Member Resource Library

Use our NATA Membership Justification Letter Template (doc) to show your employer the value of NATA membership for your professional growth and their organizational success.

Journal of Athletic Training Article: The labor market suffered a mass exodus of employees, including healthcare workers, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous research highlights the vulnerability of young professional athletic trainers (YPATs) to attrition. Investigating pandemic-related employment changes and their impact is essential for developing strategies to improve the retention of YPATs.

Gender inequity is a societal issue and pervasive throughout health care. Female ATs represent 56% of NATA membership, are represented in all practice settings, but glaring gaps exist in the workplace. Inequities in salary, leadership positions and promotion are well documented. The NATA Compensation Task Force's Gender Equity subgroup developed this tool kit to assist every athletic trainer in staying informed about equity, inequity identification, documentation and collaboration on how to address to become empowered and create change.

In this episode, Murphy Grant, LAT, ATC, NASM-PES, chair of the task force and host of this series, talks with Jennifer Brown, ATC, and Emily Mulkey, MS, LAT, ATC, CPT, to continue the conversation from the previous episode, “CompensATion ConversATion: Recruitment Tips.” This discussion takes a closer look at what employers look for when trying to fill a position, how much leverage they have when negotiating a salary for a position and how young professionals can prepare for these conversations during the recruitment stage. This episode addresses things like: 

• Should you apply for a job if you don’t meet the qualifications? And what should you expect in terms of compensation if you do?
• How can growing your network help all parties involved in the recruitment process?
• How does the reference call affect compensation for the employer and the potential employee?
• When and how often should you have the compensation conversation with your employer?

This episode covers the recruitment stage. It includes advice to job seekers on making sure a job is right for them, when to approach the topic of compensation and how to show value throughout the recruitment process. This episode isn’t just for job seekers – recruiters can also learn from this conversation. Murphy Grant, LAT, ATC, NASM-PES, chair of the task force and host of this series, talks with Jennifer Brown, ATC, and Emily Mulkey, MS, LAT, ATC, to dive deeper. Brown is the senior associate athletic director for sports medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, and gives important insight from the perspective of someone who actively recruits and hires athletic trainers. Mulkey, a staff athletic trainer at Youngstown State University, brings her own perspective as a young professional who has recently gone through the recruitment process. This episode will discuss: 

• How knowing what goes on in both sides of recruitment can help you when considering a new position
• How to ask about compensation in the interview process
• How to decline or negotiate an offer
• How showing your value in your current position can help you when applying for positions in the future

This episode will be a deep dive into the first area: fundamentals. Murphy Grant, LAT, ATC, NASM-PES, chair of the task force and host of this series, interviews Kenny Boyd, MS, LAT, ATC, senior associate athletic director for student athlete health and wellness at Baylor University, and Randy Cohen, DPT, ATC, associate athletic director for medical services at the University of Arizona.

The CompensATion ConversATion podcast series will focus on what the task force has identified as the five buckets of employment: fundamentals, recruitment, advancement, retention and separation. Each bucket represents a stage in the life cycle of employment and will be used to identify potential strategies to address these issues. Murphy Grant, LAT, ATC, NASM-PES, chair of the task force and host of this series, leads the conversation with athletic trainers of varying levels of experience to break down the five buckets of employment. This episode features three NATA members with unique perspectives on the topic of compensation for athletic trainers: Kenny Boyd, MS, LAT, ATC, a senior associate athletic director for student athlete health and wellness at Baylor University, lends his perspective as an employer in charge of hiring athletic trainers. Ann Wallace, MSEd, ATC, NASM-CES, an associate director of athletic training at the University of Kansas, tells her story from the lens of someone who is in charge of hiring and onboarding new athletic trainers into her program. Emily Mulkey, MS, LAT, ATC, CPT, a staff athletic trainer at Youngstown State University, joins the conversation representing the young professional population to share how she approaches the topic of compensation with her employers. This group will lay the foundation for what will be discussed in the remaining episodes of this series. Tune in for a discussion with ATs across various settings and leave with some actionable items you can use whether you are an employee or employer.

A step-by-step guide to finding and applying for jobs in athletic training. Covers preparing resumes/CVs, tailoring applications, navigating online applications, interview preparation and post-interview follow-up to help job seekers succeed at every stage.

This resource is a 2-page worksheet designed to guide individuals through short-, intermediate-, and long-term financial planning during career transitions. Each line item invites the user to assess what is essential vs. nonessential, and plan which expenses to reduce, delay or eliminate over time. The worksheet encourages proactive assessment of both cash flow and financial obligations during a job-transition period.