Category: Working In Sports

All job seekers that attended the Baseball Winter Meetings and registered for the Professional Baseball Employment Organization (PBEO) Job Fair (see my post about it here) had the opportunity to attend the Business of Baseball Workshop. This all-day event featured panels and speakers with guests in prominent positions throughout Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball, as well as an opportunity to ask questions of, and network with, these speakers.

The speakers offered some valuable tips and insights about working in baseball, the state of baseball, and how to break into the baseball industry. (Also see my post on interview tips from the Atlanta Braves VP of Human Resources to come soon). What follows are some key thoughts and takeaways from the panels:

A general tip that many panelists reiterated is the importance of a sense of self-awareness, particularly early in one’s career.
It is important to know your strengths, to know your goals, and to know the reasons why you’re in the position you are, seeking the job you want, and why it and the organization are right for you.

Early in your career → Develop an expertise that gives you a particular ability to contribute to an organization
This advice came from Rebecca Seesel, International Operations Specialist with Major League Baseball. With such competition for jobs in the sports industry, it’s important to stand out from the crowd and show how you can help the organization in a way no others can. Cultivate an expertise or skill(s), so you can impress a potential employer and get your foot in the door in the sports business world.

Advice for interns: Be memorable, take on projects, take someone to lunch…
– Stephanie Wilka, International Operations Specialist with Houston Astros
Once you’re in an internship role, don’t just blend in with the crowd or previous interns. Make yourself memorable by showing initiative, whether it is by bringing forth an idea, volunteering to take on a project, taking your coworkers out to lunch, etc. It’s up to you make yourself someone coworkers and supervisors won’t forget.
Pat O’Conner (President and CEO of Minor League Baseball): He likes employees to approach an internship more as an apprenticeship, learning skills and contributing.
He expressed frustration with the paid vs. unpaid internships issues that have arisen of late and expects things will change, some way or another.

O’Conner also discussed, and emphasized, the importance of networking in the industry:
“It’s networking, connections, and paying people forward…I wouldn’t be here today without others helping me.” – O’Conner

His advice on networking: Shoot straight and be prepared (do your homework). “I’ll give you my time, but don’t waste it.”
Have a purpose when reaching out.

“This industry is not 9-5. It’s eight days a week and holidays.”
— Jeane Afterman, SVP & Assistant General Manager with the New York Yankees

Afterman also discussed a fear of failure driving her in her career, but lamenting she didn’t realize the importance of work-life balance, even in sports, earlier in her career.
“You will never not have a job if you have the ability to sell – yourself, tickets, partners, families.”
— Todd “Parney” Parnell
Parnell also talked about how “We’re in the memory-making business.” Sports is about story-telling, nostalgia, and its ability to have an impact on lives.

Kim Ng, Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations with MLB, placed strong emphasis for leadership with inclusion, self awareness, and knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses.

“As we get older & have more success, the idea of (fear) of failure can (hold us back)…you have to be willing to (get through it) and just keep trying.”
– Kim Ng

Asked about MLB growth potential, Afterman offered the following areas:

• International growth; she did not explicitly mention any countries
• Youth fan development; she said progress has been made, but it needs to remain a central focus
• Analytics and data further penetrating the game, particularly (for her) in baseball operations
  

Watch a video feature about one of the panels here.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me via Twitter or LinkedIn

An Inside Look at the Baseball Winter Meetings Job Fair

What is it?

Each year, representatives from just about every club in Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball meet to learn from each other, discuss the business of baseball, and, of course, make moves with players for the upcoming season. In addition, approximately 500 jobs in pro baseball are filled at the Baseball Winter Meetings as hundreds of hopeful job seekers, mostly fresh out of college, attend the Professional Baseball Employment Organization (PBEO) Job Fair, which has worked with the Winter Meetings since 1994. This year’s events took place in San Diego, CA.

What’s the job picture there look like?

Of the 500 or so jobs filled at each year’s Winter Meetings, around 80% of jobs are entry-level or internships and around 80% are with MiLB clubs. For a $250 registration fee, PBEO attendees get to attend a Business of Baseball Workshop (a day full of panels and speakers for job seekers), the ability to view and apply for hundreds of job listings and, in many cases, interview on-site during the three day duration of the Winter Meetings.

Jobs are posted the first night of the PBEO Job Fair and any new jobs listed from the clubs are posted every 30 minutes. Similarly, a room with interview schedules is updated every 30 minutes, where applicants can check if they’ve been selected to interview for a job for which they’ve submitted a resume and sign up for a time to do so.
Who attends the Job Fair?

While the majority are recent college graduates, there are also a good amount of older job seekers looking to make a career change or explore a career in baseball, even if starting at the ground level. Further, there are several job seekers that attend multiple years, some having completed an internship, but still seeking full-time employment in baseball.

Along with the $250 registration fee, many job seekers travel from around the country to the site of the Winter Meetings for the chance to apply for (sometimes dozens with the most eager of job seekers) of jobs or internships in baseball, many of which pay just a $500-$1500 per month stipend (some with housing); in fact, one internship with an MLB club paid just $9.50/hour. Baseball (and working in sports, in general) is NOT your ticket to overnight wealth! Lastly, experience with a previous job or internship clearly gave job seekers a leg up on their peers.

Notable observations from the 2014 PBEO Job Fair:

– Among the young, aspiring job seekers at this year’s Winter Meetings Job Fair, a few things stood out. First, they are increasingly working on bringing in some specific skills to help separate themselves from the pack – commonly by coming in with knowledge of another language or culture (Japanese was big) and/or a fluency in numbers and math; “Applied Mathematics” was an example of a degree held by many attendees, some with experience working in the field with data and/or player stats, whether in a job or personal blog or both.

– Furthermore, a lot of job seekers are coming right out of their undergraduate experience and evaluating whether to go directly into employment or a program to earn an MBA or law degree. For the most part, the general consensus among speakers at the Business of Baseball Workshop seemed to be that the networking potential of these programs often outweighs getting the actual degree.

– Lastly, it was shocking to learn how little job seekers utilize social media. Whether it’s not maintaining an online presence, such as LinkedIn, not taking advantage of the networking opportunities afforded by social and digital media, and/or not taking the initiative to begin writing or publishing content online, it seems the up-and-coming generation is not getting the instruction they need from their undergraduate teachers and career centers to best set themselves up for the job they want after graduation. For example, for all the job opportunities at the PBEO Job Fair, dozens more are posted weekly on sites like Teamwork Online. (Which many attendees did not know about)

Anything else?

All PBEO Job Fair attendees also get access to the Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show (recap to come of that), at which vendors from several verticals tangentially related to baseball set up exhibition booths. Not only is it fun for job seekers to walk around and take it all in, but it’s also a great networking opportunity to talk to club representatives touring the Trade Show themselves, as well as the vendors who may have opportunities for the right people. Also…free food samples and free swag!

In reality, much of the time is spent waiting around the Job Fair area and checking the posting rooms for more positions for which to drop a resume and reviewing the updates in the interview room to see if one has been selected to interview for a position. There are plenty of enthusiastic, fun young adults around to chat with, though!

While there are plenty of the expected jobs like Ticket Sales, Media Relations, Community Relations, Marketing, etc., these were the entry-level positions that stood out to me (a foot in the door):
– Facility and Event Management
– Human Resources
– Broadcasting (both in terms of job opportunities and the amount of interest among job seekers)
Attendees also have the opportunity to purchase tickets to additional events, notably the Awards Luncheon held on the first afternoon of the Winter Meetings and the Gala held on the last night of the event. (Each costs $75/ticket)

There you have it. A look at the Baseball Winter Meetings Job Fair that hopefully gave you the basics and the inside info you need.

I will have a few more posts coming soon about the Job Fair, including memorable quotes and insights from the Workshop panels, some great advice from the VP of Human Resources for the Atlanta Braves, and a tour of the Trade Show.
I also highly recommend this MLB.com feature detailing two baseball operations job seekers’ journey at the Winter Meetings.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me via Twitter or LinkedIn.