Landing an internship with a sports team is a dream for many college students. Unfortunately, since demand for these internships is high, getting your foot in the door can be tough. Here are eight tips to help you get ahead of the pack and land a fantastic sports internship.
Your interest in sports probably won’t be enough to get you picked for a sports internship. A degree in communications, marketing, business management, or accounting will show that you have the skills necessary for a sports internship. While it is possible to land an internship with a degree in an unrelated field, such as history or education, you’ll need to have the right contacts or be able to do work that others won’t want to do.
There are several ways you can find out about sports internships. Research your favorite coaches, analysts, and agents to see how they got started, what companies they worked for, and if they have any suggestions. Depending on what type of sport(s) you are interested in, internship schedules can vary widely. Many sports internship programs are done on a seasonal basis rather than by semester, so it’s a good idea to start researching well in advance of when you actually plan on having an internship.
If you have little experience working with sports teams, you may want to look for an internship with a local team before trying to get something more high-profile. You could even do an internship while still in high school or over the summer. Any internship is a great opportunity to gain experience and build relationships. Besides, you never know what contacts you might make.
Many people who have jobs with professional sports teams started at the bottom and worked their way up. If the only job you can find involves picking up towels or cleaning the locker room, you should take it anyway. You will still have the opportunity to make contacts with players, coaches, managers, and operations staff. And if you have a good attitude, it’s likely that you will move up quickly.
It’s not enough to look on a company’s website. Call up the companies that interest you and ask to personally speak with the internship coordinator. Make sure you get all the information, including application deadlines, location, hours, requirements, and salary or credit options. Put together a list of the internships that interest you with the internship details, names and numbers of contacts, and deadlines.
Write a resume and cover letter that will help you stand out from the pack. You may want to include a photo or email a video in which you explain your credentials. Give specific examples of how you would be able to help the team and what you would be willing to do (social marketing, research, answering phones, making spreadsheets, etc.). You could even do some research that would be of value to the sports team, such as organizing data or coming up with a proposal for social networking strategies.
Sports businesses have several conferences and conventions throughout the year that offer great opportunities for networking. Dress professionally and bring copies of your resume – you never know who you might meet. Sometimes these types of conventions even offer student discounts. You could also organize a group trip with your school’s career services center.
Even if you’re the perfect candidate for an internship, it may simply be the wrong time. If you don’t land an internship with your dream team, don’t give up! Contact them on a regular basis (but not so much that it’s annoying).You may also want to send your resume out to more than one person in an agency, including agents, operations managers, marketing directors, and public relations directors. You could even send notes with interesting articles or statistics that they may find useful, or offer to do online research for them from home. It’s also important to remember that if one opportunity doesn’t work out, a better one might be right around the corner.
This is a guest post by Lindsey Weber. Lindsey is a Counselor for high school students and has been practicing for 9 years.
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