ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½

When many people envision potential careers for kinesiology, sport, and recreation (KSR) students, their minds immediately go to the best-known paths: physical therapy, occupational therapy, and fitness-related pursuits. However, those are only a fraction of the career opportunities available to KSR graduates, according to research by , an assistant professor in the faculty.  

Nagpal, along with several undergraduate student researchers, led a project looking at how different groups defined the term “exercise professional” with the aim of identifying the variety of career pathways open to professionals with that designation.

“My personal passion sparked the project, because I really love career development opportunities for students,” says Nagpal. “I was driven to take a look at what kinesiology students could potentially do because these are students who become ‘exercise experts.’ Now, what can you do with this expertise?” 

To help answer that question, Nagpal and her collaborators to see who researchers meant when they said an exercise professional contributed to their trial or project, to determine the potential employers seeking people with this expertise, as well as for further guidance. 

Alongside fourth-year undergraduate KSR students Rebecca Pallister and Hanna Randhawa, Nagpal also explored as potential career pathways for their graduates. The findings were illuminating. 

“The first thing [Rebecca and Hanna] said was that they couldn’t believe how long the list was,” says Nagpal. 

Most common career paths 

Nagpal’s research found that one of the most common pathways promoted for KSR graduates was education, which she acknowledges may be partially because “historically, kinesiology was associated more closely with physical education.” 

However, she adds, “Education in itself is such a broad term.” This pathway includes roles like teaching at schools, from primary to post-secondary. It also includes positions such as curriculum designers, curriculum consultants and physical literacy co-ordinators. 

Related to this category are the coaching and health and wellness promotion pathways. Jobs within coaching include becoming a strength and conditioning coach, an athletic coach from community roles to provincial and national levels, a sports and performance coach, or positions in athletic leadership. Health and safety co-ordinators and educators, return-to-work co-ordinators, wellness program planners, community support workers, corporate wellness co-ordinators, lifestyle counsellors, health and social policy developers, and consultants are just some of the potential roles within the health and wellness promotion pathway. 

The other most common pathway was in the medical field. Many roles in this category — physical therapists, occupational therapists, physicians, sports medicine specialists, rehabilitation specialists, ergonomists and podiatrists, among others — do require further certifications or education, which Nagpal says institutions should be transparent about. However, the understanding of human health and movement that graduates get throughout their education can be an asset in many of these careers, offering a strong foundation to build on.

Lesser-known career pathways

Though it may be a more obvious option for U of A students in the faculty’s bachelor of arts in recreation, sport, and tourism program, many kinesiology graduates can pursue jobs in the recreation pathway — aquatics program co-ordinator, recreation facility operator, camp leader or director, parks and recreation roles, facility and event management, and recreation program co-ordinators. Related is the outdoor education pathway, where graduates who love spending time outdoors might be interested in positions like being a parks interpreter, outdoor sector guide, outdoor skills instructor or environmental educator.

Business was another key pathway that emerged from Nagpal’s research. “You could use kinesiology potentially as a broader degree that takes you to business school, but also thinking about roles like fitness management, or leadership positions in the health and wellness industry.” Related careers include fields like sports management and consulting, sports marketing, personal training and fitness. 

Nagpal’s study also highlights several other fields that may be a good fit for kinesiology graduates, including sports psychology, eco-tourism programming or planning, sports law, sports administration, health technology, biomechanics and public health. 

Building skills for success

Nagpal notes that while students often focus “specifically on the knowledge they’ve gained” in their courses, graduates from the faculty have learned more transferable skills than they may be aware of.

"They’ve learned people skills, how to take care of confidential information, how to work with people in a sensitive nature, how to interact with special populations, how to apply guidelines and promote health, and much more,” says Nagpal. “There are lots of transferable skills that students learn beyond the content.”

With the diversity of courses available to kinesiology grads, as well as the abundance of career and further education options, it can be overwhelming, Nagpal acknowledges. 

“You’re in a really cool program that gives you lots and lots of options, and that can be scary because that means you have a lot of choosing to do,” she says. “But that’s also a great thing. It means you can be adaptable to multiple professions.”

However, she also encourages students not to feel like they need to make a choice right away. It’s OK to take some time to explore different areas and options before deciding which career pathway may be the best fit. 

“If you’re taking courses that interest you, that you’re passionate about, you’re going towards the next step. In kinesiology, there are just lots of steps to choose from.”