Networking is important in any professional field,
and massage therapists should be prepared to begin ‘massage networking’ almost immediately after graduating from massage school in order to get leads for jobs, professional advancement, and new clients. Massage networking is similar to ‘standard’ networking in that you should always try to connect with other professionals in your field for advancement, but specific to massage therapy in that networking opportunities not only help you find jobs, but help you become a subject matter expert, bring in more clients to your practice, increase your knowledge about modalities, sharpen your entrepreneurial skills, etc.
Networking with Massage Therapy Instructors
Massage therapists should take advantage of the opportunities offered to them by the instructors and administrators in massage school. Chances are that these professionals have years of varied experience in all facets of massage therapy, anywhere from spa management, to human resources/hiring, to working as a therapist, skin care esthetician, chiropractor, or doctor. Whatever their experience, they can provide you with a wealth of massage networking opportunities and knowledge about the industry, and can give you invaluable advice about starting off in your career. Who knows? Maybe they even have an ‘in’ at a local practice or know other massage therapists who can provide you with a recommendation that can help you land your first job as a massage therapist.
Even after you finish massage school, stay in touch with your classmates and massage therapy instructors either by meeting for a monthly lunch or seminar, or even by simply staying in touch via LinkedIn or Facebook, or some other type of social network for massage networking. LinkedIn is an excellent way for massage therapists to learn about opportunities in the field and network with a limited amount of effort – by adding instructors and classmates to your network, you can give and receive opportunities that come your way just with the click of a button.
Massage Networking with Continuing Education Courses
Massage therapists are required to take continuing education courses every two four years, depending on where they live, to maintain licensure. You should not take any type of classes available just to get the credits out of the way, because you might be missing out on an excellent massage networking opportunity. For example, say you have an interest in sports massage, but there are no sports massage courses available within your recertification cycle. Instead of taking something you are not interested in, think about taking a course in Thai massage or reflexology. Yes, it is not quite sports massage but these are both types of therapeutic manipulation that could come in handy during a sports massage event. And chances are, there will be massage therapists or instructors in these classes who are also interested in the same types of modalities as you, and could help you with massage networking opportunities that can assist you with following your career path further down the line.
It is also important to know that the instructors who teach continuing education courses often travel between regions or sometimes across the nation at the request of schools who want them to teach their specialized courses. Because these instructors are so experienced, in-demand, and well known, consider politely asking them how they became a subject matter expert in their field, and ask if they have any tips they can give you to help you excel within your preferred modality. 다낭 마사지