Resources to Help Sharpen Career Focus

There any number of good books and good Websites to help you out, but before I discuss those, can I take a shot and offer some of my own advice? I want you think what it is about sports that you like so much. If it’s the actual playing of the games, perhaps you should look into breaking into coaching — perhaps first volunteering, perhaps going into a graduate program as a graduate assistant. If what you like is more on the business side, you should consider sports marketing and promotion. I suggest you also conduct some information interviews with various people in the side of the sports industry that interests you. What are information interviews? They’re interviews you conduct not to get a job, but to learn more about careers in a certain field — and to build your network. Learn more in this section of Quintessential Careers: Informational Interviewing Tutorial.

What about your old college/university? I would speak with the career services staff there about jobs for people with your degree — and — I would contact former professors or the head of the sports science department and ask about jobs/careers for your degree path.

Then again, maybe you don’t want to have anything to do with sports as a career. In that case, I would recommend the following books and Websites.

For books, you might try Career Tests: 25 Revealing Self-Tests to Help You Find and Succeed at the Perfect Career, by Louis H. Janda (Adams) or Career Adventure: Your Guide to Personal Assessment, Career Exploration, and Decision-Making, by Susan M. Johnston (Prentice-Hall).

For Websites, you might find some helpful ones listed at Quintessential Careers: Career Exploration.