Athletics: Identify the personal qualities and skills you possess as a direct result of athletics.
Academics: Review your academic program for the courses you have taken and the knowledge you have acquired that relate to your career goals.
Extracurricular Activities: Consider all the nonacademic experiences you have had (paid jobs, volunteer experiences, personal interests, etc.) that have given you knowledge and skills desirable in particular types of jobs.
Personal Talents: Pay attention to natural talents you possess (assess whether you are a good talker, a good listener, good with numbers, good at selling, an organizer, and so on) and consider where these innate abilities can be applied.
As you review your particular strengths and unique attributes, you'll be pleased to know that athletics breeds special qualities that sports participants can use to their advantage when job hunting. Part of "selling yourself is to recognize these assets in yourself and to talk about them as part of your total qualifications.
Competing in a college sport makes you different from most other college students in that you have already acquired work experience-as a team member-in addition to the tasks you performed as a student. In many ways, competing on a college team comes closer to mirroring the characteristics of employed life than anything else most students do during their years of higher education. When a coach says, "This player gets the job done," the reference to working life is not an accidental one. He or she means that you have trained hard, listened and learned through supervision, integrated your tasks with others (important even in individual sports), shown loyalty, and could be counted on for your ongoing participation. In short, the player has met many of the requirements of modern organizational life and has a running start on fitting into the workplace.
It is in the nature of athletics to impart the following ten qualities to team players. (Those who don't develop these qualities in the course of their playing years usually end up leaving athletics, voluntarily or otherwise.) These personal strengths are desirable in virtually all jobs, regardless of the field. How well have you done in acquiring these qualities? How strong are you in each of them? Ask yourself these questions as you review the list.
Time Management: Athletes are often outstanding in apportioning their time, because they must balance a full-time academic work load, full-time commitment to athletics, travel to other schools for games, time-out for fatigue, and possibly part-time employment or other off-campus commitments. Take a close look at the different activities you have juggled during college, and appreciate the time management skills you have developed as a result.
Teamwork: Through athletic team membership, most athletes become intimately familiar with the experience of working toward group goals. Working with a coach is a lot like working with a department manager. The dynamics of team play teaches the athlete what it means to be a role player-that it is sometimes necessary to submerge one's ego and personal goals into the goals of the organization, and that leadership is the ability to get people to work as a team.
Goal-directedness: Athletes cultivate the ability to concentrate their energies and attention over an extended period of time and to block out distractions while they proceed toward their goal. Every athlete knows that this directedness is the key to all accomplishment.
Competitiveness: The competitive spirit is the lifeblood of the athletic experience, and most athletes thrive on it. They gain experience in the rigors of winning and losing, and they relish the opportunity to fight more battles, test their abilities, and risk their self-esteem against tough opposition. This translates into a strong asset in most jobs.
Confidence: Athletes are continually in situations where they must "pump themselves up" and believe in their own powers to produce effectively under pressure. The ability to approach tough performance situations with the belief that you'll do well is crucial. Practice in maintaining self-confidence, especially under tense circumstances, can carry over to the readiness to take on stiff on-the-job challenges.
Persistence/endurance: Athletics is often characterized by long and hard work toward distant rewards and the ability to wring a maximum effort from yourself whenever necessary. This may include playing while in pain or, in general, performing under adverse circumstances. Athletics teaches intensity of effort and the belief that sufficient preparation and determination will eventually pay off.
Loyalty: Closely related to teamwork, this quality emerges from the bond that an individual athlete builds with his or her team and is expressed in the willingness to support team efforts under any circumstances. Loyalty contributes heavily to the morale of a team or work group, because it enables each team member to trust that others will work toward the same ends.
Discipline: This is a hallmark of the athletic experience. Organizing one's time, adhering to guidelines, exacting maximum effort on a regular basis, concentrating one's energies, and screening out competing priorities are all necessary for competence in athletics. The systematic application of one's energies toward a desired goal is highly valued in any work situation, especially in those that require independent effort.
Taking Criticism: Athletes are accustomed to taking criticism, because their performance on the field is watched closely and any weak points seldom escape comment. Coaches recommend changes and force athletes to cope with the feeling that "I could've done it better." Athletes typically develop into good listeners when constructive criticism is offered, because they recognize its value in helping them advance toward overall goals.
Dealing with Setbacks: Sports offer continued opportunities to test oneself, succeed or fail, and then come back for more. No one who competes in a sport can avoid the experience of failure, sooner or later. Athletes learn, by necessity, to face failure and bury any negative feelings as much and as soon as possible, because tomorrow's contest will require their full attention. Among the most valuable lessons of athletics are how to win, how to lose, and how to rebound after either.
We don't expect that all college athletes will have developed in great abundance all ten of the qualities we have noted. Many athletes will look at these descriptions of qualities and say: "That's not me." We would be surprised if you did not disclaim more than one of them for yourself. Nonetheless, it is likely that you have more of these qualities than most non-athletes do, and we believe you should appreciate them in yourself, the better to use them to your advantage.
Expressing Your Strengths as Skills
Employers will look at your qualifications in two ways: (1) Do you have any training or formal preparation for the job? And (2) Can you perform the tasks required by the job?
The first consideration is largely a matter of record and includes the courses you have taken, the jobs you have had, and similar evidence.
The second consideration is based on the skills and other capabilities you possess to perform the functions of the job you want. Why are skills particularly important? For two reasons: (a) applicants who have the appropriate formal training or preparation may not always have the skills necessary to do the job; and (b) employers generally will consider applicants who can demonstrate they possess the skills needed for a particular job regardless of the level of their formal training for it.
Every job requires two kinds of skills: job-specific skills-those that one trains for or learns on the job, and functional skills-generic skills that cut across many different jobs. The difference between the two types of skills can be illustrated in an occupational example. A radio announcer must possess the job-specific skills necessary to operate the dials at the station, but he or she must also be able to speak well, manage time carefully, and relate easily to the public. Unlike job-specific skills, functional skills transcend job titles and are applicable to a wide variety of occupations.
A Dozen of the Most Marketable Skills
The functional skills listed below are needed in a broad array of jobs across many industries and professions. In reviewing the list, consider how many of these skills you possess:
Writing: communicating clearly and persuasively in written reports, letters, and other verbal formats.
Public Speaking: delivering talks, fielding questions, speaking extemporaneously, and participating in public forums with relative ease.
Supervising: overseeing the work performance of others by observing their work firsthand, making recommendations for improvements, clarifying performance goals, resolving problems, and rendering disciplinary actions when necessary.
Organizing People: coordinating projects or programs involving the efforts of others so that people work effectively together.
Organizing Data: putting together quantitative and other information logically and effectively.
Research: using printed and other resources to investigate and gather information on particular topics in coherent form.
Quantitative Skills: using and understanding numerical methods needed to analyze problems and suggest solutions.
Computer Skills: comprehending and contributing to the design of logical systems of information flow, including a knowledge of hardware and/or an ability to write or understand software programs.
Persuading: using spoken communication, words, or media to influence the opinions and attitudes of others.
Managing: developing policies toward organizational objectives and allocating tasks to individuals so that these objectives can be accomplished.
Teaching: explaining and helping individuals or groups of people to understand concepts, procedures, and other kinds of information.
Imagination: developing and using creative, innovative approaches to the solution of problems.
Other important functional skills include planning, negotiating, relating to the public, handling detail, resolving conflicts, interviewing, counseling, selling, and delegating responsibility.
The Importance of Communication Skills
On the above list of highly potent skills in all job markets, writing and speaking stand out. Although only a small number of college graduates will take jobs as writers or be in positions that require frequent public speaking, basic competency in both writing and speaking is crucial to job success virtually across the board. If you cannot write a decent letter or cannot communicate effectively in an interview, you are likely to be eliminated from consideration for most jobs.
Communication skills are not given at birth; they are acquired. You can improve your writing and speaking skills by using them. If your friends often cannot understand you when you talk, get tutoring help. If you know you are a poor writer, take courses that require term papers (this is the most useful suffering you may ever have in school) and write letters to your friends-in short, do whatever it takes to cultivate better writing habits.
No matter how much technical knowledge you may have acquired in a particular job area, your advancement potential will depend heavily upon your ability to communicate in both your writing and your speech. Successful executives know their subject matter and can talk or write about it to anyone.
Your Skills Scorecard
In any given field of work, the success of your job search may depend upon your ability to clarify your skills with respect to the particular job you are seeking. You'll state your qualifications in the resume and cover letters you send to prospective employers. Later you'll talk about these same qualifications in job interviews. When an interviewer asks: "Why should we hire you?", you should be prepared to answer in terms of both your track record of accomplishments (your academic background and work experiences) and your skills. If your record of accomplishments is equal to that of others, skills are likely to make the difference in who gets hired.
Develop the habit of interpreting your experiences in terms of skills. By doing so, you'll be able to assess your potential for any job. The best way to convince yourself and others that you possess a particular skill is to name it and tell how you acquired it.
The following two examples, which we have called Skills Scorecards, illustrate a simple approach athletes can use to review their academic and nonacademic experiences and identify the skills they have acquired. This information can then be used to support your particular employment goals, both in discussions with interviewers and in the written materials (the resume and cover letters) you send in your job search. In constructing your own Skills Scorecard, you'll see that as a student-athlete you have developed certain skills in sports and others in nonathletic activities. All of these skills contribute to your overall career potential. Sports participation gives you a head start on certain skills but cannot provide the basis for all the skills you'll need for your intended career. Therefore, it pays to examine the whole range of your activities, as shown in the preceding examples. Very often, even if the career you're interested in seems far removed from your background, you'll be able to identify skills in your athletic and non-athletic experiences that will support your career goal and make you a viable candidate for jobs in that field.
