A Survey of Athletic Training Employers' Hiring Criteria

Abstract

Objective:

To identify athletic training employers' hiring criteria and to determine if the importance of individual hiring criteria vary by setting.

Design and Setting:

The Athletic Training Employer Needs Assessment Survey was mailed to athletic training employers advertising in the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) placement vacancy notice between October 1996 and October 1998.

Subjects:

A total of 111 athletic training employers in NATA Districts 7, 8, and 10 were surveyed.

Measurements:

Employers rated the importance of hiring criteria on a 7-point Likert scale. Means and standard deviations were calculated for each criterion and compared these values to ascertain the importance of individual criteria. A principal component analysis was done to determine the underlying factors.

Results:

Hiring characteristics can be divided into 4 factors that include highly related criteria: (1) personal characteristics, (2) educational experience, (3) professional experience, and (4) work-related attributes. In addition, the hiring characteristics desired by employers varied among athletic training settings.

Conclusions:

When interviewing and presenting themselves for entry-level positions, athletic trainers should pay particular attention to the attributes within the 4 hiring criteria factors. Also, the desired hiring criteria of athletic training employers differed by setting. Applicants need to pay particular attention to these hiring criteria differences when constructing résumés, cover letters, and professional correspondence and when interviewing with prospective employers.

Researchers who have studied athletic training employment have primarily reported employment statistics in the job market and examined the extent to which employers desire athletic trainers.^1–5 The recent literature on athletic training employment has primarily focused on salary ranges and marketability. The prevailing criterion predicting employment and salary is the educational status of the applicant.^3,6–8 Most job marketability studies have pertained to athletic training employment in the public schools, for kindergarten through 12th grade.^1–3,5,6,9

The National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) routinely reports statistics on athletic training employment rates in 5 work settings: (1) clinic, (2) college, (3) high school, (4) industrial, other, and (5) professional sports⁴; however, there is no empiric evidence to explain the hiring criteria used by employers. Few researchers have examined employers' hiring criteria in the selection of athletic trainers. The purposes of our study were to identify athletic training employers' hiring criteria and to determine if hiring criteria vary by setting.

METHODS

We used a descriptive research design. Data were collected and analyzed from athletic training employers in 5 athletic training settings to describe employers' hiring criteria. The population for this study consisted of athletic training employers with employment positions available in Districts 7, 8, and 10 of the NATA. We identified employers by their placement of advertisements in the NATA placement vacancy notice between October 1996 and October 1998. With the exception of graduate assistantships, all employment positions advertised in the NATA placement vacancy notice were included in this study. The University of San Francisco Institutional Review Board approved a Human Subjects Review for the protection of human subjects.

Survey Instrument

The Athletic Training Employer Needs Assessment Survey (ATENAS) used in this study was a modification of the original Hiring Criteria Survey (HCS).¹⁰ The HCS was introduced by Gaedeke et al,¹⁰ who surveyed more than 170 companies hiring graduates to fill entry-level business positions. A total of 33 hiring criteria characteristics were identified. Related studies verified the validity and reliability of the 33 hiring characteristics.^10,11 The HCS has 33 items and is based on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (extremely important) to 7 (not important at all). The ATENAS was designed for athletic training employers by adopting the Likert-based assessment of 33 hiring criteria and adding demographic information specific to the population of this study.

A pilot study was conducted to test the ATENAS with 12 athletic training employers from various athletic training settings. Respondents to the pilot study indicated only minor formatting errors, which were used to refine the survey instrument. The survey instrument was designed to follow the Dillman Total Design Method.⁷ Two weeks after the survey was mailed, reminder postcards were mailed, followed by another mailed survey to individuals who had yet to respond.

The ATENAS was mailed to 111 athletic training employers. Employers were identified as the individuals responsible for recruitment and hiring recommendations. Codes were randomly assigned to each participant to maintain anonymity and placed on each envelope to identify respondents. A cover letter describing the importance of participation in the study, who should complete the ATENAS, and confidentiality issues was included in the survey packet. Surveyed employers received a reminder postcard 1 week after the survey was mailed. Three weeks after the initial mailing, nonrespondents received a second cover letter and a second copy of the questionnaire.

Data Collection and Analysis

Each respondent completed the ATENAS by rating each item on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being most important and 7 being not important at all. The data were collected to assess the hiring criteria used by athletic training employers. The data were analyzed for a description of hiring criteria by athletic training employers and in employment settings. We used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 8.0, SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL) to calculate means, standard deviations, and a factor analysis. A principal component analysis was done to determine underlying factors.

RESULTS

We identified 111 athletic training employers in NATA Districts 7, 8, and 10 for this study. Eighty-two of the 111 employers (74%) responded to the survey. More than three quarters of respondents to the ATENAS were in clinical (n = 29; 35.8%) or collegiate or university (n = 33; 39.9%) settings. High school setting employers constituted 23% (n = 19), the third largest subgroup of respondents. The remaining subgroups included 5 respondents in the industrial setting (6.2%) and 3 respondents in the professional sports setting (3.7%). The respondents' work experience ranged from less than 1 year to more than 20 years, with most respondents having fewer than 10 years of experience (n = 57; 70%). Forty-eight percent (n = 39) of the athletic training employers were noncertified athletic trainers, including athletic directors, physical therapists, and other administrative professionals, and 52% (n = 43) were certified athletic trainers in employer positions.

Hiring Criteria Importance Across Factors

Hiring criteria data from the ATENAS were factor analyzed and collapsed in order to reduce the 33 hiring criteria into a smaller number of components (factors) to reveal patterns among the variation of characteristics. The 33 hiring characteristics of the ATENAS fell into 7 factors, which accounted for 70% of the variance. Four of the 7 factors accounted for 64% of the variance. The remaining factors loaded on several categories, with small coefficients of α indicating weak relationships. These factors consisted of 7 hiring characteristics: ability to acknowledge limitations, computer skills, master's degree, professional membership, quantitative skills, related work experience, and applicant's salary requirements. The 3 weak factors were subsequently eliminated from this study. The 4 most salient factors were personal characteristics, educational experience, professional experience, and work-related attributes.

Personal characteristics (factor 1) accounted for 25% of the variance in employers' hiring criteria (Table 1); these characteristics included self-confidence, maturity, interpersonal skills, assertiveness, enthusiasm, technical skills, ability to articulate goals, oral communication skills, leadership skills, initiative, ambition, problem-solving skills, and writing skills. These items had a coefficient of α (r = .90) that indicated a high relationship among these variables.

Table 1.

Factor Analysis Component Matrix of Athletic Training Hiring Criteria*

Educational experience (factor 2) accounted for 14.6% of the variance and included college minor, grade point average, membership in a fraternity, and college reputation (Table 1). The coefficient of α (r = .82) indicated a high relationship among these characteristics.

Professional experience (factor 3) included a master's degree and military service. The coefficient of α (r = .30) indicated that these were weak hiring criteria.

Work-related attributes (factor 4) included related work experience, entrepreneurialism, willingness to relocate, or membership in a professional organization (Table 1). The coefficient of α (r = .40) indicated a weak relationship among attributes.

Hiring Criteria Across Athletic Training Employment Settings

Mean hiring ratings for the 33 criteria are presented in Table 2. On average, personal characteristics were rated an important hiring criterion in all work settings, including the ability to articulate goals, assertiveness, writing skills, quantitative skills, personal appearance, a bachelor's degree, and interpersonal skills. Technical skills were rated important across all settings except the industrial setting (mean, 3.40). The ability to acknowledge limitations and problem-solving skills were rated as important across all work settings with the exception of professional sports; in this setting, these skills were rated as less important (means, 3.67 and 3.00, respectively). Entrepreneurialism was the only personal characteristic rated less important in all work settings, except in the industrial setting, in which it was rated of slightly greater importance.

Table 2.

Importance of Hiring Criteria to Athletic Training Employers (n = 82) in 5 Work Settings*

A bachelor's degree was rated very important across all settings, whereas a master's degree was rated less important in the clinical (mean, 3.24), high school (mean, 2.75), and industrial (mean, 4.60) settings. In the college and university (mean, 1.67) and professional sports (mean, 2.00) settings, a master's degree was viewed as very important.

Employers in clinical settings regarded professional membership as unimportant (mean, 5.08). Willingness to relocate was an important hiring criterion in all settings except the industrial setting (mean, 4.40). Related work experience was rated very important in the high school (mean, 1.84) and professional (mean, 2.00) settings and less important for clinical (mean, 3.04), collegiate and university (mean, 2.58), and industrial (mean, 2.60) settings. Supporting experiences such as civic, church, and social work rated low in importance, and membership in fraternal groups and military service were rated as unimportant across all athletic training work settings.

DISCUSSION

Four hiring criteria factors emerged as desirable characteristics for athletic training employers: personal characteristics, educational experience, professional experience, and work-related (professional) attributes. Each of the 4 factors consisted of interrelated hiring criteria or attributes that should be viewed as a whole unit or pattern of related hiring criteria. Although we recognize that personal characteristics, such as appearance, by law should not be used as criteria for employment, it is clear that employers rate these criteria as important, suggesting that such characteristics should be taken into consideration. It should also be noted that personal characteristics accounted for 25% of the variance in employer hiring criteria and were an important component in selecting employees.

In general, the hiring criteria related to personal characteristics (eg, ability to articulate goals, ambition, assertiveness, a bachelor's degree, oral and written communication skills, enthusiasm, initiative, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, maturity, personal appearance, problem-solving skills, references, self-confidence, and technical skills) were rated highest by all athletic training employers. Since employers rate personal characteristics as the most important hiring criteria, a practical review and discussion of the hiring process for graduating students may be warranted. Athletic trainers matriculating from undergraduate programs should be aware of the importance of personal characteristics, such as professional demeanor during an interview, and should learn how to write a résumé, cover letter, and professional correspondence to enhance their chances of being hired.

Personal characteristics, educational experience, and professional experience were clearly hiring criteria considered by employers during the hiring process. Undergraduate athletic trainers may not understand the significant hiring criteria used in various settings and, therefore, may not prepare themselves well for the interview and hiring process. Defining and discussing the 4 most significant hiring criteria at some point during the athletic training curriculum may enhance the students' abilities to successfully market themselves after graduation.

Hiring Criteria Across Work Settings

With the exception of personal characteristics, the importance of hiring criteria to employers varied with the work setting. One possible explanation may be that 48% of the employers were not athletic trainers and may have valued a different set of skills compared with the 52% of employers who were athletic trainers.

Hiring criteria across work settings indicated that employers had similar preferences with regard to personal characteristics. These personal characteristics become evident during an interview and, thus, the findings of Arnold et al¹² that interview performance is highly important in securing employment may be supported. The only personal characteristic that was not rated important by employers in all work settings was entrepreneurialism.

The importance of a bachelor's or master's degree varied by employers in different work settings. Previous research supports the extreme importance of a bachelor's degree in all settings as a hiring criterion.^12–14 Employers may rate a bachelor's degree higher because it meets the minimum acceptable educational standards for their open positions. However, employers in the collegiate setting rated the possession of a master's degree more important than did employers in other work settings, which supports the opinion of Arnold et al¹³ that a relationship exists between highest degree attained and employment setting.

The results of this study further support the findings of Arnold et al¹² regarding job characteristics that employers deem important, but contrary to previous findings, the reputation of the applicant's college was an unimportant hiring criterion in all settings. In addition, nonrelated work experience was consistently rated as unimportant in all settings other than the high school setting. The fact that nonrelated work experience was rated more important in the high school setting again emphasizes the need for prospective applicants to market themselves specifically to each work setting. Thus, when entry-level athletic trainers seek employment in the high school, they may need to highlight their nonrelated work experience.

With few exceptions, the hiring criteria deemed important across all athletic training work settings were fairly consistent; however, it may be that attention to slight differences in the importance of certain skills within various athletic training settings improves the likelihood of obtaining an athletic training position in that setting. Athletic trainers seeking employment should target their employment inquiries and applications to reflect the desired hiring characteristics in those settings.

CONCLUSIONS

Data from this study suggest that employers, regardless of work setting, rate personal characteristics and the achievement of a bachelor's degree as highly important. During the job-application process, athletic trainers should pay particular attention to personal characteristics (ie, communication skills, enthusiasm, initiative, interpersonal skills, maturity, self-confidence, ability to articulate one's goals, ambition, and problem-solving skills). In particular, a master's degree was rated highly important in collegiate and university settings compared with other work settings. Athletic trainers may be unaware of employers' hiring criteria and the relationship among the criteria, which may explain the difficulty some prospective employees have in marketing themselves.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Future Research

Our study surveyed athletic training employers from the western continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. A future study should be conducted with employers across the United States, which will increase the generalizability of the findings. We used hiring criteria validated for the business field. A separate assessment to determine hiring criteria in the athletic training field may uncover characteristics not addressed by this study. The hiring criteria used for this study define the attributes that employers seek during the hiring process for athletic trainers; however, a review of hiring criteria across related allied health care fields may help clarify why such a high proportion of matriculating undergraduate athletic trainers are unable to find athletic training employment. Few researchers have attempted to describe the preparation necessary for employment in athletic training education programs; therefore, further investigation into the description of current practices should be addressed.¹³ In addition, research into athletic training employers' understanding of the athletic training profession and athletic training domains should be addressed.

Professional Practice

A comparison of our results and those found in the literature regarding hiring criteria practice makes it clear that students should be introduced to employment practices during their educational preparation.¹⁵ As noted by Meador and Tsuchiya,¹⁶ athletic training educators spend a minimal amount of educational time on employment practices and procedures. The data cited throughout this study suggest new ways to consider athletic training education and employment. We propose that a better understanding of employer hiring criteria may increase athletic trainers' ability to market themselves. Perhaps awareness of employers' hiring practices, including the specific emphasis in different work settings on individual and professional characteristics, will make entry-level athletic trainers more successful in completing the interviewing and hiring process.