Supporting Athletic Trainers at the Start of Their Careers

This article is courtesy of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Early Professionals Committee (EPC), which serves certified Athletic Trainers (ATs) with 0-6 years of experience. 

You’re a newly certified AT. You’ve passed the exams, graduated from your athletic training program, secured an AT job and learned from many great mentors, but still you’re looking for help bridging the gap between being a former student and now a certified health care provider.

You’re a second year AT struggling with a conflict with your supervisor in the workplace. You’re looking for a community of early professionals to lend an empathetic ear because they’ve been there too and might have the solution for your problem.

You’re a third year AT. You have your feet firmly under you in your job and you’re looking to grow. You wonder: How do I find a mentor? What does mentorship look like? How can I get involved in professional service?

You’re a fourth year AT looking for your next job. You want to do better at demonstrating your value and experience, negotiating your compensation and looking for ways to better guide the interview to ensure you’re a good fit for the role and the organization is a good fit for you.

You’re a fifth year AT responsible for precepting a professional athletic training student. You remember your own preceptors, the good and the bad, and are looking for resources to develop yourself as a mentor and leader in the profession.

The NATA’s EPC serves certified ATs with 0-6 years of experience, helping to meet all these needs and more by equipping ATs with the tangible tools, personal and professional development, and community needed to be successful early in their careers. While distinctly different from the NATA’s Student Leadership Committee that represents, advocates for, and creates opportunities for students, the EPC helps to ease transition to practice and empower early career ATs to advance in the field through continued personal and professional development and professional service.

Our mission is to be a resource to provide mentorship by highlighting and emulating NATA’s forward thinking, having strong representation within all district committees, and creating a confident and passionate community by sharing personal and professional opportunities of growth that will bridge the gaps and “elevATe” the profession moving forward. We do this by providing guidance across the NATA membership within their first six years of certification through growth of leadership, network, and involvement and refinement of comprehensive skills as a versatile health care professional with a solid foundation.

Created in 2021, many of the inaugural members of the committee rolled off at this year’s NATA Convention. Moving into this fall we’re excited to have a largely “new” committee with many fresh ideas and unique perspectives to advance our work. One initiative we’re working on is establishing connections with professional programs to better highlight avenues to get involved in professional service once certified. We’ve found many early career professionals learn about service opportunities unique for our demographic as they near the career advancing phase of their career. Our hope is to foster relationships with soon-to-be professionals to better establish a pipeline to professional service earlier in their careers.

It’s likely you related to at least one of the scenarios above. Our goal is to build upon the didactic and clinical education students receive and provide resources and opportunities to continue their development as early career professionals. We are actively building channels to increase touchpoints with our target demographic and relevant stakeholders throughout the year. We want to hear from you about what needs we can meet and how we can better serve our membership. We know that a membership that sees the value in committee work is more likely to get involved and professional service is truly the backbone of a healthy professional organization. As you welcome a new school year, we welcome in a new season for our committee and look forward to making waves in the next generation of ATs together.