New members are welcome and encouraged to join us no matter what career stage you are! Find a task force you are interested in and contact the Task Force Chair. Also, please see below for executive positions we are seeking to fill. The mission of the Early Career Networking Group (ECNG) is to foster the development and advancement of early career professionals in the field of rehabilitation. Our supportive network of peers provides the necessary resources and networking opportunities to promote successful career growth for rehabilitation researchers and clinicians.
Early Career Development Course Task Force
This task force plans the full-day Early Career Development Course held each fall at the ACRM Annual Conference. If you want to get involved with the Task Force for next year, contact Dr. Monique Pappadis.
Early Career Communications Task Force
This task force gathers and disseminates important information relevant to career development in the rehabilitation field. Our main product is the ECNG newsletter. Our members volunteer to be in charge of certain sections of the newsletter. We are always looking for new and active members. The following are sections of the newsletter that you can contribute to (and will get recognition for in our newsletter!):
- ACRM Conference updates
- ECNG updates
- ACRM ISIG and NG updates
- Ask the Mentor Column (collaborative efforts between Mentoring and Communications task forces. See this issue’s Q&A on job preparation and interviewing)
- Research Spotlight on ACRM members- be in the Spotlight or help find colleagues to be in the Spotlight!
- Original articles written by our members on early career development topics – write your own article and boost your CV- yes you can include these articles as non-peer reviewed articles in your CV! These articles also often get included in ACRM’s Rehabilitation Outlook newsletter (see this issue’s article on How to prepare for a conference).
- Career Development Resources- Search the web and find links to important resources to share in our newsletter. We are always looking for great resources for the following career development categories: Grants; Jobs / Promotion; Mentoring; Leadership; Work-life balance; and Clinician Corner; Conference Tips (see below link on This Quarter’s Career Development Resources.)
The time commitment is relatively small but hugely rewarding! We hold 1-hour conference calls every other month, but many of our members contribute through email exchanges. Please email the task force chair, Dawn Neumann, if you are interested in joining.
Mentoring Task Force
The mission of this task force is to facilitate the development of mentoring relationships among rehabilitation professionals at varying stages in their career development through research, educational, and clinical collaborative opportunities. One of our current projects is to get questions and answers for the Ask the Mentor column, which is published in the ECNG Quarterly E-newsletter. Check out this month’s column! We will be focusing on a variety of common early career issues and concerns. So, if you need some advice, please submit your questions to the Task Force Chair, Dr. Brooks Wingo, and we will get those questions answered! Also, if you are interested in joining our task force or becoming a mentor for the column, please contact Dr. Brooks Wingo.
Early Career Physicians Task Force
This task force is currently expanding into a larger ACRM networking group, the Physicians and Clinicians Networking Group. However, this larger networking group will continue to have an Early Career Physician Task Force. The focus of the new networking group as a whole will be to:
- Promote interdisciplinary and inter-professional research and programmatic development
- Provide platform for networking and mentoring for clinicians and physicians
- Provide information on what is happening across ACRM
- Identify resources important to clinicians and physicians at ACRM.
Participation in the group is a great opportunity to network across ACRM. We are looking for new members and individuals to be part of the executive committee to guide the direction of the group. Please send us an email if you would like to be involved in the group, so we can start a listserv. If you are interested in an executive committee role please let us know too. We are looking to fill roles for co-chairs elect (2 or 3 people), communication officer (1 or 2 people), and early career networking group liaison (1 or 2 people). Happy to discuss roles in more detail with those that are interested. For more information, contact Dr. Brad Kurowski.
