job search – BaylorS3E

How to leave a job without burning bridges

kirk_wakefield 2022, Integrity, S3 July 21, 2022July 21, 2022big quit, careers, going with grace, great resignation, job search, mentor, quitting, transition 0 Comment

By Kirk Wakefield and Chris Morales

In the middle of the Great Resignation–the Big Quit or the Great Reshuffle–no better time exists than now to emphasize the best way to go about resigning without looking like a quitter.

Let’s start from the time you first take a job until the time comes to move on.

Establish an open-handed relationship with your direct supervisor:
1. Openly share your career goals.
  - Be realistic. Look at career paths on LinkedIn to see how long it takes others to get where you want to go.
2. Plainly discuss areas you need to grow.
  - Focus on 1-2 at a time. You have 40+ years of your career to grow.
  - Be patient with yourself.
3. Schedule review meetings even if the supervisor doesn’t.
  - Be proactive but not overbearing.
Find a mentor:
1. Who has at least 10 years more experience than you.
2. Who is in a place or role you would someday like to be.
3. Who has your best interest at heart.
4. Who will tell you the hard truth when you’re wrong.
  - Respect them for saying it. Truth is a rare commodity. Treasure it.
5. Who will meet with you on a regular basis.
Keep in touch with your professors (and mentors):
1. Whatever you’re going through, they’ve heard it all before.
2. Since they’ve no stake in the matter they can give unbiased counsel.
3. Odds are they know your supervisor or others in that role and can provide insight.
4. They can help you if/when you are ready to move.
When issues arise that make you think about quitting:
1. Talk with your supervisor about it.
2. Don’t identify a problem without offering a solution.
3. Look for ways to help others.
  - Be an answer.
  - Leadership will notice.
4. Don’t complain to peers or others. It makes you part of the organization’s problem.
5. Remember all companies have their problems.
  - Learn to manage frustrations.
  - Learn to navigate political waters.
  - Make learning instead of leaving your first choice.
When you see opportunities to go elsewhere:
1. Discuss the pros and cons with your supervisor.
2. Run it by your mentor.
3. Run it by your professor.
4. Your supervisor, mentor and professor should never be surprised to learn you’re moving on.
If you ultimately decide to make a career change:
1. Provide at least two weeks notice.
2. Be organized and helpful. Provide detailed notes so others know what’s going on after you leave.
3. If you leave to a competitor, expect to be asked to leave immediately.
  - This is not about you.
  - Organizations have a business to run and have to protect clients, colleagues and intellectual property.

Professional courtesy, communications and grace go a long way on how you are remembered. Since the sports industry is small and everyone talks to everyone else across every league, all of these count double.

These same tips fit for almost any other big decision, like switching majors, churches, or other organizational commitments.

Other tips for how to manage careers in transition? Comment below.

9 Ways to Best Use Time to Build Your Sports Career

kirk_wakefield 2015, Careers, Integrity, Lead, Learn, Networking, Sales Management, Work ethic June 17, 2015October 31, 2018candour, give back, job search, leadership, leadership skills, marathon, patience, persistence, training 0 Comment

by Jeff Eldersveld – June 2015

The most valuable thing any sports professional can give is time. It doesn’t matter what stage in the career – looking for a job, recent hire at a job, or a seasoned veteran – because how time is spent defines one’s self and, ultimately, one’s career advancement.

Time management is often not formally taught in school or even at jobs for that matter. Yet it is directly mentioned in a vast majority of sports job descriptions. Entering college, students are thrust into an environment where they have to balance a workload of multiple classes, assignments, and extra-curricular activities. So, they become self-taught time management enthusiasts. Some students figure it out. But, what worked in college may not equate to success in the sports industry when it comes time to get a job, start a job, or continue as a seasoned veteran in this industry.

How to Best Use Time to Get a Job

Let’s focus on first-time job seekers.

1. Intentional Internships: To get a job you have to have experience and to get experience you have to have a job. So, the most important use of your time should be finding an internship that directly translates to a desired occupation, rather than just accepting whatever will give course credit. Sometimes that means pursuing & creating an internship where one didn’t exist. You must intentionally commit scheduled time to develop relationships & connections. Your university, as well as the sports organizations in your area, often provide opportunities to network with executives. You should be first in line and last to leave after getting their business cards.
2. Navigate Patience vs. Persistence: College students work their way through four years of school (or more) and have a job waiting for them when they graduate. Wrong. Not in sports! In a perfect world, sports administration programs would have rolling graduation dates to coincide with the off-seasons of the four major professional sports. Because that is not a reality, most first-time job seekers must be patient. The hiring cycle in sports does not always fit with recruiting practices of corporate America.

While patience is necessary, persistence is required to make sure your resume floats to the top of the pile when a job opens. Time must be spent reaching out to prospective employers letting them know about a related school project, something you saw in the S3 Report (duh), or some form of warm and NOT random conversation. Then when a job does open up, the decision becomes much easier on who the employer should reach out to first.

How to Best Use Time as a Recent Hire

Too many want to rush this stage without taking the time to develop their skill sets, instead diverting focus by looking for the next promotion or better job opportunity.

Figure1-Candour1 — Linking Candour to Leadership

3. Train like it’s a marathon, not a sprint: Rarely does someone become General Manager or Vice President before the age of 30. Developing leadership competencies (see right) don’t happen overnight or even in a few years. Marathon runners are known for superior endurance and mental toughness. Half of running a marathon (other than the 26.2 miles) is believing it can be done. Time must be devoted to training, learning how to crash through “the wall,” and sacrificing momentary pain for long-term accomplishment.

Recent hires need to work like this. Impress the person who hired you by showing a high level of commitment and ability to accomplish delegated tasks. It may seem tough to endure while wondering if that promotion is ever going to come. That is a mental block or wall to overcome. Stay focused on the task at hand. Gradually earn more responsibility as you train, ready to go the entire distance. Don’t be the one who stops halfway and hops on the bus for the easy ride back home.

How to Best Use Time as a Seasoned Veteran

As you develop leadership skills and are in a position to lead and help others, two of the best ways to use your time are to give back and to work with the right people.

4. Give Back: To become a “seasoned veteran,” others had to help along the way. Devote time to the next generation of up-and-coming sports industry superstars. These superstars could be looking for internships, first-time jobs, or taking a step to further their careers. But one thing is the same: a knowledge transfer from a veteran is what will help pave the way for the superstar’s future success.
5. Hire the Right People: There is no better way to spend time than building a highly functional team. The trick is to identify resources during one’s career that produce top talent either by coming up through a highly reputable organization (led by seasoned veterans) or college students who have been given a superstar skill set by their institutions. Once these areas have been identified, finding the right people becomes much more efficient. And with efficiency comes better productivity and more time to train – making the team that much better.

Time is Always Needed for This

Here are a few exercises to practice no matter what career stage.

6. Say Thank You: Handwritten notes are still king because they take time to write. But, don’t neglect a verbal thank you, either. Whether in the office or over the phone, saying thank you preaches humility – which is also why this act should be done to subordinates as much as superiors.
7. Learn More to Teach More: Take time to find your inner curiosity. Discover something new like learning HTML or attending an online seminar. Better yet, gain new knowledge and disseminate that knowledge amongst peers and coworkers. It doesn’t help anyone when knowledge is concealed.
8. Call Your Family: Whether it’s a special occasion like Father’s Day or just the start of a new week or month, make a point to reach out to your family – especially Mom and Dad. They are, after all, the ultimate seasoned veterans.
9. Find Your Happy Place: Everyone goes through difficult days where stress pops up in unforeseen ways. Powering through it some days may work but use these opportunities to “take a lap” around the office. With most teams, a lap means walking around the arena to clear the mind and refocus but it could also be in the form of a physical workout.

Cover photo courtesy of Jeff Davidson.

Students: Finding your Perfect Sports Business Employer

kirk_wakefield 2015, Careers, Learn January 31, 2015November 1, 2021coaching, culture, exposure, how to find a job in sports, job search, location, opportunity, pay scale in sports, salaries, sports jobs, training 0 Comment

by Brian Norman – January 2015

Students: Finding your Perfect Sports Business Employer

It’s your senior year. You’ve been through hundreds of hours of classroom instruction, completed multiple industry internships, and built your network extremely well. You’ve taken advantage of every opportunity. You are ready to jump head first into a full-time position within the sports business.

Now that you’re ready for the real world, how will you choose your perfect employer?

This is a simple question I ask every job candidate I interview, yet I’ve found it is very hard for many to answer with ease.

How can you find your perfect fit? Be honest with yourself, and decide what job characteristics are most important to you. You’ll find many of the biggest factors below.

Coaching

Who will you report to? Personally, I believe this is the most important aspect of finding the right fit. Your first boss in the sports business should be someone who will actively coach you in your first role.

They should genuinely care about your long-term success and develop a personalized plan to help you accomplish your goals. You should expect them to push you to accomplish your goals while also serving as a resource and support system along the way.

This individual should be proactive in providing feedback, as it is important for you to consistently understand your strengths and areas for improvement. They should know how to best deliver feedback, and how they can assist you in applying it in real time.

Finally, their reputation matters! It is important that your first supervisor is well respected and well connected as, more often than not; they are your primary connection to the rest of the industry.

Culture

Simply put, culture matters. Some questions to consider asking your future employer:

Does the leadership team promote and foster success at every level?
What type of traditions are unique to their organization?
Are best practices both shared and celebrated?
Do employees truly root for one another?
Is the organization proactive in seeking new opportunities and trying new ideas?
Is executive leadership accessible?
Do business departments collaborate well across the board, or do they operate in “silos?”

Training Program

You will learn more in your first 12 months in the business than you can ever imagine. Your training program is vital not only to your success in your first year, but it serves as the foundation for your entire career.

In Philadelphia, new sales executives with the 76ers go through an intensive two-week training program before they begin reaching out to prospective ticket buyers. This ensures they are truly ready to communicate with prospects, while also giving them the confidence to succeed early on.

While your initial training is important, consistent ongoing training is equally as crucial. Just like professional athletes, you must continue to fine tune your craft and work on making yourself better everyday.

In Philadelphia, the sales leadership team provides consistent ongoing training to their staff every Wednesday and Thursday morning. This training focuses on different topics each week, keeping in line with the current sales process in order to give members of the sales team the tools necessary to succeed.

Opportunity for Growth

The best hiring managers aren’t looking for the next entry-level candidate. They’re looking for someone to groom to be the next great sports business executive.

In order to do so, they must provide opportunities for entry-level employees to grow within the organization. Therefore, you should ensure these types of opportunities exist when applying for your first position.

Further, be sure to ask about additional opportunities that may exist after your first promotion. Does the organization you’re interviewing with offer their senior level employees the opportunity to further grow their careers through “track” programs? Remember, career growth doesn’t end after your first promotion!

Exposure

Your first job in the sports business should serve as an extension of your college curriculum. You should constantly look for opportunities to learn more about the industry.

In order to do gain this knowledge, you’ll undoubtedly need exposure to other members of the organization you work for.

Does your potential employer facilitate these opportunities? Are you given access to materials to broaden your knowledge of the business?

Pay Scale

Unless you’re a 20-year-old who can hit a 100-mph fastball, throw a 50-yard touchdown pass, or guard an NBA All-Star, chances are you’re never going to get rich off of your first job in professional sports. A typical first year sports business executive in ticket sales used to be less than $35,000 (when this was first written), but better offers today (2021) are in the $40s with a chance to make more on commissions and bonuses depending on the position and level of success.

Should an additional few thousand dollars be the deciding factor on which job you take? My advice? It should not. Make sure every other category measures up before relying on pay scale to make your decision.

For those looking to learn more about sports business compensation, click here to see inside sales rep salaries from Ziprecruiter of roughly $45k or $22/hour. The question really isn’t what your starting salary is; the question is where are you going?

Location

This factor is entirely personal and unique to every one. One thing is for sure, having the ability to move out of your hometown, city, or state drastically opens up your opportunities. There are 122 professional teams within the four major American sport leagues, or over 140 counting MLS.

Limiting yourself to 2-3 throughout your career can inhibit your growth. Nonetheless, it is important to find what makes most sense for your personal situation. Just know that you’ll spend about one-half of your waking hours with people you work with (see the graph in the cover photo). That’s a lot of time to spend with people if you pick the “right” location, but the wrong job.

How to Get Into Sponsorship Sales

kirk_wakefield 2014, Careers, Learn, Personal Development, Sell, Sponsorships October 21, 2014November 1, 2018Baylor IMG, career advice, corporate partnerships, Dallas Mavericks, Fox Sports, job search, San Antonio Spurs, sponsorship sales 0 Comment

**S3 Club Winners**: Lauren Bacon, Turquoise Early, Colten Renner

by Brooks Byers – October 2014

The Dallas Mavericks’ George Killebrew, the San Antonio Spurs’ Jeanne Garza and Baylor IMG’s Brian George shared advice and experiences in the sponsorship field at the Baylor S3 Club meeting on October 8th. Courtesy of Fox Sports Southwest and Fox Sports 1, we also provided some lucky Baylor S3 club members with court side seats at the Dallas Mavericks preseason game against the Pacers.

Why should students pursue a career in sports?

All three panelists spoke about the “diversity” of opportunities that selling sponsorships affords people. Sponsorship sales takes people outside the office, learning the inner workings of a range of businesses from “mom and pop stores to traditional giants” as Brian George put it. George Killebrew said it was great for people who enjoy “learning something new” every day.

On the other hand, the group warned of the long days that come with the job. Jeanne Garza said it’s important to remember that “it’s not what you see on ESPN.” Killebrew reminded everyone that “other jobs are more of a nine to five, Monday to Friday deal, and sports can always be a hobby. But, when the team schedule comes out for the year, it pretty much plans my life for the next few months.”

Getting into corporate partnerships

Killebrew’s advice for those interested in selling sponsorships was to gain experience in “multi-dimensional sales” like in the media field, where packaging groups of inventory for clients is more complex than selling individual products. Jeanne Garza suggested selling air at radio stations, since it’s more promotion-driven than TV, hence more like selling sponsorships for properties. Brian George underscored the need to be able to think outside the box. “We sell ideas, concepts and beliefs. Clients must know you have their best interests at heart.”

Women in sports

Jeanne Garza believes that opportunities for women in the field have grown significantly. She cautioned that women still have to be particularly careful in how they present themselves and in separating their professional and personal lives.

George Killebrew believes the talent pool today is much larger, and that the leadership teams he’s seen that included women were much more effective.

Career advice for students

Killebrew said that those wishing to enter the field need to be comfortable “introducing themselves and telling people what they want to do.”

He also said that a good resume is simply a “blueprint for telling your story, and a guide for our discussion” in the interview process.

Jeanne Garza made a case for cover letters because they’re a great way to show why you’re unique and a great fit for a position. She also added that any errors in the resume or cover letter are reason enough to not consider a candidate.

Brian George emphasized the importance of building relationships, especially in a small industry like sponsorship sales. Even if you just meet someone new and go to dinner with no immediate job prospects, you should still write a hand-written thank you note.

Cover photo source: Courtside Jones

So you want a career in sports? Here are a few tips…

kirk_wakefield 2014, Careers, Learn, Personal Development August 1, 2014November 1, 2018break into sports, careers, how to get, how to interview, how to leave, job search, jobs, openings in sports, sports business 0 Comment

by Shawn McGee – August 2014

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

That question crosses everyone’s mind at least once…if not countless times throughout our lives. It may seem a strange question to ask in an interview, but I ask it every time.

We think we know what we want to do for our career as we graduate college. But, in reality you rarely stay in the same position or with the same company for more than just a few years after accepting that first “real” job. For this very reason, I tell the students I mentor not to worry about where they will work or what their job will be when they first enter the workforce. Here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years.

Just Get Started

The real focus should be: Just get started. Once you are in an organization, do your job to the best of your ability–and better than anyone one else who is performing the same role. That will allow you the opportunity to then ask for more work (often at no increase in pay), which leads to more responsibility, a greater role within the company, a more prestigious title and more dollars in your pocket.

From there the long and winding road begins. Once you prove your value to an organization and have grown (or sharpened) your skills set, the doors begin to open. You are ready to look at other opportunities, ones that may have been out of your reach earlier in your career, but now fit well with your passion and your experience.

Know How to Leave Your Job

But, it is VERY important that as you begin to move from job to job, and up the corporate ladder, that you leave your job in better shape than you found it. And make sure the relationships created there remain firmly intact.

While this seems logical, leaving a company can be tricky. You basically tell them you are departing for greener pastures. How do you do that without leaving a bad taste in their collective mouths?

Personally meet with your manager first, before telling anyone else.
Do not mail it in from an effort perspective during your final days.
Plan how to effectively transfer responsibilities and complete unfinished work.
Continue acting as a model employee who wants the best for everyone.

You never know when you might once again work for this company or for anyone who works there somewhere else. Just ask Bill Sutton, who started and ran the Team Marketing and Business Operations department for the NBA. Originally, Bernie Mullins worked for him. Fast forward a few years later, after Bill left the NBA, Bill was working for Bernie…you never know if those who work for you or with you will later be your boss.

Know How Not to Leave a Job

So you interview for a different job and receive an offer. What if you choose not to accept? As a professional in the sports world you never know if you will later want to work for that company or someone else in that company who moves elsewhere.

Here’s how not to do it: Don’t email ten minutes prior to an interview stating “I will not be at the meeting as I have accepted another position that is paying more than double what you are offering.” That happened this past week. Really. Needless to say, that individual will not be interviewed again. The Golden Rule applies anywhere and it applies here: Communicate with others the way you would want to be communicated with.

Where Will You End Up?

You never really know.

Here’s my story. I started in pro soccer and spent 12 years pursuing my passion. I expected to work in soccer my entire career. But, thanks to good friends, George Killebrew (Dallas Mavericks) and John Alper (Legends), I was referred for the Associate AD position at SMU. I loved my job at SMU, but after two years my position was eliminated. I had opportunities to stay in Dallas in pro sports and in sports radio, but I took a gamble and moved my family to Atlanta to run the Atlanta Beat of Women’s Pro Soccer (WPS). After two seasons, the league was struggling and I was worried. However, a friend of mine interested in a position at Las Vegas Motor Speedway asked me to make a call to their VP of Sales, Mike Mossholder. I just happened to have worked with Mike in MLS. Mike shared with me that NASCAR was a great industry and that there was an open VP position at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS). Within three weeks, I accepted that position and packed up my life in Atlanta for the move to South Florida. I NEVER anticipated that I would be working NASCAR or living in Miami. But, the Lord leads us where he wants us to go and certainly had I not been let go from SMU, I would not have taken the position in Atlanta and therefore would not have reconnected with my friend…or ended up in Miami with HMS.

Look at Colin Faulkner, a Baylor S3 Board member and Baylor Bear. He knew soccer was played with a round ball, but that was about it. He had little experience, but he impressed me enough to give him a chance at the Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas). He got his foot in door. Then, he performed above any and all expectations. He created and maintained solid relationships across the industry. This, then, allowed him the opportunity to go to the Rangers (MLB), the Dallas Stars (NHL) and ultimately to the Cubs (MLB). He burned no bridges and always left his position better than he found it. And yes, I would hire him again in a second, but now there is no way I could afford him! And who knows, someday, I may be working for him.

It’s a Small World After All

People think the sports industry is huge. In reality, it is very small. Most of us know each other or at least know someone who knows that person.

So, create a solid personal brand and cultivate positive relationships. At the end of the day, it is simple: Get your foot in the door. Get started. Outwork everyone. Create relationships. Maintain relationships and don’t burn bridges. Work your way to your ultimate job. It is truly a long and winding road, but well worth the trip.

Cover photo courtesy of James Wheeler.