The interview is your best chance to see how a practice really works — if you ask past the first answer.

Most new physical therapists walk into an interview with two questions: what’s the system, and what’s the work-life balance? Both matter. Neither tells you whether you’ll grow, whether you’ll be paid fairly for the value you deliver, or whether you’ll still love this work years from now.

The questions below are designed to reveal the model behind the job. But the questions are only half of it. The other half is the double tap: when you get an answer, ask why. Ask them to tell you more. Then ask them to show you.

1. What does learning look like here?

Everyone says they offer mentorship. Ask what that means: the meeting schedule, the curriculum, how onboarding works, how long it lasts. Ask to see a module or a workshop on the calendar. A practice that believes in development can show you a clear path. A vague answer is an answer too.

2. Am I paid for performance or for tenure — and what’s measured?

If the only way up the pay ladder is time served, a motivated clinician has no way to accelerate. If pay is performance-based, ask exactly what counts: patients helped, reviews, retention, people coming back with their next injury. These are proxy measures for the real goal — a community that’s healthier because of your work.

3. What’s the caseload?

Ask how many new evaluations you’d see in a day and how many patients you’d manage in a month. Too few, and care becomes a boutique service. Too many, and you can’t remember people, can’t get follow-ups on the schedule, and never see a plan of care through. Tissue heals on its own timeline. The schedule should respect it.

4. What does the support team look like?

Assistants and aides change your day. Supporting an assistant’s schedule can fill yours with evaluations, and patients often lose the bond they built with their clinician in the handoff. Ask who coaches the exercise. Watching your patient move is where you learn the most.

5. What’s the patient population — and can you show me?

Nearly every clinic says it does sports medicine. Ask for the mix, then ask to see the schedule. Athletes are in school during the day, so look at the early-morning and after-school hours, and ask who fills the middle of the day.

6. How do you get your patients?

Some practices rely on insurance contracts that feed reactive, disease-based care. Others earn their patients through relationships and work in the community with active people. The answer tells you what kind of care you’ll be delivering.

7. Where are you growing, and why is this role open?

Is it growth or turnover? Have clinicians left, and why? Then ask how people grow inside the company. Be honest with yourself about what you want: to be the go-to expert in your community, or to lead other clinicians. Both are real paths. They’re not the same path.

8. How will my performance be assessed?

Ask what data they track and whether you can see your own at any time. Without it, your growth is left to someone else’s judgment call.

9. What are your values, and what’s the culture like?

Listen for integrity in the answers themselves. Do they answer directly? Do they know the details of their own business? Ask how the team celebrates wins and spends time together.

10. How much control will I have over my schedule?

Work-life balance isn’t a fixed number of hours. Your needs will change — a new baby, saving for a home, a season when you want to take on more. Autonomy is what lets your career fit your life, and the best practices will be honest about which levers you can pull and what earning them looks like.

Watch how they answer

The best sign isn’t any single answer. It’s an interviewer who lights up and says, let me show you. If they skirt a question, that tells you how good a mentor they’ll be. This may be one of the biggest decisions you make. Take a second interview if you need it. Bring follow-up questions. Ask to see it.

These ideas are explored further on KIMEcast Episode 72, the KIME Performance podcast.