One of a Kind: How College Athletes Bring a Unique Skill Set to the Real World - Josh Reed

 Most people think college athletics are all about football programs big enough to be considered cities, pay to play scandals and weekend blowouts that even The White House Party Crashers would be obliged to attend. Perhaps there are some truths to these perceptions because every other day the media breaks a story that depicts these athletes as benefit receiving, academic inept heathens that are strolling through their college experience on the back of a Budweiser truck in route to collecting that seven figure pay day. For the Reggie Bush’s in the world of intercollegiate athletics this is a reality, but for the other 380,000 student-athletes that are obtaining degrees and are planning to become contributing members of society, what they have learned through their respective sports are more applicable in the real world then most people can even fathom.

The dedication that it takes to be a collegiate athlete is second to none. Trying to balance the commitments to your team, a full-time student’s workload and everyday life can be overwhelming. Whether the athletes realize it or not, the character attributes they are taking from their unique college experience can stack up with even the most accomplished, prestigious internship obtaining, student government entrenched students as they battle head to head on the gridiron of big business.

Employers are looking for people who bring something unique to the table and employees are hoping they get somebody that will help them be more successful. What is more unique and attractive than a person who knows what it means to work for a common goal and function as part of a team? A person that knows how to listen to those in positions of power and accomplish the tasks that are asked of them. Somebody who can balance multiple things at once without feeling overwhelmed, while making the necessary sacrifices without complaint in order to be successful. Someone who knows how to put the team first, respect those around him or her, turn failure into success, and possess the ability to be teachable.

Is there skepticism in this argument? There shouldn’t be. Replace uniforms with suits, championship rings with meeting quotas, the field with cubicles, coaches with bosses, opponents with competitors, road series with business trips and you have somebody with more experience than even Oxford can provide.

For those of you that have been able to participate in intercollegiate athletics, continue to be grateful. Don’t fear the fact that you may not have as much work experience as your competitors because what you have learned over the past four years is a foundation that will allow you to be successful in all your endeavors. For those of you that have a misconception about athletes, don’t let ESPN blind you from the reality that these STUDENT- athletes have worked their entire lives to achieve a goal, the same work ethic that will be put into action in the board room.

This is a world that is obsessed with results, especially in a work environment. Athletes have been groomed to strive for results but have never taken the process of obtaining success lightly. Athletics teaches you a lot about life, but they also produce unique and successful business persons long after they hang up the cleats, whether anybody realizes it or not.

- Josh Reed

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Big Girl Job: On the Hunt for the Elusive… Vol . 2: Thinking Outside the Bun

Big Girl Job: On the Hunt for the Elusive…

Vol . 2: Thinking Outside the Bun

Your first job.  Dreams of something fancy, glamorous and sexy are no doubt swirling through your head.  You imagine that when you whip out your business cards from that suave holder you picked up at Bergdorf Goodman (naturally you'll be living the Patrick Bateman-esque high life in New York City or some other upscale metropolitan locale), the opposite sex will be tripping over themselves to buy you an expensive cocktail of sorts.  You'll show up to office around 8 a.m., take a long, expensive lunch  with your equally glamorous and sexy coworkers (on your expense account, nonetheless), and leave around 6 p.m.  Just in time to grab a cab and dash off to make your reservations at some swanky restaurant that turns into a lounge after dinner service.  You'll get to bed sometime around 1 a.m., get up the next morning and do it all over again. Sound nice?  Pull your head out of the clouds, princess.  Unless you graduated Summa Cum Laude from an Ivy League school, one of your immediate family members just happens to be the C.E.O. of a Fortune 50 company/major securities firm, or your family is just plain loaded and willing to fund your debauchery until you're able to achieve a salary that will maintain that lifestyle on your own, you're stuck down in the dirt with the rest of us. 

If you're like most college upper classmen, your primary concern as of this exact moment is more than likely to be planning an "epic" weekend.  Whether this is hiking the barely covered mountains to find some pre-season snow, checking out a concert, seeing a movie, drinking to your heart’s content, or all of the above, is quite irrelevant.  As mentioned in a previous article, some of that time between now and your "epic" weekend should be spent thinking about your post-graduation plans.  The focus of this month's article, however, is not to preach to you in generalized terms that you should be thinking about it.  Hopefully you've wizened up a little and started grinding your mental gears in the direction of some semblance of a plan.  This month will be dedicated entirely towards the idea of employment, where to look, how to get there, and how to think outside the bun enough to find yourself in a position that you love, or that at the very least one that you can tolerate.

The first misstep that most college students make when looking and applying for positions, as I mentioned in my previous article, is reading the job description and neglecting the requirements.   Most entry level positions boast job descriptions that a fairly well-trained circus animal could  meet, and you may think that certain classes that you've taken qualify you as having the necessary experience to obtain certain jobs.  However, if you can't prove on your very limited resume that you have the necessary qualifications stipulated in the job requirements, no employer is going to take a second look at your resume. 

Allow me a moment to put things in perspective for those of you who have never been on the other end of the hiring process.  First, a meeting (or series of meetings) is held in order to determine what position(s) is(are) available, what the job description is , how much the person will be paid, and how many positions are necessary to bring the company to the optimal level of employee capacity.  Then, once all those details are hammered out, an ad is placed.  Then the resume submissions start coming in.  By hundreds, and sometimes by the thousands.  Each resume has to be screened for qualifications.  The initial "Yes" resumes are placed in one pile, and the "No" resumes in another to be kept "on file" and stored for the mandatory six months that the federal government requires.  The "Yes" resumes are then more carefully screened to determine which candidates are to be called in for a series of interviews.  Depending on the company and the candidates selected, this process can include anywhere from one to three interviews either by phone, in person, or sometimes even video conference. 

While this all sounds very generic and simple, consider the undertaking of these human resources employees.  Going through resumes is an exhausting process, and when the pile in front of you is brushing the ceiling, you will do nearly anything to make the process go by faster.  A spelling mistake? In the "No" pile.  Grammar mistake? "No" pile.  Imperfection in your formatting? "No" pile.  The list of small infractions that land you in the “No” pile is seemingly endless; and because there are so many candidates applying to the company, it’s easy to throw one out because of a lack of attention to detail.  Think about it this way: for every position that becomes available, there are at least five people applying for it, and you can bet that at least three of them have spent hours custom-tailoring their resume to fit every specification, qualification, and requirement listed in the job description. The broken record asks, “Where does this leave you?”  Here are some basic ways to help you save yourself some time, and more than likely some disappointment, in your job hunt.  1.  Look at the requirements for relevant experience.  If they are asking for 5+ years of experience in a related field, your college degree is going to mean diddly squat to them.  They obviously want someone who is tried and true in the field.  Don’t bother applying to this one.  2. Make sure you are able to complete most, if not all, of the tasks listed in the requirements section.  Dreamweaver, and that’s listed as a requirement, don’t bother applying.  3. Make sure what you’re putting on your resume is relevant to the position.  If you are applying for an analyst position with Deloitte & Touche in Austin, TX in their human capital division, it’s rather unlikely that they will want to hear about how you were able to bus tables like nobody’s business at  Chili’s.  Unless you were in a management or some kind of administrative position, it will be as irrelevant to them as the price of rice in China.  Which leads me to my next point; how do you make your resume stand out from the rest?

Resumes are a dime a dozen.  Everyone has one, and most of them are crap.  One thing that is so often overlooked when seeking a job is the formatting and content of a resume.  If you pulled it from a template in Microsoft Word, chances are your resume is laughable and looks like it was put together by a  five-year-old.  Education section first?  Giggle.  Extraneous information abound?  Chuckle.  Irrelevant and altogether pathetic work experience listed? Laugh.  Objective Tagline instead of Position Sought?  Potential for a company-wide email exploiting your stupidity for everyone else’s amusement.  I’ve seen it happen.  In order to avoid such unknowing embarrassment, there are select and very simple guidelines to follow.  Make sure your work experience is listed first and foremost.  That is what the employer cares about the most.  Can you do the job they’re asking you?  Yes or No.  List your education second.  Unless you’ve received an inordinate amount of higher education, this section should be fairly small and to the point.  And ALWAYS make sure to list any certificates, awards, or other extracurricular activities.  This shows them that you actually are a human and not just a robot that will say “does not compute” when presented with a foreign task.  Also, make sure you list things that show that you actually have a work ethic.  Unless you’re applying for a job as a production assistant, I doubt any company is going to care that you enjoy watching movies in your spare time.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  The career center at your university should be able to help you out with this kind of thing,

Now that you’ve been thoroughly bored with things that you may believe to be common sense, let’s get to the good stuff.  You’ve got your resume in order (God willing…), and you’re ready to start hitting the send button on those online applications and emails. Where are you going to find jobs? And how are you going to determine what you are and are not qualified for? At this juncture, you should have some semblance of an idea of what you want to do.  Look at your strengths and play to them.  If you have worked in restaurants for most of your college career, and completed a rather underwhelming internship that is unlikely to get you anywhere, do not despair.  Restaurants and food service is a multi-billion dollar industry with more facets than the Hope Diamond, and you can look to each one of them as a potential career path.  If the actual restaurant doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you can go work for a food distributor like Sysco or Nicolas.  Or, if you have the right combination of experience and education, you may be able to get in with a restaurant consulting firm. 

The specifics of my example are irrelevant.  The point is every industry has many facets and different ways to get in.  And you have to look at all of them.  Think outside the bun and get creative with things.  You may find yourself discovering a niche in the market that you didn’t even know existed and that was seemingly made just for you.  Just make sure your resume looks good enough, and that you can fulfill all the requirements of the position, so the company will actually consider hiring you. 

- Kelly Sabey

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STUDENT: How Important Is Your Major? A Four Part Series

These days, choosing the correct major can be confusing. More and more, I listen to current students and recent graduates discussing the necessity of having a degree, but many also claim that no one really cares what major you have.

How encouraging…

Do businesses really care whether employees specialize or not? Is there a difference between a political science and business administration major to a potential employer? Were those additional two years of schooling and 20 years of loan payments worth changing your major from communications to accounting?

These questions are vital to students, especially in an economy where businesses can get experienced, tested, professional employees for what they paid their secretary clerks in 2006. Perhaps the alternative to underemployment is starting a business, but do you need a degree to do that? I have put myself on the hunt to answer these questions, not only for you, but also for myself.

Each month I will be working with corporations, entrepreneurs, university advisors, and students on providing legitimate answers to a very important question: Is a specialized major truly important to future success?  I will post their responses and opinions in this investigation over the importance of a student’s major.

I invite you to tag along, post comments, and provide any insight that you might have.

Until next time,

Alex Grimnes

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Big Girl Job: On the Hunt for the Elusive…

Vol . 1: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Senior year of college: a time most often spent desperately clinging to the last remaining vestiges of youth and freedom before the impending doom of graduation, when you’re ousted from your warm, carefree college existence and into the cold, cruel, “real” world.  And contrary to what your blithe existence of the last year of college tells you, that impending doom is closer than you may think.

Since childhood, we’ve heard adults reiterate Thomas Jefferson’s famed quote “Do not put off till tomorrow what you can do today” over and over in an attempt to dissuade us from a youthful norm:  procrastination.   And as you attempt to apply this phrase to your first semester mid-terms, papers, and, eventually, your finals, I invite you to ponder something else:  What are you going to do when you graduate?  For most, this question is often ignored  until halfway through second semester, or possibly ,in a worst case scenario), after graduation. 

Consider this.  Upon that fateful day of hideous mortar boards and equally disgusting graduation gowns, you will be one of hundreds of thousands of young people walking the line.  And odds are that a very high percentage of them will be looking for a job.  Where does this leave you?  If you’ve waited until after graduation to even consider the idea of employment, the odds are stacked against you.  In a down economy, where the unemployment percentage is stuck, and seemingly frozen, at 9.5%, finding a job is not what it used to be.  In the “old days”, when you graduated, jobs were practically thrown at you.  In a bull market where the Dow Jones Industrial Average was soaring at 14,000, companies were ecstatic to hire wet-nosed, bright-eyed young kids right out of college.  And many of you graduating this year may still be operating under the pretense that finding a job will somehow be easy.   Dispel any notions that lead you to that conclusion.  Many of you will also have unrealistic expectations of the jobs you will be offered and the salary you will be paid.  The days of being hired right out of college right into middle management with a $50,000 a year salary and awesome pension plan are gone.  In today’s world, you have to have a Bachelor's degree to even be considered for a position as an administrative assistant, which is essentially a very fancy title for a secretary.  On top of that, many companies are requiring at least  two to three years of experience in a professional setting for entry-level positions.   So this begs the question, where does this leave you?  What is YOUR plan? 

Despite all the doom and gloom, there is a silver lining, and something to be learned from those who have graduated before you.  And fortunately, it’s a very  simple concept.  Plan ahead.  Instead of waiting until the last minute to find a job, start looking NOW.  Most companies will accept resume submissions with a “graduation pending” in the education section.  In fact, they welcome it.  Not only will it get you ahead of the curve of 99% of the recently graduated job-seeking population  , but the companies to which you apply will appreciate your proactive attitude.  And if everything works out in your favor, upon graduation you will be able to say that you already have a job, which I’ve heard is an amazing feeling.

 Also, consider the companies to which you decide to apply.  Evaluate your major, your strengths, your weaknesses, your experience (professional or otherwise), and make sure that the jobs you are applying for are jobs you can realistically be considered for.  A large part of most peoples’ lack of success on a job hunt (myself included) is reading the job description and not necessarily the requirements.  You would be right in your thinking that answering phones, taking messages, penning correspondence and generating reports would be a job simple enough for a chimpanzee, but unless you can show on your page long resume that you are capable of doing so, no company is ever going to consider you for the position.  It brings light to the age old conundrum: you cannot be hired without experience, but if no one will hire you, how are you supposed to get experience?  One suggestion, which is in my opinion the best, is to get internships.  As awful as working for free might sound, an internship is by far the most efficient way to get the kind of professional experience that employers value so highly.   In addition, it will give you a more diversified pool to choose from when seeking out letters of recommendation, whether it be for graduate school or a company that offers more prestige.  There is also a large possibility of being hired on with the company for which you intern, pending that you like the environment and you play your cards right.

This is not to say that there isn’t a single college senior who doesn’t have a plan.  On the contrary, there are several people who have been working towards their respective career goals since day one of freshman year of high school.  But if you don’t find yourself among the select few who have their entire lives planned out in painstaking detail, now is the time to start.  Start planning and making decisions.  If you decide that working isn’t something that you want to start at the moment, start looking at graduate programs.  Know the tests you need to take, how many letters of recommendation you need, and what the other requirements are.  If you decide that you do want to find a job, start researching companies now.  Make use of the career centers at your respective universities, get your resume lined up, and look for internships.  It doesn’t so much matter what exactly you’re doing as long as you’re doing something that’s furthering you toward some kind of career goal.   It may seem asinine and pointless, but if you beat the rush, you will thank yourself.   You will never hear anyone, 50 years from now as they reflect back on their life, say “Man, I really wish I hadn’t planned ahead.”

-Kelly Sabey

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