How to Hire an Athletic Trainer

Why hire an athletic trainer?

Finding a new hire can be time-consuming and costly. However, there are benefits to hiring an excellent athletic trainer, as they can help your business to:

• Greatly improve patient or client health outcomes
• Design and implement personalized exercise regimes for people of all ages and fitness levels
• Increase the number of clients

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance athletic trainer

Before writing a job description or interviewing candidates for your athletic trainer position, decide if you need a full-time employee or freelancer.

Full-time athletic trainers are typically employed by professional sports teams, fitness centers, physicians’ offices and universities. Multiple athletic trainers can be employed by the same team, school, hospital or training facility, and they may offer individual or group services. Liability insurance and related expenses are usually covered by their employer.

Freelance athletic trainers provide similar services to full-time trainers, but as contract workers, their schedules and client base are usually more flexible, which means they’re likely available to both members and nonmembers of an organization. Freelance athletic trainers may lack some of the stricter medical credentials of their full-time counterparts.

What are the titles of athletic trainers?

When you want to hire an athletic trainer, it’s important to understand the types of services they provide and the settings where they work. Athletic trainers are employed as health care professionals in a number of ways, working in sports medicine departments, professional training facilities, performing arts groups and more. Here are common roles athletic trainers fulfill:

• Head athletic trainer: The head athletic trainer plans and directs an organization’s training programs.
• Assistant athletic trainer: The assistant athletic trainer assists the head trainer with managing patients, documenting care and communicating progress to coaches and physicians.
• Military athletic trainer: These trainers provide services and acute care to members of the military, focusing on effective soldier development.
• Exercise physiologist: Exercise physiologists develop specialized fitness programs to help patients improve cardiovascular health, flexibility and muscle tone. They may use both allopathic and osteopathic techniques to restore function and mobility following accidents, work-related injuries and sports injuries.
• Sports medicine physician: These are doctors who focus on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in athletes and highly active individuals.

Where to find athletic trainers

To find the right athletic trainer for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Talk to coaches. Coaches often work with medical staff and trainers as a routine part of their job. They might be able to recommend a candidate willing to work for your company.
• Ask around local gyms. Many athletic trainers work at gyms, fitness centers or recreational sports clubs.
• Research professional sports teams. You may be able to find a publicly accessible list of the current staff, including trainers, for local professional sports teams.
• Check out educational settings. Many universities have physiology or athletic training programs. Post help wanted brochures on college campuses, or contact physiology departments at nearby colleges to recruit upcoming graduates.
• Post your job online. Try posting your athletic trainer job on Indeed to find and attract quality athletic trainer candidates.

What are the titles of athletic trainers?

When you want to hire an athletic trainer, it’s important to understand the types of services they provide and the settings where they work. Athletic trainers are employed as health care professionals in a number of ways, working in sports medicine departments, professional training facilities, performing arts groups and more. Here are common roles athletic trainers fulfill:

• Head athletic trainer: The head athletic trainer plans and directs an organization’s training programs.
• Assistant athletic trainer: The assistant athletic trainer assists the head trainer with managing patients, documenting care and communicating progress to coaches and physicians.
• Military athletic trainer: These trainers provide services and acute care to members of the military, focusing on effective soldier development.
• Exercise physiologist: Exercise physiologists develop specialized fitness programs to help patients improve cardiovascular health, flexibility and muscle tone. They may use both allopathic and osteopathic techniques to restore function and mobility following accidents, work-related injuries and sports injuries.
• Sports medicine physician: These are doctors who focus on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in athletes and highly active individuals.

Writing an athletic trainer job description

Writing a thoughtful job description is an important component of finding qualified athletic trainer candidates. An athletic trainer job description should include a complete summary of the role, a comprehensive list of duties and responsibilities and both the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your athletic trainer job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on athletic trainer jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Personal trainer
• Athletic trainer
• Fitness
• Gym
• Certified athletic trainer
• Strength and conditioning
• Athletic training
• Strength conditioning
• Exercise science
• Wellness

Interviewing athletic trainer candidates

Strong candidates for athletic trainer positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Exercise physiology
• First aid techniques
• Best practices for injury rehabilitation

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of athletic trainer interview questions for examples (with sample answers).