Free Strength & Conditioning Job Description and Criteria Templates
Recruitment in strength and conditioning can be difficult to navigate. Job titles vary considerably between organisations, qualification requirements are often inconsistent, and expectations around experience, professional certification and academic qualifications can differ substantially even between roles carrying similar responsibilities.
To support employers in developing clearer and more proportionate recruitment criteria, the International Universities Strength and Conditioning Association (IUSCA) has published a new Example Job Descriptions & Criteria Templates guide, available free of charge.
The resource provides 12 example strength and conditioning roles, spanning entry-level coaching positions through to senior leadership roles, with each example aligned to the IUSCA International Qualification Framework for Strength and Conditioning (IQF).
Supporting Better S&C Recruitment
The guide has been developed as a practical companion to the IUSCA Job Board and Employer Hiring Guide.
Its purpose is not to prescribe a single way in which every strength and conditioning department should be structured. Organisations vary significantly in size, sporting context, staffing model and practitioner responsibilities.
Instead, the templates provide employers with a reference point when determining what should reasonably be expected of someone performing a particular role.
This includes consideration of:
Role purpose and typical responsibilities
Appropriate IQF classification
Professional certification
Academic qualification expectations
Relevant coaching and professional experience
Reporting and management responsibilities
Appropriate salary positioning
By considering these elements together, employers can develop job descriptions that more accurately reflect the competence and responsibility required of the practitioner.
12 Example Roles Across the Profession
The guide covers roles across a broad progression of strength and conditioning practice, from early-career and developmental positions through practitioner, advanced practitioner and leadership roles.
Each template demonstrates how the expectations of a role might evolve as responsibility increases.
For example, an entry-level coaching position should not automatically carry the same academic, professional or experiential requirements as a role involving independent programme leadership, interdisciplinary decision-making or strategic responsibility for an entire performance department.
Similarly, requiring advanced qualifications for relatively junior positions can unnecessarily restrict the applicant pool without improving the match between the requirements of the role and the work being performed.
The templates are therefore designed to encourage proportionate recruitment criteria.
Aligned to the IUSCA IQF
Each example is mapped against the International Qualification Framework for Strength and Conditioning, allowing the responsibilities of the role to be considered alongside the level of practitioner competence required.
The IQF provides a progression from foundational and instructional practice through increasingly independent, scientific, strategic and leadership-focused levels of professional practice.
This gives employers a common reference framework when considering job titles, responsibilities and candidate expectations.
Importantly, academic requirements are also treated proportionately within this structure. Under the IQF, a degree becomes an essential requirement from Level 6, while a Master's degree becomes essential from Level 7. Employers can still identify additional desirable qualifications where these are relevant to a particular position, but the templates help distinguish genuine role requirements from criteria that may simply have become customary within recruitment.
Clearer Expectations for Employers and Practitioners
Well-designed job descriptions benefit both sides of the recruitment process.
For employers, they provide greater clarity around what is actually required of the successful candidate and support more consistent shortlisting and selection.
For practitioners, they make it easier to understand whether their qualifications, certification and experience are appropriate for the level of responsibility being advertised.
This is particularly important in a profession where the same job title can sometimes describe substantially different roles.
The IUSCA Job Board uses the same principles when independently classifying advertised positions against the IQF, allowing practitioners and employers to compare the responsibilities, qualification requirements and salary of a role against a consistent professional framework.
Download the Free Guide
The IUSCA Example Job Descriptions & Criteria Templates are freely available to universities, professional sporting organisations, schools, academies, private organisations and any other employers recruiting strength and conditioning practitioners.
The templates can be adapted to suit the structure and requirements of individual organisations and are intended to provide a starting point for clearer, fairer and more proportionate recruitment across the profession.
Download the free Example Job Descriptions & Criteria Templates at IUSCA.org/jobs.
Employers can also access the IUSCA Employer Hiring Guide and browse the latest strength and conditioning vacancies through the IUSCA Job Board.
