring for that individual’s needs.

Good luck in your next interview, and I hope these tips help you get hired wherever it is you’d love to work.

If you’d like a chance to put these suggestions into practice, Dreamclinic is hiring and would love to hear from you.

Many of us have had glowing reviews from clients, telling us that we’ve just given them the best massage of their life. And yet, even being the superhero healers we are, we still occasionally have those clients who end up complaining or telling others that we just didn’t quite get the job done for them. I think this results from common misconceptions that some clients have about massage:

• Assuming it’s one size fits all: Newer clients commonly think that we massage therapists have a set “routine,” applying it indiscriminately to everybody. Of course, we know that we’re far more likely to create a unique massage plan for the individual client based on what they’re presenting with that day.
• Mistaking personal preference for quality: If a client doesn’t like what you did, it can be easy for them to assume that it’s because you’re “bad” at massage, when really it’s the choice of modalities or techniques you used and your communication about them. Myofascial release is going to feel great to one person and terrible to another. Some people love the broad, sweeping experience of having forearms stretch their back, while others prefer the specific feeling of having someone using their fingers. Techniques being experienced differently by each client results in a difference in how they react to our work.
• Judging the work based on the therapist’s appearance: Some clients mistakenly believe that a petite female therapist is not going to have enough strength to really work the muscles, or conversely, that massage from a big burly male therapist is going to be too strong. In reality, it has a lot more to do with technique than physique. I’ve had plenty of sessions from men that were focused on creating a relaxing, gentle experience with soothing ambiance.

So, what can you do about this? The antidote to all these misconceptions is the same: communication—even before the session begins.

Simple clear communication is the best approach to get ahead of the misconceptions and empower clients.  Consider explaining to clients at the beginning of the session that:

• Every body is unique
• Your work is adaptive to them
• You invite them to speak up if they don’t enjoy a technique or want more/less pressure
• You welcome them to speak up if they enjoy a specific technique or want to stay in an area

Creating a space for clear open communication is the cornerstone of ensuring that clients feel heard and get the best massage for their body.

As massage therapists, we know that there really isn’t any firm boundary between mental or emotional stress and physical tension, so when we invite clients into our practice for treatment, we need to take care that our space is not only physically clean and welcoming, but also emotionally tidy.

Larisa Goldin, CEO of Dreamclinic shares, “I’ve always used a funny little mental trick, a visualization. For me it became a routine and seemed to work quite effectively, in that no matter what kind of mood I was in, I have always been able to enter my neutral sacred space of healing once in the massage room with my client. I picture a string or stream of golden healing light coming through into the top of my head and flowing through my hands to the client.  It’s like an energy moving through me, nothing getting stuck within me or drained from me.  You could call it an energetic alignment.”

While that particular technique may or may not resonate for you, the trick is to find what does. You need to be able to leave your own stresses and frustrations at the door to ensure that you are free to do good work for your client, as well as prevent yourself from taking on any of their tension, which can really wear you out, if not burn you out. There are as many ways to draw that gate across your healing space as there are modalities, therapists, and massage techniques combined. If you haven’t found yours yet, you could try:

• Meditation: Either listening to a guided meditation in a recording or an app, or taking a few minutes for silent Zen meditation, will enable you to bring yourself into the here and now.
• Deep Breathing: Even just a few long, slow, deep conscious breaths can help you lay your troubles aside for a while and clear your mind for what’s ahead.
• Ritual: Whatever your faith tradition or spirituality, you can incorporate aspects of it into a brief ritual to guide yourself into your healing mode.
• Affirmation: Either while looking at yourself in a mirror or gazing at the sky, repeating a chosen memorized passage, written either by you or by someone else, can reinforce the clarity of your intention.

What other techniques have you found that help you to keep your practice emotionally tidy?

If you own your own massage practice, one of the challenges of keeping it going involves the need to periodically expand your client base. When your massage practice slips into a lull, and you find yourself wanting to reach out and find new clients, but you don’t have the money on hand to launch any sort of a big ad campaign, what do you do? Well, how about rather than spending the time and resources to go looking for new clients, you just connect with the clients who are looking for you?

When most people are looking for a restaurant, a shop, or service, they look online. Search engines, like Google, Bing, and Yahoo offer up local business listings before the usual web results. These listings can include the location, phone number, the hours, links to reviews on sites like Yelp, and such. If you’ve been in business for a bit and your state business license is up to date, you’ll likely be able to see your listing just by searching. If your massage practice has a listing, but you’ve never done anything with it, you should see a link in there that says: “Claim this business.” Go ahead and click it. Once you have claimed your business, you’ll be able to be sure that the information shared with searchers is up-to-date and shows your practice in its best light. If you’d like to read up a bit on how business listings work with the search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo all offer easy step-by-step instructions.

Another place where you’ll be sure to want to claim your business is on Yelp. Yelp is the leading business review site, and has become the go-to resource for anyone vetting a new massage therapist, hair stylist, or great dinner spot. Also, by claiming your business on Yelp, you’ll also have the opportunity to ensure that the photos and information shared on your practice’s listing are current. All those options help you control the information about your business that is served up to potential new clients when they search online for a massage therapist. If you’d like to reach out in a more interactive way, you can set up a Facebook business page. Facebook allows you to reach out to existing clients who have liked your page, as well as easily create ads to reach beyond your current client base. (That part’s not free, so it might be for another day, but it is super-easy.) So, if you find that your massage practice is periodically in need of fresh clients, take just a few minutes to claim your business online so that potential clients in your area who are looking for what you have to offer can find you.