FlightWay / Careers / Physical Therapist Aides

Healthcare

Physical Therapist Aides

Under close supervision of a physical therapist or physical therapy assistant, perform only delegated, selected, or routine tasks in specific situations.

Sector: Healthcare
Preparation: Zone 2 — some preparation needed
O*NET code: 31-2022.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Assisting and Caring for Others

central to the job — rated 100/100 for importance.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public

central to the job — rated 88/100 for importance.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

central to the job — rated 86/100 for importance.
Getting Information

a major part of the work — rated 82/100 for importance.
Handling and Moving Objects

a major part of the work — rated 77/100 for importance.
Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings

a major part of the work — rated 75/100 for importance.

Under close supervision of a physical therapist or physical therapy assistant, perform only delegated, selected, or routine tasks in specific situations. These duties include preparing the patient and the treatment area.

What it takes

Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.

Skills

Active Listening

Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 66/100 for importance.
Monitoring

Needed at a basic working level (45/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
Service Orientation

Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
Social Perceptiveness

Needed at a solid working level (48/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.
Coordination

Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service

Needed at a high level (72/100), and rated 87/100 for importance.
English Language

Needed at a solid working level (47/100), and rated 76/100 for importance.
Computers and Electronics

Needed at a solid working level (54/100), and rated 62/100 for importance.
Therapy and Counseling

Needed at a basic working level (39/100), and rated 58/100 for importance.

Abilities

Oral Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (54/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.
Speech Recognition

Needed at a solid working level (46/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
Problem Sensitivity

Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
Near Vision

Needed at a basic working level (45/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 2 — some preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

A high-school diploma is the usual starting point.

Experience

Some prior work experience helps but is rarely required.

Training

Expect a few months to a year of on-the-job training.

What it pays

These are typical healthcare compensation bands by employer tier — sector-level figures, not a measured salary for Physical Therapist Aides specifically. Treat them as the shape of the market, then check a real posting for the number.

Mayo Clinic · Johns Hopkins

$130k – $300k

Regional Health Systems

$100k – $180k

Clinics & Private Practice

$80k – $130k

How the work tends to run

Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.

Most of the day happens at a screen.From “Working with Computers”
The work is physical — you are on your feet and handling things, not sitting still.From “Performing General Physical Activities”
You are in front of the public, so the job is partly performance.From “Performing for or Working Directly with the Public”
Long-running relationships carry the work; the same people come back.From “Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships”
People depend on you directly, and that is the point of the role.From “Assisting and Caring for Others”

How FlightWay scores your fit against this

No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.

1. You answer a short quiz: Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
2. We correlate the two profiles: Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Physical Therapist Aides. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
3. The number you see is personality fit only: "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
4. Every factor is visible: You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.

More in Healthcare

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See your fit for Physical Therapist Aides

Ten questions, about 90 seconds. You get your match against Physical Therapist Aides and 782+ other real careers — with the reasoning shown.

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Occupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.