Stop Telling Sport Employers You Are a “Huge Fan!”
You have been searching for a sport internship and applied to several but have yet to receive any offers. If your application materials highlight that you have been a lifelong fan of a team or sport, you need to completely change your approach to make a different impression on employers. In most cases, promoting yourself as a “huge fan” or someone who played the game since childhood will cause employers to disregard you as a legitimate candidate for a job or internship in sports.
Most people outside the sport industry assume working in sports is a dream come true with access to every game, the chance to get to know players, and an office at a stadium. Everyone who works in sports must be a diehard fan who is looking to hire more diehard fans, right? Wrong. Identifying yourself as a super-fan only suggests that you are naïve about the sport industry and might be trying to get in for the wrong reasons.
Of course there are some perks to working in sports and some exciting moments when you get to soak up the behind-the-scenes access it provides, but most of the time it is a serious job. Sport employers are seeking talented people with strong work ethics who are in it for the long haul, even after discovering they will never become buddies with any players and will not actually watch games because they are too busy working.
I lead a sport business practicum each summer that provides students a chance to work on various projects for the Chicago Blackhawks organization. It is competitive to get into the course due to high demand for such a unique opportunity and the professionalism required to handle the responsibility, so students must apply with a cover letter and résumé. Over the years I have received cover letters from students that proudly stated:
They once met Bobby Hull
They grew up playing hockey in Chicago
They want to take my course because they have been a lifelong Blackhawks fan
They love attending Blackhawks games with their parents and cheering loudly for goals
There are many more versions of the same theme, but you get the picture. Framing yourself as a super-fan will surely eliminate you from consideration when sport employers have to reduce a pile of 75 applications down to a few serious finalists.
If the super-fan approach is one you have used in the past, reconsider how you are presenting yourself to employers. Focus on presenting examples from your internship/volunteer/job experiences that demonstrate your tireless work ethic, your attention to detail, and other qualifications that specifically address what the job/internship listing seeks. Instead of trying to impress employers with how much of a fan you are, try impressing them with the quality of your business communication skills and writing that is free of grammatical, spelling, punctuation, word choice or other errors.
Rather than trying to show sport employers that you are serious about a career in sports based on your fandom, show them some evidence that you have taken steps, no matter how small, toward gaining experience in the industry. Volunteer in your college or high school athletics department, do an internship with a local minor league baseball team – find a way to add experience on your resume that supports your assertion that you are dedicated to working in sports. If you suddenly want to work for the Chicago Blackhawks because you have been a lifelong fan, but you were not inspired enough during four years of college to volunteer occasionally in the athletics department on campus, a Blackhawks executive has good reason to question where your sudden motivation to work for the organization comes from and how long it will last.
Finally, if the reason you want to get into sports is because you want to watch games and meet players, you should reconsider your career path. You will probably be disappointed once you learn how many hours people work in sports with few opportunities to watch games and little or no meaningful interaction with players.