Where Do You Fit in the Sports Industry? Work In Sports Podcast

Hi everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast.A couple of housekeeping notes before we get into today’s sports career-focused question -- want to welcome the newest member of the Work In Sports team, Laura Wilhelm! Laura just recently joined us as an account executive, and she’ll be working directly with me to help sell some of our products focused on helping others advance in their career.  We have our sports career game plan, focused on the strategies and tactics necessary to get hired in the sports industry. We also have our student game plan, which is similarly focused on career and professional development, but for any industry. And we’ve also developed an entire suite of new tools to help sports employers hire the right staff more efficiently. As I know from going through the hiring process with Laura -- hiring is tough -- talent acquisition managers tell me all the time, we get tons of applicants, but most are not qualified. Well, we took that advice to heart and thought, how can we help sports employers find the most qualified candidates more efficiently. And we’ve done it. Laura will be reaching out to sports employers and helping introduce them to these new tools that can really help them hire more efficiently and effectively -- so welcome Laura, and if any of these products sound interesting to you, your organization, or for your school or university -- reach out and I’ll connect you with laura! Or you can talk to me - it’s not like I won’t talk to you -- I’m a talker, that won’t change. I just need help and laura is a boss. Ok, today’s topic -- Lots of people with time on their hands have been asking me -- how do I find out where I fit in the industry?Here’s a specific version of this question from Bart in Minnesota --“Hey Brian, big fan of the podcast thanks for your continued help and guidance. I’m a college sophomore and I love sports, but I have no idea what to do for my career path. Can you help me understand the future of the sports world, and where I may fit in it?”Jeez, Bart, that’s a heavy responsibility. First off, you don’t meet many Barts nowadays -- I had a great friend in high school named Bart, but I don’t think I know too many others. Bart Scott? I don’t know him, but that’s the only other Bart I can think of. Ok, back on topic -- Finding your fit in the industry is an important topic -- I started a few months back trying to make one of those cool diagrams, not an infographic, more of a choose your own adventure - based on sports careers.Like one of those -- do you like to talk to people -- yes or no -- follow that path, then different questions from there, with the idea it would land you in a category or bucks that could help you explore this area. It got too hard. I may resurface that idea later...but really when you start to break down all the possibilities, it’s like an ice cream headache waiting to happen.This is the advice I believe in wholeheartedly -- this is a personal decision, that is ultimately up to you, BUT I’ll help guide some. The first idea -- go to our site WorkInSports.com and enter in keyword searches for terms. NOT job terms, rather entry-level terms. Search for the word “associate” -- this will return a myriad of potential opportunities that are entry-level or close to it. I just did the search and came back with 1,852 sports jobs out of nearly 12k on our site.As I look through the openings I see:Associate Product ManagerAssociate ArtistAdvertising Operations AssociateProduction AssociateHR associatePro Tennis Operations AssociateSocial Media AssociateThe list goes on… read these job descriptions, and see what stands out to you. When I was coming up I knew I wanted to work in Sports TV, so I could lean that direction in my job search. For you, if you are unsure, you need to get where I was, and the best way to do that is by exposing yourself to the opportunities that are out there.