My Mentor Showed Me I Was Underpaid by $600/Week

I Thought I Was Doing Fine

Two years in, I genuinely thought I was a savvy traveler. I'd figured out the tax home thing. I had my licensing process down. I liked my recruiter. My agency had a good app. I was making $2,100 a week take-home in acute care and I thought that was solid for an OT.

Then I got matched with Marcus through the mentorship program — not because I thought something was wrong, but because a friend had used the program and said it was worth doing even if you felt like you'd figured things out.

The Conversation That Changed Things

Marcus asked me to share my current offer breakdown — full details, not just the weekly total. I walked him through it. He was quiet for a second, then said: "Can I share mine?"

His package — same setting, similar geography, similar experience level — was $2,700 a week take-home. I sat with that for a moment.

Understanding the Gap

Marcus helped me understand where the difference came from. It wasn't that my agency was dramatically underpaying me in bad faith. It was that I'd never negotiated. I'd accepted the first offer. I'd renewed twice at the same rate without asking. And my agency — like most agencies — wasn't going to volunteer a raise unprompted.

He also walked me through the difference in how our packages were structured. My taxable base was higher relative to my stipends, which meant I was paying more in taxes on the same gross. His package was structured differently — same total, but a larger non-taxable stipend portion — which translated directly to more take-home without changing the gross at all.

What I Did Next

I went back to my current agency first and asked for a restructured package and a rate increase. They offered a small adjustment — about $150/week. Better than nothing, but not where I needed to be.

At Marcus's suggestion, I reached out to two other agencies. One of them — ProTherapy, which Marcus had worked with — gave me a transparent breakdown from the first call and offered $2,680/week take-home for an equivalent contract. I made the switch at the end of my current contract.

Two Contracts Later

I've now completed two contracts with the new agency. My current take-home is $2,750/week. More importantly, I finally understand my own pay package in a way I never did for two years of traveling. That knowledge is worth more than the raise, honestly — because now I can use it every time I evaluate an offer.