BY: ANNA AUDLER, GLASGOW ‘19 PROGRAM PARTICIPANT & PRODUCT AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGER AT P&P IMPORTS LLC
In my previous blog, I mention that working in sports was something that I had always wanted to do and sports was something that had always been a part of my life. When I made that decision to pursue a career in sports, I knew it was going to be a hard task to land a job in sports because I was earning my degree in Psychology, not Sports Management or any other related field. Then, I was asking myself a bunch of questions like “Are you sure you want to do this?” and “Should I just apply to graduate school?”, but I knew that if I just look for the experience and use my competitive nature to its advantage, I will find my path to working in sports.
I figured my best bet of getting my foot in the door in the sports industry was to work for the Club and Intramural Sports Department at UCLA Recreation while I was in college. There, I started off as just a referee for our soccer, softball, flag football, and volleyball leagues and always making sure I stay focused on what my overall goal is: getting a job in sports. Luckily, my supervisors noticed my determination and work ethic and decided to promote me to Student Supervisor where I could gain experience in league operations like coordinating referees and basic operations and customer service. The experience I gained during college gave me the confidence to continue with my path, but not without falling in love with recreation sports.