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Monday, December 14, 2009

Book Has Been Published

The book is finally ready for purchase. You can visit the website, A Career In Sports, for the link or link directly to the purchase site here. The book is titled A Career In Sports: Advice from Sports Business Leaders. It contains interviews with 31 sports executives. We asked them all the same questions and they have provided some fabulous advice for people either wanting to work in sports or just starting their career in sports.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Accreditation

I write this post as someone who worked in the sports industry and previously hired staff and as someone who is now in academics. I can say this with 100% certainty--Neither I nor any of the colleagues I know has ever hired or not hired a person because the candidate's sports administration program was or wasn't accredited. Almost all of the peers I have who work in sports don't even know that organizations exist for accreditation of sports administration programs. Trust me, I've asked them. What they care about--and what I cared about--when hiring someone is:

1) What kind of experience do they have? Even if we're talking about entry level position or internship, the person should at least have some type of practicum experience of working in their college athletic department or with a local sports entity in their college town.

2) How enthusiastic are they about doing the job? Are they going to take initiative to learn all that they can, to be a sponge? This is sometimes harder to determine, but a good indication is how much they have gone out on their own to try to gain experience.

3) Are they strong in fundamental communications skills? Can they speak intelligently and not use the word "like" in every sentence? Can they write so that they can communicate in written form, whether via email, taking meeting notes, etc.? Can they do all of this in the basic computer software, such as Microsoft Office Suite.

Trust me, no hiring manager cares whether you took Sports and Society or Event Management because an accreditation agency said you should. I never even cared what specific classes a person took unless they could explain to me how their taking that class was going to help my business.

I am a HUGE fan of education simply for education's sake, so I'm not saying don't take a diverse group of classes. I liked hiring well-rounded people who could talk about a multitude of things and draw from many sources to problem solve, but I never cared whether they graduated from a sports administration program that some academicians (who have probably never worked in sports) declared was "worthy" because it met their selection of classes they felt students should take.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

follow-up to How Badly Do You Want to Work in Sports, part 3

I was speaking with an Ohio University professor yesterday about this topic and how students often waste the precious time they have to speak with a sports industry professional by asking them questions to which they could find the answers on the Internet. He summed it up quite well. He noted that students do this because it is easy, particularly Ohio University students because our network is so willing to speak to students. He said, "That alum (executive) will talk to the student and congenially and happily answer his questions, but the executive won't ever remember the student as he might if the student asks thoughtful and insightful questions."

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

How Badly Do You Want to Work in Sports, part 3

This post is going to address two topics: primarily research and a little bit of networking, the second of which I know I have written about multiple times. In this post I'm going to address how they are sometimes tied together, whether people realize it or not.

I frequently get emails asking for advice about where to look for a job or help getting a contact into somewhere I've worked. Often when people contact me, I'm their first stop on the research path. This is incredibly annoying! Often, I will talk with people who tell me they want to work at New York Road Runners, for example, yet when I talk to them, they haven't even looked at the NYRR website. I don't mind giving them information on things that are really only available from talking to someone who has worked (or is working) in an organization, such as what the culture might be like or what the leadership style of a department VP might be. What irks me is when people don't even take the time to figure out on their own who the organizational leaders are or ask me questions such as whether I know if NYRR has any open jobs. Check the damn website! If there isn't a staff directory, which there isn't on the NYRR site, there are press releases and photos and videos and Flickr links and Facebook links, and on and on. You can find out a lot of information there. I even had one student (not one of mine) ask me if I could recommend where in New York City he should apply for sports jobs, not even a specific area of sports, which still would have made it a bad question, but narrowed down a bit. I, and others in his network, are not the "job bank of New York City" to start naming off organizations. This was someone I had talked to once and now he was asking me to be his personal scout. Not gonna happen! Now, if he had said something like, "I'm looking at NYRR, Korff Enterprises, the US Open, Madison Square Garden, and Eventage and have read up on each of them. Do you happen to know anything about those organizations?" That's a different question. It shows me someone who is trying to help himself and find a job but needs a little help versus a person who wants someone else to find a job for him. It would also have been different if this were someone I had talked to more than once. That's just the cold hard truth.

It is the epitome of laziness to not research the basics of an organization. As an example, if a student told me that she wanted to work for Under Armour, and then I asked her what she would say to Kevin Plank if she ran into him in the lobby at a conference, I would often get blank stares and the question, "Who is Kevin Plank?" People in sports are willing to help you, but you have to be willing to help yourself and do a little bit of work before you talk to them. When she gets around to answering my original question--what would she ask Kevin Plan if she ran into him in the lobby at a conference--she would likely answer with something pedestrian, such as "I would ask him how he got the idea to start Under Armour." Read an article for that! It's pretty well documented why he started the company. It's even on the "About Under Armour" section of their website. This is a fictitious example, though admittedly not too fictitious.

Another area is when you are applying for jobs. If the position states that it reports to the general counsel of a football team, for example, guess what, most pro teams have a staff directory listed on their websites. Here is an example for the Kansas City Chiefs. Mouse over "The Team" and the drop down has a link called "Coaches, Staff, and Execs." I wonder, though, how many people would address their cover letter and resume generically to the HR manager or generically to "Attn: General Counsel," assuming they send their resume directly to the Chiefs in addition to applying online (discussed in previous blog posts).

The synopsis is: Don't waste peoples' time, and just as importantly, don't waste the opportunity you have to speak to them with questions you can find answers to on the Internet, in a book, or in a magazine. Leave them feeling like they just talked to a person who is a young sports business professional rather than an unpolished student.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

How Badly Do You Want to Work in Sports, part 2

The job market for sports has generally always been tough. Now, as with the general job market, it's so much worse. Honestly, how hard are you searching for your job or how hard are you willing to search? Are you graduating in May and planning on waiting to start until January (bad idea) to start your job search? If you don't find a job immediately, are you going to take something else outside of sports and continue looking? Or are you willing to take an internship? Or are you going to sue your school for not helping you find placement and sue because of the stress you've had to go through for a whopping three month job search (see article)?

Here's the reality. The sports job market, hell, even the market for sports internships, flat out sucks right now! I have a friend who is a facility manager in Colorado. He had an open coordinator position (entry level) last month. He was getting resumes for this job from people who had been managers and directors and lost their jobs. One of the interviewees for the my book (A Career in Sports: Advice from Sports Business Leaders) is now CEO of a major sports franchise. He talks about how he interned at Madison Square Garden after grad school and thought he was on this way, then couldn't find a job for eight months after that internship. He sent out over 400 resumes (pre-email) during that time. He took two jobs not in sports so he could pay his bills, but he never stopped looking for a job in sports. I don't think most people now would send out 400 resumes via email today, but that's the type of commitment that made him an NHL team president by the time he was 40 years old. A story I've told many times, and even written about here, my classmate, Kevin Abrams, is the assistant general manager for the New York Giants. After grad school, Kevin worked internships for two years with four different organizations at about $500/month before he was hired as a salary cap analyst by the Giants. Not many people have that kind of persistence.

There are opportunities for people who are persistent. In regards to the student suing her university, I think it's a cop out, personally. I don't care what a college tells anyone, it's not their responsibility to find graduates a job. Maybe a technical school, maybe, but not a college or university. A college education is similar to a hunting license. It provides you an opportunity to bag an alligator (for the Floridians) or a deer or whatever, but it doesn't guarantee you one. Education should be for the sake of knowledge. There are things you can learn to help you increase your likelihood of snagging that gator, but no one is going to find it for you, show you where it is, prepare the capture method, snag it for you, and let you walk away with the proverbial prize. They'll teach you how and give you the opportunity, but the rest is up to you. If you give up after the first or second or third or fourth (or more) attempt, you really didn't want it that badly anyway.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

How Badly Do You Want to Work in Sports? part 1

This is a question that every person considering a career in sports should ask herself: How badly do your really want it? Are you willing to be persistent in your contacts, to the point of being just shy of annoying?

I think I might institute a new personal policy. I might wait until the second or third time that someone contacts me for advice to get back to them, to see if they're persistent. I know, this flies in the face of what I've written before about the need to get back to folks within 24 hours, but I don't care. This is a separate issue for me.

Being persistent is one of the things that it is going to take to be successful in sports. If someone provides you a contact and you email or call them (and I've found with students it's either one or the other, because god forbid they do both) and that person doesn't get back to you after your first or even second contact, do you give up or do you push on? Do you leave a voice mail message saying, "I know you're incredibly busy, but my schedule is flexible. If it is easier for you to speak before or after traditional business hours, I'm available during those times, too." And then even suggest some days and times.

Last semester, I contacted a friend of mine who works at the USOC, someone at the director level no less, to see if he would mind speaking to a student who had applied for a summer internship at the USOC. The U-S-O-C! Pretty major sports organization. He said that he would. I provided her his contact information. When I asked her about it a couple of weeks later, she said she had left him a voice mail, but hadn't heard back from him. She said she was going to call him a second time. Whether she did or not, I don't know, but I do know that she didn't get the internship at the USOC. Could he have helped? Who knows? More importantly, who cares?! This is a new contact to add to her network that could become an acquaintance in the sports world. Like it or not, the sports world requires a network and it requires persistence. If you're not willing to be persistent, it may be a good idea to think twice about what you want to do.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Book Title (Finally) Determined

We are working on editing the book of advice from sports industry professionals and hope to have it published next month (fingers crossed). The title will be:

A Career in Sports: Advice from Sports Business Leaders

Reading the complete book while editing, I'm excited about it. It has some really good advice from professionals in sports and the stories they tell are amazing!

Once this project is done, I will be back to posting regularly on the blog.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Editing and reading and reading and editing

I'm in the middle of re-reading, editing, and in some areas, writing for both the textbook and book of advice from industry professionals that I am writing. Both of them will be out this fall. As soon as I can get my lips back above water I will begin posting blogs again.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200

In event management, there are certain things that are non-negotiable. Two of those things, in my opinion and the opinion of many of my peers, are waivers and medical coverage. If an event manager doesn't get waivers signed or allows someone to participate without signing a waiver--do not pass go, do not collect $200, immediate termination. We live in a litigious society. Not mandating that participants sign waivers is probably one of the single stupidest things that an event manager could do. The other immediately terminable offense is not having any or not having enough medical coverage.

I was at an event a couple of weeks ago. It was run by sports administration students in conjunction with the athletic department. On that day, it was 90 degrees for the first time in nearly eight months. As part of their event they had a 5K run and a hot dog eating contest. There was zero medical coverage on site, just a police officer on a bicycle. When one of the students who had worked in event management brought up her concern that there was no medical coverage, all but two of her fellow students acted as if she was being overly cautious. When I asked one of the students about it, he told me that the athletic department had told them they didn't need medical coverage on site. The students decided that because some of the other students were CPR certified, that was enough. That opens up a whole other bag of issues of now putting those students in a position of being first responders, not to mention the fact that medical wasn't their primary responsibility that day. They could have been anywhere performing other duties.

That same weekend, the weather was similar in New York City. New York Road Runners always has medical coverage on site. Even with that, they opted to cancel the More Marathon and to turn the More Half Marathon into a fun run (un-timed, un-scored). Even with runners coming in from various cities across the country, they realized that for safety purposes, it was not a good idea to have the race in those conditions, regardless of the backlash. Safety came first.

In a situation like this, the students should have gone to their program coordinator to let him know. (First and foremost, though, they should have realized that this was an issue, which they didn't.) Their program's name was on this event and they were responsible to make sure it was managed appropriately. The most important thing in managing any event is to make sure that the participants and spectators are safe. Fortunately, nothing happened, but that's a hell of a risk to take when dealing with people's health and safety.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Survival of the First Year - Recap

Well, I've survived my first year of teaching.  I'm in tact, I didn't huff and puff and blow the buildings down, and the students don't seem to be irreparably damaged. (Except maybe for the one I made cry in my first month...but she was weak. ;)  Plus, I don't think it counts if someone told me she cried and I didn't actually see it.  Just kidding.)   I think that most of the students are going to rise to the challenges put before them.  I truly do enjoy teaching them.  They have a lot of potential.  Some of them just need a harder shove than the others to make sure they at least attempt to reach their potential.

One of my friends and colleagues--Dr. Heather Lawrence--and I just finished initial edits of our sports event management textbook that will be out this fall (August, I believe) from Kendall Hunt Publishing.  It will also be for sale on Amazon.com (ISBN 978-0-7575-6461-1).  The book is called Event Management Blueprint:  Planning and Managing Successful Sports Events.  We're both very excited about that.  When Heather did the math, she calculated that the contributing editors have more than 300 years of experience working in the sports industry and over 60 years of experience teaching in it.

My second book will also be out this fall (also probably in August).  Not title as of yet.  We've conducted 31 of the 32 interviews.  Now we start sorting and writing.  I'll have more info on that in a couple of months.

I have a lot to write about for this blog and should have more time to do it during the summer.  Stay tuned.  I haven't disappeared.  

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Who to Follow-Up With

I started to respond to a very good comment on the 2/21/09 posting about following-up after applying for a job, but my comment became so long that I've decided to post it separately. Part of the comment from RNelson noted that some job posting require that your resume be sent to HR or posted in the system and state "no calls."

Yes, many require posting through the organization's online system and some may state "no calls." I wouldn't call the HR department anyway, or at least not ONLY them. The HR manager isn't the person who will make the decision on who gets hired or not. As part of your research (which is actually my upcoming post) you should try to find out who the hiring manager is. You send your resume and cover letter directly to that person (in addition to whatever the posting requirements state). That's who you want to call. If that person blows you off, so be it, but you don't want the opposite. Here again is where your network comes into play. You need to use your network to find out who the hiring manager is or at lease someone in that company. If you can arrange time to talk to anyone in the company about the department or generally about the company, that's always beneficial. I personally don't care if the job is posted through a site like teamworkonline.com, I send my information directly to the organization and follow-up directly with the organization. Also, don't take it for granted that a third party job posting site has exclusive rights to post that job. Often, organizations will also list the job on their site. Sometimes it may point to the third party site, but not always. On the organization's site it may list a person's name or you can find the department manager's name on the About Us or Staff Directory page.

The HR manager isn't going to be the person who will decide who gets the job--it's the hiring manager. The HR manager may decide who gets contacted for interviews, but hopefully not. (I'm not a fan of HR at all when it comes to hiring. There's a great Fast Company cover story that I love from a few years ago called "Why We Hate HR.") Since I'm not a fan of most HR folks, I don't want them trying to select who I want to interview. I want them to post the job information online, collect the resumes for me to review (from the people who don't send theirs directly to me), and then contact the prospective candidates to schedule the interview times. No more than that. I had one HR manager who was screening candidates because of geography. A couple of candidates got through the gate keepers via phone and followed-up with me to ask if I'd received their information. I hadn't. When I asked the HR manager about these candidates, he informed me that he hadn't passed on their resumes because they weren't already living in the city where we were located. I had not put any geographic restrictions on my requirements. If someone is a good candidate and wants to move to take the job, why wouldn't I want them? The fact that this company didn't pay moving costs (the cheap-o's) would come up in the interview or could even be stated when scheduling the interview. The candidates could decide from there whether they wanted to move forward with the interview. The point of this long paragraph is to show that if you go only to HR and talk only with HR, you're more likely to get lost in the shuffle. This is a link to another Fast Company article from around 1997 that I still love. It's called "Interview with a Head Hunter" and I think it's actually been updated. It gives a lot of really good advice and a lot of the things I've been doing for the last twelve years came from this article.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Resume via FedEx

I think it was back in about 2000 that I read an article in Inc. magazine about a company that sent out its sales information to potential clients via FedEx or Priority Mail. The owner asked the question, "Have you ever received a FedEx or Priority Mail envelope and not opened it?" I think the answer for most people is "No, I haven't," but I think most of us have received a normal envelope and tossed it aside for a few days.

After reading this article, I took this philosophy and transferred it to the way I send out my resume and cover letter. Depending on what the posting requirements are for the job I will still follow their directions and post on their website or send via email. But, I also always find out who the hiring manager is and/or head of the department and send my resume and cover letter to that person(s) via FedEx, specifically addressed to him/her. In my cover letter I note that I have also posted the resume on their website (or whatever their directions are) so they don't think I'm skirting the company's directions. When I've followed up the week after sending my information (see previous posting on follow-up), I've gotten responses from those follow-ups that let me know they saw my resume. Often they've been interviews. On a couple of occasions they weren't, but I got direct responses from the person to whom I sent my resume letting me know that he/she had reviewed my resume but that they were going to be interviewing other candidates.

I realize that this can get expensive, especially in this economy. There are a couple of things to note here: 1) This goes back to a statement in an early posting, one that some chicken-assed anonymous commenter didn't understand, and it is that I don't "carpet bomb" my resume to organizations. I specifically target jobs I want to pursue. The cost isn't enormous. 2) If you're just starting out, and because of this economy, I realize that entry level sports professionals may have to apply for quite a few jobs. This is an investment in your future. Are you willing to sacrifice a few beers or movies to try to land your dream job? The $20 spent on sending a FedEx can be steep. I'm not oblivious to that. There are a couple of other options to consider. FedEx offers two day delivery for a little less money that is still in the FedEx envelope. I'm not 100% sure about this, but US Postal Service Priority Mail may be cheaper. That's another option. (I'm not a fan of UPS at all after being screwed by them so many times on shipments. I have no idea what their rates are, but if you're comfortable using them, check out their rates.) More likely for young students, you can determine your budget for how many you can send and then send only your top choices your information via FedEx.

Will this always work? I can't guarantee anything, but I believe it's more likely that the person you want to see your resume will see it. That combined with your follow-up phone call may just get you an interview, which is all you want from sending in your resume. They're not going to look at your resume and immediately say "Let's hire this person without an interview." All you're looking for from this is the opportunity to get on the phone or in front of that person for an interview. Once that happens then you get the opportunity to sell yourself, which is a whole other process.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Follow-up on Internships and Jobs after You Apply

When you start sending out your resume and references to apply for internships or jobs, follow-up on the information you send. One of the things that people too often put in their cover letter is a statement such as "I look forward to hearing from you" or "I hope to hear from you soon." Hope is an important thing to have, but not when you're looking for a job, especially in this economic market. You need to be proactive and take control of your job search. Instead of one of those statements, write something more along the lines of "I will call you to follow-up next week." After you do that, though, you have to actually follow-up. Don't be shy about putting this statement. It's awkward at first when you start making those follow-up phone calls. It can seem like you're bugging someone, but the hiring manager is looking for good people who are proactive. When you call, you can simply state that you're calling to make sure they got your resume, let them know that you're very interested in the position, and ask if they've set dates for their interview schedule. It's important to become comfortable with this and do it. Here's a true story of an example of why it's important.

I was meeting with one of the managers at a local minor league baseball team this week and we were talking about his subject. He had an interesting story to relate. He was coaching basketball at a mid-major university a couple of years ago and one of the assistant coaches left. They received 65 resume packets from coaches wanting to fill the empty position. Some of them, he said, were really intricately created packets with video, details of their accomplishments, etc. Of those 65, only 3 of them followed-up with the head coach after they sent their resume. The only people the coach interviewed were the three who followed-up with him because they expressed a true interest and desire in the job.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Not So Obvious Opportunities

As students, there are a lot of opportunities to get experience and increase your network that might not be so obvious. I am a big proponent of working events that aren't full blown, several month long internships. You can gain a lot of experience from events that may only be a week or even a few days. Students should do some research and see what events are happening in the area where they live or where they may have family that they can stay with during spring break or winter break. It's generally pretty easy to volunteer for these events. Students can sign up as a general volunteer or even take the next step up. In that next step, students contact the organization, let them know that they will be in the area, send in their resume, and ask if they can volunteer to work the event for one of their areas.

For example, if a student lives in Atlanta, he could volunteer to work the ACC Basketball Tournament. Check the ACC website to find the name(s) of the person in charge of the tournament. Send that person a well-written cover letter and resume well in advance of the tournament. Let him/her know you're going to be in the area and that you're available to volunteer. If you can't volunteer through the ACC, check with the Atlanta Sports Council to see if they need volunteers, whether serving as a greeter at a host hotel or working transportation or some other area.

These types of events give you great insight into how different events and their specific pieces work. It also introduces you to new people from whom you can learn a lot just by being around them and having conversations with them. Give it a try. This is how I started my relationship with the ING New York City Marathon. Eight years later I'm still working with them.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Passion (again)

I've written about this before, but wanted to hit on it again. I've had a couple of students (not many) stop by my office lately to ask about future careers and the first or second question that has popped out of their mouths was about salaries in sports. I'm honest with them and tell them that it won't come in the early years, but it could come around year ten or so if they work hard. What I also tell them, though, is that they will love what they do.

I come from a very blue collar family. My parents went to work at jobs they didn't enjoy because that's what they needed to do to support the family. They didn't pursue their dreams. My aunts and uncles were the same way. Because of this, I knew very early on that I had to love whatever I did for a living. (Again, that's why I jump around so much. When I stop enjoying it or stop being challenged by it, I won't do it and be miserable.) I saw my parents pretty much hate their jobs and I vowed I would never do that. They went everyday and often worked overtime, but they didn't enjoy it.

The thing that I want to address is the idea that you need to do something you love, something for which you have passion. Money be damned. (See older blog on the difference between drive and passion.) Yes, we all need money to live and we all want to make a lot of money and be comfortable, but it's also important to love what you do. If you have a passion for sports and the sports business you're going to enjoy going to work, even if you have to make some sacrifices in the early years.

My friend Nick came and spoke in one of my classes recently. He hit on a very true point (and a funny one when he delivered it). The vast majority of people don't grow up rooting for companies. They don't come to school and say, "Wow! Did you see the decision that Staples made last week? How cool was that? What do you think that's going to mean long term for the company?" His point was that people don't grow up saying things like that about businesses. They grow up talking about sports and decisions that sports teams make. If you work in the sports industry you get to be a part of that. It's different even from being a fan. You're a part of the business, and that's even more fun than being a fan. You get to be a contributor. Consider that when you start to think about your future career.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Learn to Think for Yourself

If there is one thing that has bothered me more than any other in my first semester of teaching it is the fact that too many of my students don't want to think for themselves. They want me (and others) to tell them what to do and what to think. I've had students who I advise come into my office to schedule classes and not know what classes they need to graduate. OK, maybe no one has shown them how to tell. I accepted that for this semester and then spent the time to walk them through the graduation audit report so that they know. After that, though, came things I didn't understand. I have upper level students tell me that they've never had to think about what they want to take because their adviser would pick out their classes for them. (A few students also told one of the other professors about me that "She makes us pick out our own classes!" Go figure.) I've tried to explain that although that would be much easier for me because I could quickly run through and do that for each person without them even having to be in my office, it isn't what's best for them. Also, if I picked out their classes, I'd have them in requirement classes I like, things like Russian Lit and Middle Eastern History. I gave them a hall pass for this semester, but told them I expect them to come in next time with at least an idea of what they need/want to take.

My favorite story came from a fellow professor who had a student come in and ask for a catalog. A fellow student (maybe her boyfriend) had to come up with the classes he thought he wanted to take before meeting with his adviser (me). His girlfriend told the professor that I had made the statement that I wasn't their mom. I would help them and direct them and guide them, but not do for them, which I did say to students. The funny part to me, though, is that I was trying to get students to think for themselves and he turned to his girlfriend to do it for him, still not thinking for himself!

I often get asked, too, if I will find internships for them. The answer I give them is that I will help them find an internship. I will go to the ends of the earth to help them find an internship that fits their interests and needs, help them prepare their resume and cover letter, do mock interviews, you name it, but I will not hand hold or babysit. At some point they have to be able to do for themselves.

I've had this posting drafted for over a month. I'm prompted to post it after a conversation with a professor in my division who has been teaching for nearly 30 years noted the same thing today about his students. One of the most important things you can take away from your education is the ability to think for yourself. Your professors aren't here to do everything for you. They're here to help you learn to think for yourself so that you can go out and achieve your dreams.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Recommendation Letters

Several weeks ago, a student I've taught in one class came in and asked if I'd write him a recommendation letter for grad school if one of his others from his summer internship manager didn't come through. I said I would. Well, late last week (the 22nd, I think), he came back and asked if I'd write the letter, and then proceeded to tell me that the deadline for submission of his materials was February 1st. It's a trite phrase, but lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on someone else's part.

If you're going to have someone write you a recommendation letter for graduate school, here are some things that I would consider basic etiquette for you to do. Even if they know you pretty well, these are some basic courtesies that will probably make them think that much more highly of your level of professionalism.

1) Don't wait until the last minute. Give them plenty of time.

2) Provide them with a copy of your resume so they can see what you've done. They may not know everything you've done. With my student, I know he did one internship last summer, but other than that, I've no idea. I'm not even sure if he is a double major or works a job in addition to going to school and being an athlete or what exactly his career goals are...no clue.

3) I almost always give the student a copy of the letter, but if there is a form from the university that asks if the student can see it, I appreciate the fact when a student checks "no" ahead of time. This student filled out the form in front of me, checked "yes" and said, "I'm sure I'll see it anyway." I hadn't told him I'd give him a copy. When I write letters I put them in an envelope and sign the flap so that the school knows the student didn't forge or alter the letter. It's pretty common practice. This schools instructions even stated to do that. He for sure wasn't going to see that copy. It was pretty ballsy, I thought, to assume that he would get a copy. He didn't ask for one. If you don't specifically ask for one, don't automatically expect to get one.

4) I would have appreciated if he had taken even 5 minutes to talk to me a little bit. I would have been interested to hear (and would have asked) why he wanted to get into that program, what he thinks he might want to do in the future, what other experience he had is sports, etc. He just rushed in, asked if I'd write the letter, and then dashed out. He returned the next day to give me the form that went with the letter.

I was able to write a positive letter, but it wasn't nearly as detailed and specific as it could have been.

I'd be interested to know what else other people may ask/expect/require from students who ask for recommendation letters. I know some people make the student write the first draft and then edit from there. That's always a possibility, too.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Continuous Learning

"In times of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists." --Eric Hoffer

I'm routinely amazed when I see speakers at seminars or guest speakers in classes and look around to see that most of the audience (particularly students), aren't taking notes. I realize that not everyone is interested in every speaker, but I've been in rooms with incredibly successful people in the sports industry and seen no one taking notes on what they said. I guess my view is that there's got to be something I can learn from this person, even if it's something very basic. If they've gotten to a relatively high level in a sports organization they know something worth passing on, and maybe it's something that will help me in my career. I certainly don't know it all and know that I have tons to learn. Maybe my philosophy goes along with my being an information junkie--wanting to know things just for the sake of knowing them. I don't know if people are bored of if they think they have nothing else to learn. Continuous learning is not only an advantage, I believe it's a necessity with the speed that things change today.

I'm teaching a very informal class that helps students find out what they want to do, helps them develop interview skills, create a resume and cover letter, learn about networking, etc. There are no tests. I don't "make" them take notes. I have a guest speaker coming in tomorrow who has worked for NFL Films, the New York Giants, and the NFL Management Council. He's not much older than the students. He's going to present six things that he wishes he would have known/done as an undergrad just a few years ago that would have been beneficial to his career. It will be interesting to see how many students view this as a learning opportunity rather than just an opportunity to not have a regular class session.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Technology

If you're looking for an area of sports where it will be relatively easy to find an internship or job, compared to traditional areas of sports, I have one word for you: technology. Especially as it relates to marketing, if you know how to take technology and use it in the capacity of marketing, you've got what Willy Wonka would call the Golden Ticket. Look at all the positions that are listed for database marketing/database administration and CRM (Customer Relationship Management). When you start thinking about content management, SEO (search engine optimization), SEM (search engine marketing), the use of YouTube, Twitter, text messaging/SMS, the third screen (phones/PDAs are the third screen--TV is the first screen, computers are the second), Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, PageFlakes, Flickr, etc., and countless other technologies--existing and not yet developed--there are some great opportunities out there.  There are opportunities in the phigital realm (phigital = the combination of the physical and digital world).

Think about the Obama campaign and their use of technology.  YouTube and viral video.  A custom created iPhone app.  Text messaging to announce Joe Biden as the VP candidate.  YouTube weekly address to the nation.  All of these, and more, are great uses of technology that can carry over to business.  I remember reading several of the articles during the campaign and thinking that companies who haven't, yet, are now going to jump all over the use of this type of technology to promote their companies.  The Obama campaign proved many things, and one of them was that technology can be used very effectively to communicate a message.  If I were a sports organization, I'd be looking heavily for someone who could bring new marketing outlets like these to my company and effectively use them.

If you're currently a student, your classes may not even cover a lot of this.  Some of these things may be ones with which you're somewhat familiar just because they're a common part of your generation.  Regardless though, you will probably need to learn some in depth aspects about the technologies.  You may need to read books and pursue online training. For any applicable parts, I highly recommend Lynda.com for online training.  I've been using that site for a couple of years and am a huge fan of it.  Books, blogs, and online articles are abundant on these topics.  Seek them out.  Like many of these technologies, the cost of learning about them is free because you can easily go to the Internet to learn about them.  Take advantage of the information out there and make technology one of your areas of expertise.  I'd be willing to bet that it will pay off.