By Jake Gibbons
As I walked out of the team locker room, the phone in my hand buzzed with a notification. The athletic department was hosting a resume workshop that night in the student-athlete academic center. I paused a moment to consider my homework schedule: a problem set for Public Finance, a few chapters of reading for Policy Analysis, and the intro for a DEI essay. A long night.
Then I took inventory of my physical state after my day: four hours of swimming, an hour of weights, and only 30 minutes of nap time wedged into a full day of classes. Based on my workload, exhaustion, and fact that I had to be up at 5 am tomorrow to do it all over again, it was a no-brainer. I deleted the notification. Resume writing could wait. Besides, I barely had anything to put on it even if I did go.
I was in the middle of my sophomore year as a swimming student-athlete at Texas A&M. Finding a job after graduation wasn’t on my radar; I was just trying to make it to the end of the week. Between a full course load and nearly 30 hours a week of training and traveling, I didn’t have time to add career planning to my stress load. I’d think about that when the time came.
The Work Experience Dilemma
My story is just like most collegiate student-athletes’. They are so engaged in their athletic pursuits that they simply don’t have the time to think about their resume, let alone get experience to put on it.
Instead of seeking out a summer internship, I stayed in College Station to train for USA Swimming Summer Nationals. Instead of job shadowing on my Wednesday afternoons off from class, I was in the athletic training room receiving therapy for my ailing right shoulder. The athletic demands student athletes have to manage put them behind traditional students when it’s time to hang up the cleats (or goggles).
Skills and Attitude Count as Much as Experience
Former athletes face an uphill battle when it comes to finding a meaningful career post-sport because they haven’t had time to get work experience. This leaves little to put on a traditional resume, which emphasizes business experience. Their resumes appear bare when compared to their non-athlete counterparts, who probably have listed a couple of internships, some real-world work experience, and a leadership position in a student organization.
But here is where opportunity presents itself. Most employers prefer to hire for attitude and train for technical skills. And student athletes have what most employers tell us they need: teamwork, resilience, grit, determination and coachability. Student athletes often have good time management, self-discipline and leadership skills. One of the most valuable lessons an athlete learns is about training through the off-season – they know how to work hard without seeing immediate rewards.
But most athletes don’t recognize the value of those skills, and often wouldn’t know how to convey that value in a meaningful way.
Traditional vs. Functional Resumes
Because they lack traditional work experience, athletes should stay away from traditional Resumes and focus on a functional resume format, which places an emphasis on abilities rather than experience. A functional resume presents these skills and accomplishments in a way that ties the athletic experience back to the workplace. For instance:
- Proven Leader Proven Leader
- Voted captain for two years by teammates.
- Increased team unity though weekly meetings and team goal setting.
- Time Management Expert
- Managed 15 credit hours of demanding coursework plus 6 hours a day of combined practice / training.
- Able to schedule and achieve intermediate goals in pursuit of overall success
When a resume is filled with clearly articulated skills that are valuable in many work disciplines, the athlete may often have a competitive advantage over traditional students.
The Athletic Advantage
Student athletes build skills on the playing field, just as other students do in traditional internships and work experience. Recognizing, articulating, and promoting these skills will make them as competitive in the job market as they were in their sport.
Podium X was created because of the need to tell the story of the unique qualifications and experiences of the athlete. It is based on a functional style resume with extra features to help highlight the skills that are transferrable to the workforce and make athletes winners – on and off the field.
