Program helps employ sports management grads

Sports business management minors and graduate students are being encouraged to strut their stuff online, including their skill sets, positive personality traits and life experiences.

The process won't land them a date, but it might just lead to their first job out of college.

The UCF DeVos Sports Business Management Program recently purchased a subscription for TeamWork Online MVP Access, a web-based application that works in conjunction with sports employers to provide students with information on available jobs and what they need to do to increase their attractiveness in the market.

The $1,000 year-long subscription allows any student in the program to upload their résumés and cover letters to the site, where recruiters for more than 750 sports teams, leagues, events and venues can view their profiles and provide students with professional feedback.

"It's very targeted and customized and built on behalf of the candidate in mind rather than the employer," Buffy Filippell, president of TeamWork Online, said. "At the end of the day, the candidate is in control of whether they get the job."

Filippell has filled more than 32,000 positions via TeamWork Online, where anyone with an internet connection can go to browse available jobs in the sports industry. Jobs vary from internships with the Orlando Magic to CEO positions for the NBA.

According to Filippell, her site facilitated the hiring of more than 7,900 sports professionals during 2010 and is on track to fill nearly 11,000 positions this year alone.

When Filippell saw that many of the available jobs in the industry were entry-level positions with starting salaries in the $25,000-$40,000 range, she decided to come up with a program that targeted soon-to-be graduates.

MVP Access, Filippell's response to the myriad entry-level careers in the sports industry, matches students with jobs through a skill-based assessment.

If their skills match up with what the company is seeking, the student will receive an email explaining the position and how many people have already applied for the job.

Brian Eaton, public relations consultant for TeamWork Online, said that the personalized feedback from employers is what makes the program unique.

"Hiring managers from leagues and teams sit down, review the student's information and tell them ‘these are things you can change, these are things that need to be highlighted,'" Eaton said. "They're getting an unbiased opinion."

UCF's subscription to the MVP Access program began Sept. 1. The 300 sports business management minors and 58 graduate students were sent an email explaining the program and how to sign up for it.

Dr. William Sutton, associate director of the DeVos Sports Management Program, has been involved with advertising on TeamWork Online for the past couple of years. When Filippell told him about MVP Access, he decided to see if it would make sense for UCF.

"I checked out the demo and it was easy to use, informative," Sutton said. "I thought it'd be a good value for my students."

The University of Florida, St. Leo University and the University of Tampa have also subscribed to the program.

Filippell said that MVP Access makes job information available to a larger pool of applicants, which also increases competition.

"It takes times and effort from the student," Eaton said.

When students sign up for a program, they begin receiving weekly newsletters that provide comments and suggestion from recruiters on how to snag a job and profiles on lesser-known sports organizations that people may otherwise disregard as possible places of employment.

Filippell refers to these positions as "hidden gem jobs," which tend to have less than 20 candidates and have yet to be filled.

Kelly Higgins, Sutton's graduate assistant and a sports management major, said she is optimistic that MVP access will be a valuable tool to those that will soon venture into the job market.

"At this stage, the oldest class is approaching graduation in December, and we'll take any advice we can get in terms of improving our résumé," Higgins said. "They might not be sexy jobs we're looking into, but they'll be easier to access when getting out of school."

Higgins said that through TeamWork Online, she was able to interview for an internship with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Filippell said that her primary focuses are familiarizing students on the nuances of particular companies and how to make the most out of their unique abilities.