Hiring a New Grad for Private Practice: What to Look For

A small clinic cannot carry a graduate the way a hospital or a large group can, which in our view makes the pick the decision that matters most. This article sets out the three things we test, in order, the questions that test each one, and what a good answer sounds like. Every step can be run on a first phone call, before anyone comes into the clinic.

The short answer

We treat the three as dominoes. A graduate has to clear the first before the second is worth testing, and so on. You will rule people out quickly, and that is the point.

Why who you pick matters most

A small practice cannot carry a graduate the way a hospital or a large group can. A hospital or a large group has layers of support: several mentors across the team, a cohort of graduates starting together, and a structure built around developing them. A clinic with five to ten staff has the owner and one or two senior clinicians, who are also carrying full diaries.

That changes who is ready. Our working view is that if you lined up a hundred graduates, perhaps 70 to 80 of them would be ready to go and work, but not ready to work in a small private practice. The search is for the minority who can start and hit the ground running in an environment with less infrastructure around them.

The cost of getting it wrong is real money. Under the award, a new graduate physiotherapist starting full-time in February 2027 costs a clinic at least $1,308.80 a week in wages, about $76,200 a year once 12% super is added, before the ramp is counted. The dated figures and sources are in What does a new grad physio cost a clinic?

It also means hiring a graduate is not the only route. In our view, many small clinics would do better hiring a clinician who trained inside a group practice's graduate program and picking them up a year or two later. If you are hiring a graduate this season, the three steps below are how we narrow the field.

Step 1: do they want private practice?

The first thing we look for is someone who wants to work in private practice. The clearest early signal, in our experience, is timing. The graduates who know what they want apply early, often with a resume out before they have graduated. That is why recruiting in the earliest window tends to surface strong candidates: they know who they are, they know what they want, and they are already looking.

The second signal is what they say they want. “I am looking for a job in private practice” and “I am looking for my first job” are different candidates. Test it with an open question the first time you speak:

• What is it that you are looking for in a role right now?

Most graduates answer with support, hours, mentoring and being looked after. None of that is specific to private practice. It could describe a job in any sector, community or hospital included, so go a level deeper.

If the answer is “I wouldn't mind a bit of a mix in roles”, we treat it as a yellow flag, not a rule-out. We would not split a first job across two or three areas. The graduate needs to get good at one area and become proficient at it.

This is hard to hold to when you are not seeing 50 applicants and you need someone in the role. But in our experience, ambivalence at the start often shows up six months in as self-doubt and a higher risk of burnout, with the graduate in the role still unsure whether it is the job they wanted. Ask yourself what that ambivalence will look like in six months before you make the offer.

Step 2: do they understand the commercial side?

Every graduate knows patients pay for the service. The first layer is how they feel about it. They are new to the role and will be charging good money for their time. Ask:

• How do you feel about charging for your services as a new graduate?
• What do you think the challenges will be in doing that?

The second layer is the one we rate most highly: how they take feedback on the way they run their caseload, where clinical and commercial judgement meet. Asking “are you good at receiving feedback?” gets the same answer from everyone. So give them the piece of feedback they are most likely to hear in their first one to two weeks, at the interview, and watch the reaction:

• If I gave you feedback that some of your patients needed to be seen again sooner than you booked them, how do you think you would cope with that?
• What if I said a patient should have come back two days later? Would you go along with it, or would you tell me you were comfortable with what you did?

The feedback itself has to stand on clinical grounds. What the question tests is whether the graduate can talk about review timing on its merits.

There are three broad responses.

We use follow-up timing because it is the feedback a graduate is most likely to get, and the pattern repeats across clinics. A graduate who spaces early follow-ups one to two weeks apart by default, without a clinical reason for the gap, in our experience tends to struggle to build a caseload in private practice, and their patients may not get the early review the condition calls for. The second-session mechanics are in Fixing your physio rebooking rate.

What you are looking for is openness to these conversations from the very beginning. It works almost like an informal contract. The graduates we have seen develop fastest are open to being coached clinically and commercially from day one, and the first six months in private practice carry a lot of weight for the rest of a career.

Step 3: can they reason clinically from a reasonable base?

Clinical competence matters, and we never dismiss it. But between a graduate who is lower clinically and takes feedback well, and one who rates themselves clinically and does not take feedback, we would hire the first. The first can be developed. They still need to start from a reasonable base.

Test it with a few straightforward clinical questions, and look at the thinking rather than the answer:

• What is their thought process, and how do they work through the problem?
• Do they throw out an answer, a dart at a dartboard, or do they have an analytical way of arriving at a conclusion?
• Are they curious about what the answer is? A graduate who is not curious when they are unsure is telling you something about how they will learn.

All three steps can be screened on the first phone call, before you bring anyone into the practice. It saves a great deal of time.

Three signals to take off the CV

Most of the above comes out at interview. Three things on the CV are, in our experience, strong signals of success in private practice, and they can be read before you speak to anyone:

• They live locally. All else equal, a graduate living within an easy commute of the practice is a better bet than one travelling a long way.
• They have done private practice placements. Placements, or anything else that means they understand the environment they are walking into. A graduate who was a student in your own clinic starts well ahead.
• They have other relevant experience. Sports training, volunteering, or other work where they applied the same skills. These are the skills the clinic will be developing, and placements alone may not have built them. Look for a graduate who has invested in themselves beyond what the university offered, so they bring more to the interview than the degree.

New graduate interview questions, in one place

After the pick: what to pay them and how to ramp them

Choosing the right graduate is the first half. The second half is what you pay them, when each rise lands, and how you build their caseload without burning them out. Under the award the first rise does not wait for their anniversary, and the ramp costs the clinic more than the wage alone suggests. The six things that shape whether the hire works, profession by profession, are in Hiring a new grad: six challenges by profession.

Questions owners ask

What should I look for when hiring a new graduate for private practice?

Three things, in order. They want private practice specifically, not just a first job. They understand the commercial side and take feedback on their caseload well. And they reason clinically from a reasonable base. On the CV, look for a graduate who lives locally, has done private practice placements and has other relevant experience such as sports training or volunteering.

What interview questions should I ask a new graduate physiotherapist?

Start with “What are you looking for in a role right now?” and listen for something specific to private practice. Then ask how they feel about charging as a new graduate. Then give them the feedback they are most likely to hear in their first fortnight: “If I said some of your patients needed to be seen again sooner, how would you take that?” Finish with a straightforward clinical case talked through out loud.

How do you test whether a new grad will take feedback?

Do not ask whether they are good at receiving feedback; everyone says yes. Give them a real piece of feedback at the interview, such as a patient needing to be seen again sooner than they booked, and watch the reaction. Folding straight away or pushing back completely are both warning signs. “It depends whether it's clinically indicated” is the answer to work with.

Should a small clinic hire a new grad or a clinician with a year or two of experience?

Many small clinics would do better hiring a clinician who trained inside a group practice's graduate program and picking them up a year or two later. Group practices have more infrastructure for graduates: several mentors and a cohort starting together. A clinic of five to ten staff that does hire a graduate needs to be more selective about who it picks.

When should I start recruiting new graduates?

As early as possible. The graduates who know they want private practice apply early, often with a resume out before they have graduated. In our experience, recruiting in the earliest window tends to surface strong candidates.

Is clinical competence the most important thing in a new grad?

It matters, and it should never be dismissed, but we would rather hire a graduate who is lower clinically and takes feedback well than one who rates themselves clinically and does not. The first can be developed. They still need a reasonable clinical base, tested with straightforward cases where you look at how they reason.

What on a new grad's CV predicts success in private practice?

Three signals: living locally to the practice, private practice placements (a former student of your own clinic is well ahead), and other relevant experience such as sports training or volunteering that shows they have invested in themselves beyond their degree.

Related reading

• New grad cost by profession: the hub: the dated cost tables for each profession and every new grad article in one place.
• What does a new grad physio cost a clinic?: the award floor from February 2027 to mid-2030, and the billings it takes to carry it.
• Hiring a new grad: six challenges by profession: the rise schedule, the ramp, supervision and the dip around month nine.
• The 80% utilisation benchmark for senior clinicians: the benchmarks we use for juniors and seniors, in hours.
• How to know if you're actually ready to hire your first clinician and the #1 hiring mistake private practice owners make.
• The Health Professionals Award hub: the key dates, the rates and every source in one place.

About this information

Published 16 October 2026. The selection steps, questions and CV signals in this article are our approach to hiring graduates into owner-led allied health clinics, drawn from working with practice owners. They are not research findings. The wage figure is the award minimum for a full-time physiotherapy graduate at the first-year Level 1 rate set by Fair Work Commission determination PR814029, and the linked article carries the sources. Nothing here is legal or employment advice about any individual hire.