Sports Career Builders

Professional Development & Sports Career Management

More than 45 million people find themselves unemployed each year.  Millions of others try to increase their satisfaction within the workplace as well as advance their careers by looking for alternative jobs and opportunities.  Statistics show that you will make more than 10 job changes and between three and five career changes during your lifetime.

Many people transition into a sports career by accident.  They do little career planning, other than take advantage of opportunities that arise unexpectedly.  While chance and luck do play important roles in finding employment, when you plan for future sports career changes, you will experience even greater degrees of chance and luck!

Finding a job or changing a career in a systematic and well-planned manner is hard, yet rewarding work.  The task should first be based upon a clear understanding of the key ingredients that define jobs and careers.  Starting with this understanding, you should convert key concepts into action steps for implementing your job search.

A career is a series of related jobs which have common skill, interest and motivational bases.  You may change jobs several times without changing careers.  But once you change skills, interests and motivations, you change careers.

This process is not just for job seekers or those “on the outside, trying to get inside”, but also for the millions of professionals currently working in Sports in need of strategic action plans that help individuals to recognize where their career has been, where it is now, and where it is going.

Job Search Process

Networking plays a key role in the overall sports career development and job search process.  If you want to find a job or change careers in sports, you must first know how networking relates to other equally important career development and job search processes.

Finding a job in sports is both an art and a science. It encompasses a variety of basic facts, principles and skills you can learn, but you must also adapt to different situations.  “Learning how to find a job in sports” can be as important as “knowing how to perform a job.” Having marketable skills is essential to making job search strategies work effectively for you.

Four Step Career Development Process

1. Conduct a Self-Analysis…(Skill Set Driven)

Assess your skills, abilities, motivations, interest, values, temperament, experience and accomplishments.  Your basic strategy is to develop a firm foundation of information about yourself before proceeding to other stages in the career development process.  This assessment develops the necessary self-awareness upon which you can effectively communicate your qualifications to employers as well as focus and build your career.  Know your strengths, weaknesses, and what you do best.

2. Gather Career Information…(Marketplace Segment Driven)

Here you need to formulate goals, gather information about alternative jobs and sports careers through reading and talking to informed people.  Then narrow your alternatives to specific marketplace segments for which you have the highest degree of passion and interest. When you match your skill set with your passion, you will never work a day in your life.

3.  Develop Job Search Skills

Focus your career around specific job search skills for landing the job you want.  These skills are closely related to one another as a series of job search steps.  They involve conducting research, writing resumes and letters, prospecting and networking, conducting informational interviews, interviewing for a job, and negotiating salary and terms of employment.  Each of these skills involves well-defined strategies and tactics you must learn in order to be effective in the job market.

4. Implement Each Job Search Step

The final step emphasizes the importance of transforming understanding into action.  You do this by implementing each job search step which already incorporates the knowledge, skills and abilities you have acquired.

Organize and Sequence Your Job Search

The chart below further expands our career development process by examining the key elements in a successful job search.  It consists of a seven-step-process which relates your past, present and future.  Your past is well integrated into the process of finding a job or changing to a career in sports.  Therefore, you should feel comfortable conducting your job search.  It represents the best of what you are, in terms of your past and present accomplishments, as they relate to your present and future goals.  If you follow this type of job search, you will communicate your best self to employers.

Since the individual job search steps are interrelated, they should be followed in sequence.  If you fail to properly complete the initial self-assessment steps, your job search may become haphazard, aimless and costly.  For example, you should never write a resume (step 3) before first assessing your skills (step 1) and identifying your objective (step 2).  You normally network (step 5) after assessing your skills (step 1), identifying your objective (step 2) writing a resume (step 3), and conducting research (step 4).  Indeed, relating step 1 to step 2 is critical to the successful implementation of all other job search steps.  You must complete steps 1 and 2 before continuing to the other steps.  Steps 3 to 6 can be conducted simultaneously because they complement and reinforce one another.

SPORTSEARCH:

STEP-BY-STEP

Try to sequence your job search as close to these steps as possible.  The true value of this sequencing will become very apparent as you implement your plan.

You must do more than just know how to find a job through networking.  In the sports industry, you need to constantly review your skills to make sure they are appropriate for the changing job market.  Once you have necessary skills to perform jobs, you can target your skills on particular jobs and careers that you do well and enjoy doing.  You will avoid the trap of trying to fit into jobs that are not conducive to your particular mix of skills, motivations, and abilities…the number one temptation and mistake while building your career path in Sports.

About Mark Tudi

Mark Tudi is the Founder of SPORTSEARCH, with its primary business activities completely focused on Human Capital Change Management for leading Organizations in over 75 Sports, Recreation and Live-Event Industry marketplace segments. Founded in 1988, SPORTSEARCH specializes in sourcing the critical layer of Executive Management, customized recruiting assignments, “Professional Door-Opening”, and leadership development. For over 30 years, Mark has established a high-profile track record in sports career development, with over 25,000 personal interviews and 850+ successful retained search assignments. He has represented the career interests and managed opportunities for many of the leading executives, personalities and organizations in Sports. His Client list includes members of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers’ Association (SGMA), the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), over 250 Professional Teams, Leagues and Sports Marketing Organizations, as well as several leading Corporate Sports Empires. In 1988, Mark created SPORTS CAREERS, the Industry’s original and most comprehensive Employment Resource Program, designed to help individuals build and manage a career path in Sports. During the 1990’s, he successfully financed the business through the ownership group of the Phoenix Suns, led by Jerry Colangelo, which was later sold to the Franklin Covey Corporation and established as a job board on CBS Sportsline.com. Since then, Mark re-acquired SPORTS CAREERS and has served over 250,000 members, 5,000 active Employers and over 15,000 filled positions at all levels through multiple strategic assets at WWW.SPORTSEARCHONLINE.COM. In addition, Mark founded the Sports & Entertainment Human Resource Forum (SEHRF) to build professional recognition and a unified Industry community for today’s Human Resource Managers, Hiring Authorities and Employers. Most recently, he resurrected the SPORTS CAREERS Conference, the Sports Industry’s first and largest meeting of its kind, where people managers and the career-oriented connect. Mark started his career in sports at the age of 23 by starting his own sporting goods sales agency and then helped build the annual sales volume to over $100 million for two of the nation’s leading Manufacturer’s Rep firms. A graduate of Bowling Green State University majoring in Journalism and Business Administration, Mark has written over 300 articles and made over 300 radio, television and speaking appearances. He is a Visiting Professor of Practice and Student Mentor for the Arizona State University and Grand Canyon University Sports Business Programs. Mark has been an active Member of the Phoenix Regional Sports Commission for the past 20 years, serving as the Chairman of the Board, Executive Director and currently on the Board of Directors for a 6th term. Most recently, Mark was appointed to the Advisory Board of The Perfect Game Foundation, a Non-Profit Organization dedicated to the funding of scholarships for Candidates focused on a Career in Baseball. He is also on the Board of Directors and a Chartered Founding Member of the International Retained Search Associates (IRSA). Some of Mark’s personal accomplishments include a 35+ year marriage with three children, successful rehabilitation from a fractured neck, coaching a three-time Arizona State champion youth soccer team, and is a founding Board Member and original Executive Director of the National Pain Foundation. Mark was also a highly ranked and decorated amateur wrestler…back in the day.

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Tagged as: Career Development, job search, Networking, Professional Development, Sports Careers