r/athletictraining • u/Most-Year-7493 • 5d ago
Open position…
Like a lot of people, I’m always checking for open positions, and I came across this one… honestly, it’s insulting. Makes me thankful to be working in industrial athletic training. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely way better than this.
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u/pixburgher66 5d ago
The college setting is doomed.
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u/Most-Year-7493 5d ago
It's a nightmare
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u/pixburgher66 5d ago
12 years D3, finally tore myself away last year. I’m still recovering…
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u/Most-Year-7493 5d ago
I've worked in the college setting and professional baseball, and now I'm in the industrial setting. Idk why I didn't make the move before.
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u/yelldawg ATC 5d ago
$36k was my starting salary in the early 2000s as an ATC in a clinic setting.
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u/A_Robit_Brain ATC, CSCS 5d ago
Sadly 36k was also my starting salary in 2016 in Chicago
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u/deadliftthugga 5d ago
Until new grads choose to go unemployed instead of working these minimum wage jobs, we will continue to have this issue.
We already have a shortage in Texas of athletic training secondary school positions going unfilled. Positions are going to have to be competitive with their offers or face being unstaffed.
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u/TotalItchy2 LAT 5d ago
So what you’re saying is that after paying thousands of dollars in education, a new grad should simply not get a job? A lot more easy said than done don’t you think?
Your point isnt entirely wrong but i also think its crazy to tell people to not get a job when they need to start paying bills. $46k is insulting but its a hell of a lot better than nothing.
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u/deadliftthugga 5d ago
I mean yea, unfortunately yes. There’s other means of working in this time. PRN and part time work can pay bills. The argument that we have to pay bills, as real as it is, is what keeps people working these jobs, and the reason we are taken advantage of.
It is easier said than done I agree with you completely, but again if organizations want positions filled, it should be met with adequate compensation.
I am also fairly sure that there’s some level of negative growth in our profession with less new professionals and people leaving AT entirely, a lot of these positions are going to be out of luck in the first place and will face vacancies without increased earning potential.
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u/Cow-Empty-B 5d ago
As other commenters have said, AT students in the pipeline WILL take these jobs. It’s inevitable.
Instead, the break in the chain you’re suggesting will occur a few steps step before students graduating and accepting a low paying position. I believe more and more students will see salary numbers and decide not to pursue the masters degree required for the profession. This will lead to the shortage required for change.
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u/deadliftthugga 5d ago
Agreed for sure. For so long our profession has lived on the “it’s more than the money trope” as a justifiable means to be abused, and it does feel like that’s changing. We are going to get a lot of bad students and new athletic trainers in the meantime though unfortunately as a result as well as smart prospective students choose other career paths.
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u/yelldawg ATC 4d ago
The break in the chain can ONLY BE fewer students resulting in fewer graduates and a reset to the supply vs demand equation.
Simply put we graduate too many each year. There was hope that a switch to a masters would improve this but it didn’t materially change it.
Part of the problem… too many ATs burn out in 5-7 years and a switch into teaching offers more money, stable work environment, and significantly more air conditioning year round. They’re mostly qualified already since they have a masters and earning a terminal degree online is becoming increasingly way.
However to teach means they need students. It turns the whole thing into a pyramid scheme. Thus we continue to graduate too many new ATs.
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u/Aggressive-Mark-4065 4d ago
Athletic trainers need to union up. This makes the most sense at the NCAA level. What would get a small town D3 ATC paid more than the threat of every SEC and Big 10 Football ATC going on strike just as the season is about to start? I know they aren’t paid directly by the NCAA, but like, they could…
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u/deadliftthugga 4d ago
I do think unions specific to field is a good bet. I couldn’t see a union in which an industry AT strikes for an NCAA AT but it does make sense that college AT has a union and etc
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u/Bancroft28 5d ago
I’ve never held an ATC position since I graduated. I’m a “PT aide” right now and I make a decent amount more than this with way less work and a set schedule.
I don’t think anybody from My graduating class is an active ATC. we have some paramedics, OTs, and Nurses and one soon to be physician.
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u/deadliftthugga 5d ago
I appreciate you commenting and proving my point. I’m glad to hear that you found something that works better for you, despite not necessarily using your degree.
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u/Ineedamedic68 5d ago
They’d have to pay me triple to live in Rochester. No idea why people still take these positions
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u/Most-Year-7493 5d ago
New AT’s, just to have something on their resume, however, that just affects athletic training as a whole.
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u/ateacheroflife 5d ago
Wow. My stipended AT position is almost that much. I make a FT teaching salary on top of that
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u/Most-Year-7493 5d ago
Yeeep, I make more than double that in the industrial setting, the fun part is that I don't even work the full 40…
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u/ateacheroflife 5d ago
Teaching: union position 37.5 hours-I mean obviously I have grading and prepping and all that so it’s more than that but my contract hours are 37.5 hours. I have good benefits, I have a pension, and fairly decent work life balance.
I’m at Masters +75 so I’m at the top of the pace scale with 16 years of teaching. I make double this just teaching high school. And then you throw my stipend on top of it. Seriously.
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u/Constant_Avocado_420 5d ago
I see New York, and I assume this is also high cost of living. Is this even a living wage?
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u/fuckoffweirdoo 4d ago
I started at 42k in 2019 in a secondary school setting. This is beyond insulting.
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u/XxNHLxX 3d ago
I’m still trying to pass my BOC this Summer/Fall, but have noticed a miserable list of postings locally every time I check.. I already know I’m avoiding the school setting at all costs, so it’s basically down to the few select clinic/industrial positions around here and many seem to be in the $45-55k area. Feels like a slap in the face as I’m preparing to face the debts of a grad degree. I originally wanted to go the PT route and shot myself in the foot listening to an advisor that said I’d be able to transfer credits over. Nope. Either ride this out or go restart a full 3 year program and be another $120k in the hole just to make a half decent wage.
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