Summary: Preparing for a Sports Job Interview - Monday QA Session on the Work in Sports Podcast<br> Hi I’m Brian Clapp, Director of Content for WorkinSports.com and this is the Work in Sports Podcast – Monday QA Session.<br> <br> This is the second week of going to two podcast a week and to be honest, I already want to go to three a week.<a href="https://www.workinsports.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/qa_cover.png"></a><br> <br> Your feedback has been awesome – many of you have emailed me or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bclapp/">messaged me on LinkedIn</a> with great questions and comments.<br> <br> I’m thrilled we are providing you something you need and want. Keep the questions and comments coming – email me bclapp @ workinsports.com or hit me up on LinkedIn – which is my preferred platform for business talk.<br> <br> This week we have a bit of a theme – we had a flood of questions on interviewing for sports jobs so I’m going to pick one and dig into it – I’m sure we’ll handle more interview questions in future podcasts<br> <br> This week's question comes in from Zach from Evansville, Indiana –<br> <br> Zach asks:<br> <br> Hi Brian, I’m a recent college graduate, having finished up my last few credits over summer -- I have been sending out resumes and tracking job opportunities on WorkinSports.com (thank you for your membership Zach) – I have my first interview next week and I am very nervous. Can you help me with some idea of what to expect?<br> <br> Zach this is a very broad question – I can’t tell you exactly what to expect from an individual interview, but I can give you patterns, or concepts that will apply directly and I think will help settle your nerves.<br> The Sports Assignment<br> First off: Expect an on the spot assignment. Almost every employer I talk to says they want to find out how quickly and comprehensively a candidate can think. In order to do this – they throw a task at them. A real meaningful task.<br> <br> If you want to work in sports marketing they may say something like – Imagine we’ve been contracted by Oklahoma to do a Heisman campaign for Baker Mayfield – how would you attack this problem?<br> <br> You’d be expected to have a plan for social media, traditional media outreach, marketing materials, possibly a slogan or tagline, who your audience is and more.<br> <br> Here’s the thing – they aren’t looking for you to nail the entire thing perfectly, they are looking for is how confident are you, how decisive are you, how creative are you, how enthusiastic are you?<br> <br> They are looking at both your hard and <a href="http://www.workinsports.com/blog/soft-skills-for-sports-jobs/">soft skills </a>– do you have the tactical and strategic skills to know what goes into a marketing campaign like this… and do you also have the characteristics of someone who can thrive in this industry.<br> <br> This can apply for any segment of the sports industry – if you want to work in analytics, or sales, media, or coaching – expect to have a business problem thrown at you that you’’ll have to solve creatively.<br> <br> My suggestion – do it with enthusiasm, speak with confidence and conviction – this is your moment to shine. When a pitcher has to make a pitch with a game on the line, they rely on their training their practice, their comfort --- this is where you rely on your training – if you are qualified, you know this stuff, now’s just the time to execute.<br> The Sports Quiz<br> Next: Don’t be surprised by the sports quiz – if you are applying for jobs that really require sports knowledge, or are related directly to a specific team, expect to be quizzed on your knowledge.<br> <br> I spoke to C<a href="http://www.workinsports.com/blog/philadelphia-eagles-talent-acquisition-manager-colleen-scoles-shares-what-pro-teams-look-for-when-hiring-work-in-sports-podcast-e5/">olleen Scoles,</a>
