What is a skills checklist, and how do you rate yourself honestly?
A skills checklist is a form on which you rate your own experience with each clinical skill, patient population and piece of equipment in your discipline, and agencies send it to facilities with your profile. It is worth rating carefully, because a facility reads it before you start, and your first weeks on the job show whether the ratings hold up.
What is a skills checklist?
It is a list of the work your discipline does, grouped into sections, with a rating against each item. In the checklist ProTherapy Staffing's candidate profile uses, the sections are evaluation and assessment, therapeutic interventions, modalities, patient populations, equipment and transfers, and documentation and compliance. PTs, PTAs, OTs, COTAs, SLPs and SLPAs each have their own version.
It sits alongside the rest of your credentialing file: your license, health records, references and background check. Those show you are qualified and cleared to work; the checklist shows what you have actually done.
How do facilities use a skills checklist?
A facility can read your checklist before it interviews you, to see which parts of its caseload you have handled on your own and which you have not. A rehab manager looking at a checklist strong in outpatient orthopedics and light in acute care has a clear picture before the first question.
The interview is often where the ratings get tested. You may be asked about the items you rated as independent, and be ready to describe a recent patient or case for each. A rating you can talk through in detail is worth more than a rating that looks impressive on the form.
What does each rating mean?
The scale in ProTherapy Staffing's profile has these levels, starting from no experience at all:
- No Experience: you have not done it.
- Theory / Observation: you have learned it or watched it done, but not done it yourself.
- Need Supervision: you have done it, and you would want someone available to check your work.
- Independent / Proficient: you do it on your own, routinely, without help.
The difference between the top two levels is the one that matters most on a travel contract, because a travel contract often expects you to work without close supervision from the first week.
If you want to know how a facility you are considering reads your ratings, ask a ProTherapy recruiter: Find my next contract.
How do you rate yourself honestly?
Rate what you have done recently, not what you could learn quickly. If you are torn between two levels, choose the lower one and explain the context on the call; a facility can plan around a gap it knows about. Do not rate a skill as independent because you used it in a rotation you only observed.
The professional codes say the same. The APTA Code of Ethics for the Physical Therapy Profession asks physical therapists and assistants to “Be honest and truthful in all professional decisions and actions, with all internal and external parties,” and to “recognize and practice within the limits of their skills and competence.” The ASHA Code of Ethics states that “Individuals shall not misrepresent their credentials, competence, education, training, experience, or scholarly contributions.” Occupational therapy practitioners should read their own professional code alongside these.
How should you rate a skill you have not used in a while?
Rate it as you could do it next week, not as you did it at your peak. If you managed a skill on your own in a past job but have not touched it since, Need Supervision may be the honest rating until you have done it again, and you can say on the call that it came easily before.
The same goes for equipment. A facility's model of a lift, a modality unit or a documentation system may differ from the one you trained on, so a note to your recruiter about which versions you have used helps the facility plan your orientation. The goal is a checklist that matches what the facility sees in your first week, because that is when the ratings are compared with your work.
What are you signing at the end of the checklist?
The checklist in ProTherapy Staffing's profile ends with this statement: “I certify that the above ratings accurately reflect my clinical skills and experience.” Confirming it means you stand behind every rating, so read the whole form back before you do.
Your ratings describe your experience on the day you sign. After a contract that added a new setting or population, tell your recruiter, so the next facility sees what you can do now rather than what you could do before.
Frequently asked questions
Is it bad to rate a skill as No Experience?
No. It tells a facility where you would need orientation, and an honest low rating is easier to plan around than a high rating you cannot back up once you start.
Do new grads fill in a skills checklist?
Yes, the same checklist for their discipline. Many items will reflect clinical rotations, so Theory / Observation is the right rating for a skill you watched but did not do yourself.
Should I rate a skill higher to win a contract?
No. The APTA and ASHA codes of ethics both ask for honest representation of your competence, and a rating you cannot back up tends to show in the first weeks of the contract.
Sources
- APTA Code of Ethics for the Physical Therapy Profession, read November 3, 2026
- ASHA Code of Ethics (2023), read November 3, 2026