Turn Your Passion for Sports into a GREAT JOB!
July 2nd, 2008 - byAll who read this have probably seen the NCAA commercial where the narrator says, ” there are over 380,000 NCAA athletes and most will be turning pro in something other than sports.” So how does being a collegiate student-athlete help you get a great job? Let me explain.
In my previous life as a foreign exchange trader for a large, international bank (over $60 Billion in assets), I took on the role of interviewing recent college graduates for entry-level positions. I traveled to the finest undergraduate schools including Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan business school. Without question, the most impressive and memorable interviews that I had were with students who also competed on those schools intercollegiate sports teams.
Why were they so impressive? 1) They were very poised and prepared for our conversation. They had done their homework on my company and they asked great questions that showed they knew more than just our company name. 2) They demonstrated very clearly the leadership skills I was looking for. They knew that to be a successful leader, you had to learn to follow first. They all experienced being a freshman and all that means to developing leadership skills. 3) I was looking for team players. All of these students had great stories that demonstrated their willingness to work for the good of the team. 4) They clearly had exceptional time management skills. In most cases, the student-athletes had a higher GPA than the other students I interviewed. To do that and maintain a disciplined training regiment was very impressive. As a big time employer in a highly competitive industry, all of these demonstrated skills were very important.
Now lets think about where these student-athletes initially gained these skills. It was going through the recruiting process as high school students. The interview skills a student athlete develops while building relationships with college coaches are skills they will use over and over again in life. So get the right coaching so you can be on top of your recruiting game!
Now here’s the real payoff: You may not believe this but I never hired any of those student-athlete college graduates who impressed me so much. Why? Well my lousy bank didn’t pay enough in salary for us to compete effectively with the other 3 or 4 job offers those students had! They always ended up choosing a higher paying job over my bank.