Managing Expectations of Sport Management Students
I recently saw a student complain on social media about the low hourly wage offered by a paid, post-graduate internship, and it reminded me that many sport management students need a reality check at this time of year. While seniors are busy submitting applications and interviewing for internships and jobs, they should also mentally prepare to do at least one low-paying or unpaid post-grad internship on their way to a career in the sport industry.
If you want to work in sports, forget about comparing your situation to those of your friends who are on more traditional career paths. Students in accounting, nursing and other fields may receive multiple job offers that pay generously straight out of school while you have to hustle to get an internship that will pay minimum wage with no benefits and no promises when it ends. If you are determined to pursue a dream career in sports, the first stage of your journey after graduation may involve great uncertainty and require a willingness to move anywhere, and you might even need a part-time job on the side to make ends meet.
Sport employers typically receive hundreds of applications for every job posting and often use internships as long-term auditions to weed out the pretenders from the contenders. As an employer and a professor, I have seen the same scenario play itself out dozens of times: student graduates and excitedly begins a sport internship or job before burning out within the first year or two and leaving for a more traditional career. The factors that usually drive them out of the industry so quickly are the low pay, the long hours and the need to move around the country to find a full-time job. Once an intern or employee leaves, the employer simply posts a job opening to produce hundreds of fresh applicants eager to prove themselves.
If you want to work in sports, especially in non-sales positions, internships and low-paying jobs are typically the only way to get your foot in the door after graduation. But if you follow my five keys to success (see my Sept. 2016 blog post on this subject) and remain patient, the situation will usually improve. You may not end up working in your first choice of cities, and it may take a few years and a promotion or a transition to a different employer to reach a satisfying salary level, but you can develop a fulfilling sport business career. As an employer and a professor, I have also seen that scenario play itself out dozens of times.
I was fortunate to have a full-time job lined up with the New York Yankees when I graduated, but I was also paid less than a legal secretary despite having a degree from a top-25 law school – and I had to do a one-month, unpaid internship to earn that job offer. I could have easily given up if I became focused on how my job offer compared to those of my classmates (theirs were 2-3 times higher). Then again, a traditional law firm career never would have given me the chance to work behind the scenes of a World Series championship organization. In hindsight, I would do it all over again and take the underpaid, overworked lifestyle doing something I was passionate about and would never get to experience at any other point in my life.
If you want to work in sports, go for it with all your effort and enthusiasm after graduation. But if you choose to do so, be realistic about what the first couple years will involve and avoid complaining about the hours and the pay – especially on a public social media account that many employers will check before making an offer.