We’ve been working with student athletes for a while, and one of the issues that surprised us was how few of them understood their value as candidates in the marketplace. Student athletes tend to think of themselves as athletes first during their collegiate careers; they’re often so focused on their sport that they don’t think much about what comes after graduation.
College career centers do a great job of helping them create traditional resumes, but many of the athletes (and the college counselors) don’t feel that traditional resumes do a good job of highlighting an athlete’s best qualities. Because they have such demanding schedules: training, practicing, traveling, and competing, they don’t often have extensive work experience during college. On paper, they looked less competitive next to their collegiate peers, let alone next to job candidates with years of experience.
But our mantra to employers has been “hire for attitude, train for skill,” because we believe that the qualities that make workers successful don’t usually show up on a resume. Grit, resilience, drive, discipline, teamwork – all the qualities student athletes have are part of what made them successful on the field – and what will make them successful in your company.
We developed Podium X for universities who wanted to highlight the qualities that make their student athletes special and for student athletes to recognize their transferrable skills and find a way to stand out to the business world. Podium X is a new digital solution, the result of two years of research and development by experts in career services with extensive experience in staffing and recruiting, training/development, talent management, and human resources. The application changes the way athletes prepare for and apply for jobs and launch meaningful careers by creating an online profile.
Each podium profile can be customized specifically for athletes to create a personal brand, tell their story, highlight their sports experience and skills while helping them stand out from the crowd. It also reduces the often-cumbersome challenge of creating a resume through an online process, a market-based skills assessment, and a one button PDF resume creator.
We know that only 7% of all high school athletes go on to play college sports of any kind (and only 2% go to Division I schools). These athletes juggle classes, workouts, games, travel, coaches, fans, expectations and pressure at a high level because they thrive on competing and winning. Collegiate sports is the perfect training ground for business because the soft skills taught through athletics are some of the same skills that employers find most desirable and are easily transferable to many careers.
Universities tell us that Podium X is helping athletes tell their story, which in turn helps them connect with and understand their value in the marketplace. Student athletes tell us the platform helps them position their experience on the field as experience that matters, even after they’ve hung up their cleats.
Because student athletes do fewer internships and don’t usually work in business while they’re in school, they’re often overlooked by companies come the spring hiring rush. Podium X helps level the playing field so student athletes can show off their potential as great employees.