How to work in Sports

Hey everybody,

With my graduation and entrance into the job market, I thought it would be beneficial to post some stuff that I do in preparation to enter the sports industry. While there are some essentials such as Networking, Internships, and having a passion for sports, these are some things that I find interesting and helpful to me. Hopefully, you may find them interesting as well, and please comment on the bottom with what you are doing!

A) Read

I don't specifically mean books with this, and in fact I am behind on my personal reading currently. This can be blogs, websites, etc. that I check into from time to time and learn interesting content from. Sports is so progressive that it's important to stay on top of what is going on. Here are some sites that I look at:

1) http://www.thebusinessofsports.com - Russell Scibetti, Senior CRM/Database Marketing Manager for the New York Jets, began a website called the Business of Sports {dot} com. The website has turned out to be extremely successful blog that has lots of viewers and networking events throughout the year. They also have a cool feature where they highlight different "free agents" in the sports world and try to help them get a job. The website is categorized, which makes it easy to find articles in your interest area.

2) http://www.partnershipactivation.com/ - I found this site through the previous site, and specifically through the categorized sites. Partnership Activation is an area I would like to go into, and therefore having a site that constantly lists new and interesting activation ideas is great. They even release a monthly newsletter, which I highlighted in a previous post.

3) Forbes - SportzMoney - This section of Forbes (which in itself is a great resource for business) breaks down a lot of the financial details in Sports. For instance, a current article breaks down the most overpaid NBA players. They also have cool feature items such as the PowerPoint that the New York Knicks showed to LeBron James during their pursuit of him this summer.

4) Twitter - While you have to be following the right people, the amount of link sharing on Twitter is incredible, and it often will lead you to something interesting or awesome. People I recommend - New York Times Technology Section, Forbes, Russell Scibetti, Bill Simmons.

B) Computer Skills

While some of the projects assigned in classes are mostly pointless, building a great PowerPoint is not. If the project makes you learn one more computer skill, then it was not a waste. PowerPoint, PhotoShop, Excel, Word, and other computer programs are used all the time, and need to be mastered. I currently am learning the basics of PhotoShop because I have seen its importance in Marketing and Partnership Activation. If I can present that proficiency in an interview, I will be that much more attractive.

C) Community Service

I definitely love doing community service, which is why I am involved in it. It can however, be a great thing in sports. Community Relations is an intriguing area right now, and they constantly ask other members of staff to help with their volunteering programs. Being able to show a consistent history of community work will look great to a future employer.



Now I understand this is all hypothetical, because I am not employed full-time in sports yet, but these are things that I truly believe will make a difference in during an interview. Be sure to share what you are doing to help yourself get a job!