The Work in Sports Podcast - Insider Advice for Sports Careers

The Work in Sports Podcast - Insider Advice for Sports Careers


Impressing Your Way to an Entry Level Sports Job – Work In Sports Podcast

August 19, 2019

Learn how to present yourself in a favorable light to your internship coordinator and how it may help you land that entry level sports job you dream of. Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkinSports.com and this is the work in sports podcast.If I sound a little extra peppy today there are a few reasons for it:Reason #1: A friend asked me if I’ve been feeling down lately because my tone on the podcast has been very serious. Well, no, I feel great, but sometimes I worry I’m a little too excited, and then I tone things down a bit and try to sound like professional guy… but in my heart of hearts I’m like a giddy kid all the time.In fact, at Work in Sports they recently recorded my “giggle” during one of my interviews, turned it into a loop and play it often on our internal system -- we use basecamp - it’s pretty cool.Reason #2: We are unleashing our online course this fall semester in many schools and it has me really excited. I’ve worked really hard building out our Sports Career Game Plan courses, and so far the reception has been great. Now if your school isn’t implementing our course as past of their curriculum - you have two choices. Tell your professors about it, and have them reach out to me bclapp@workinsports.com. OR you can purchase it as an individual - visit workinsports.com/gameplan for more info. Or you can just hit me up and we can chat about it.Reason #3 - it is summer and I love summer. I don’t care that it is hot, I don’t care that it is sweaty. I love it and summer makes me really happy. So if I’m in a particularly good mood today those are some of the reasons why. Oh right, also, my interview with james kimbal VP of Operations for UFC Performance Institute was awesome if you haven’t listened to that you should. And tomorrow I’m interviewing Reshida Gayle, who is the Director of Talent Marketing for GSE Worldwide - she works with top athletes like Devonta Freeman on their personal marketing. Super psyched about that - she’ll be the interview this Wednesday.Alright, enough preamble - let’s get to todays question.Jimmy from Massachusetts. Says here Jimmy is from Worcester, which is about 20 minutes from where I grew up in Bolton, Mass. Head right down 290 and boom you’re in Worcester.  Ok, Jimmy asks -- Hey Brian, thanks for all you do with the podcast, I’m amazed at all I’ve learned and how it is so much more targeted than what I learn in school. I spent my summer interning with a local team, and it has been a great experience. I took your advice and really focused on building relationships throughout my internship. I’ll tell you I feel like I got more out of this internship experience than any prior because I had a plan, strategy and focus going in. One very interesting thing happened,  I went to my internship coordinator and asked her about full-time positions with the team and how I can make myself the best possible candidate. She responded with a smile and said “come back to me next week and pitch me on why I should be interested in you full-time?”So I have a meeting set with her later this week and was wondering if you could help me pitch myself -- I’ve been struggling.Ok let’s start with this. I love your internship coordinator. Don’t tell her I said that. But I love this idea.You tell me why I should hire you. Awesome.What is she looking for?What you’ve learnedConfidenceUnderstanding of the big pictureOrganizational ImpactDesire levelI’ll summarize this for you, she’s trying to see your heart. She wants to know how much this means to you, how seriously you will take this assignment, and how you’ve grown since you started the internship.Now, let's dive into this a little deeper I’m not going to do the assignment for you, hut I am going to help you frame your mind so you can present yourself in the best possible way.This knowledge is important to anyone who has had an internship an...