Ready for a career that gives you a flexible schedule, great working conditions and uncapped earning potential? Then massage therapy may be for you. According to US News and World Reports, who rank massage therapy as one of the top five healthcare careers, the demand for more therapists is projected to grow nearly 25 percent in the next decade.
This makes right now the perfect time to get into a career that is not only booming but offers a set of advantages over other paths, even within the health field, that simply can’t be beaten. After completing a massage therapist program with us here at the American Institute of Alternative Medicine, graduates can look forward to a fulfilling and financially rewarding career ahead of them.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the unique advantages of a career in massage:
Lots of Opportunities to Travel
With resorts and hotels all over the world offering onsite spa services to their guests that almost always include massage sessions, the opportunity for you to work in paradise is close at hand with a career in massage. From the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea to the charming historic villages of the European countryside, a wide variety of luxury vacation destinations need massage therapists to work with them and many offer packages that include room and board at the actual hotel or resort.
Massage therapists can also land dream jobs in cruise ships, at health retreats and alongside other alternative health practitioners in an ever-growing range of different environments around the world. Sports teams and performing artists, including theater companies and musicians also often hire a personal massage therapist to accompany them while on tour to keep them in tip-top shape. Truth be told, there are few career options that often the opportunities to travel freely the way massage therapy does.
Flexible Scheduling
Don’t like the idea of working 9-5? Like to have the ability to create your own schedule? Once again, massage therapy might be perfect for you. Massage therapists have the ability to manage their own schedules by booking clients at times that work for them or agreeing to hours in a spa that corresponds with their other commitments and interests.
This is because most massage therapists are their own bosses, a feature that sets massage therapy drastically apart from other careers in the health field. Most successful massage therapists, in fact, juggle many different clients and gigs at the same time, and as an independent contractor have much more freedom to choose when they want to work than doctors, nurses or complementary health providers who must maintain office hours or a hospital schedule.
A Shorter Career Path
Unlike a four-year university degree or even a two year AA or vocational certificate, our massage therapy program can be completed in just 12 months. This means if you get started today you could be working your way towards financial freedom and a new lifestyle in just one year.
A Satisfying Job with Social Perks
Working as a massage therapist puts you in touch with interesting people and in a position to make real connections that can drastically improve both your professional and personal life. Here is a shortlist of the most common clients for massage therapists:
- Athletes and sports fans
- Resorts and hotels
- Alternative health clinics
- Physical rehab centers
- Spas and wellness centers
- Executives and business professionals
By providing a relaxing and healing experience to people with the magic of your own hands, you will find that massage therapy is a deeply satisfying job that can drastically improve the quality of life of your clients. Establishing regular clients that come to you on a long-term basis is one of the keys to success as a massage therapist.
Uncapped Income Potential
While most massage therapists begin their career in a clinic, spa or hotel setting at a set hourly rate, the possibilities to grow your income are really only limited by you. When you begin to get regular private clients and accumulate enough experience to apply for higher-end gigs in luxury locations, your hourly or session rate usually goes up dramatically.
We encourage our students to continue to study and pick up new skills through our continuing education program in order to increase their marketable knowledge base. Many of the most successful massage therapists specialize in niche therapies that allow them to corner the market and demand higher price points for their services.
A Great Employment Outlook
The future of employment for massage therapists is as bright as it gets. Alternative and complementary therapies continue to grow in popularity not just across the USA but around the world and opportunities for massage therapists are at an all-time high. Because one of our core aims here is to get you employed as soon as you graduate, our in-house Career Services Department also offers the following services:
- A weekly electronic Job Flash of current employer job postings
- On-Campus Career Fairs
- Resume assistance and reviews
- Mock interview sessions with Career Services staff and area recruiters
- Inspirational alumni profiles
- Licensure review sessions for MBLEX and NCLEX