My resume outside of sport wouldn’t prepare me much for the real world (In-N-Out burger was my last corporate job back in high school). And after seven+ years of running professionally, there are a lot of specific business skills I’ve missed out on. If I were to try to get a job right now, (thanks to Nike, I don’t,) I’d probably have to start out sticking nutrition labels on energy bars or something.
Oh wait, that’s exactly what I spent my afternoon doing for Picky Bars.
Pull off a label, stick it on a bar, turn it over, stick another label on. Line it up just right. Make it look good. The outside should reflect whats on the inside. The first impression is in my hands.
I joke a bit. I am sticking labels on bars, after creating and bagging them, but since they are my bars, its much more than just a manual task. I’ve always enjoyed repetitive tasks that take minimal skill: knit and purl, clean under the fingernails, etc. Basically I’m happy if I can hold a conversation while working with my hands for at least an hour a day. But when I’m done with that, I get to work with Jesse designing our logo, and with Steph on streamlining the production process. We get to talk about strategies for development, and meeting customer demand. I get to train new employees so that as the season gets going, I can do less stickering and more stretching.
But the most valuable skills I’ve acquired have been those I’ve been forced to learn against my will. Excel spreadsheets and gmail filters (I know, I was pathetic) and analytics and all sorts of other crap. We don’t have the luxury of staying in our job-skill comfort zones because its all up to us.
I have to laugh thinking about how my pro-running simultaneously stunts me and prepares me for the “real world.” On the one hand, the more years an athlete competes professionally, the more hazy their education becomes and the more awkward the job interview process will be. But on the other hand, we’ve been in this unique position to experience sports business from the inside, being exposed to literally hundreds of different roles and having the opportunity to see how it all connects. Depending on how tuned in you are, this can be a huge asset.
I don’t know what place I will find in the working world when my running career settles down in 3-6 more years, but at least our little business will put something on my resume above In-N-Out Burger.
I’m curious, would you hire an ex-pro athlete if you were making the decision for your company? If not, what would be your reservations specifically? If so, what would be the appeal? Do share, peeps.
You can be the most qualified and have an awesome resume but the real world is usually about knowing people. You will leave your professional running career knowing alot of people which will help you get in the door and land a good job doing something. While experience is useful, I would hire and work with a person who has competitive spirit, drive and ambition any day of the week over lots of experience. You have all those qualities having risen to the top of your current profession. Enjoy running as long as you possibly can and then the rest of life will take care of itself. Most likely you will even be able to align your passion for running with a decent paying job. – Love your thoughts. Thx u for continuing to be so candid.
Hey Aaron,
Thanks for the comment. I like what you said about people who have “risen to the top of [their] current profession” as an indicator for what they can do in other things. From my interactions with people on the outside of elite sport, many people seem to think we are at the top of our profession because we are super-humanly talented. Hard work and dedication and drive and ambition aren’t always recognized. I’m at fault for that too. When I see LeBron James, I don’t imagine him practicing for hours and hours and hours. Maybe it takes a former or current runner to appreciate and hire a transitioning pro!
Lauren
hire me as irish distributor
I’d be more likely to hire an ex-pro athlete than anyone else. I think that following your passion (or something close to it) develops the most important skills in a way that nothing else can – positive attitude, desire to do well/succeed, and ability to relate to people. In particular, the traits that make an athlete great like discipline, work ethic, problem solving skills, goal setting etc translate perfectly in the working world.
I’m not very experienced (im 27) but since I’ve been thinking about this a lot, I thought I would chime in and hope that others will share their opinions. I spent 2 years following a dream career and more recently I’ve spent 3 years chasing $ in the corporate world. I found more $ but lost most of the happiness. The switch happened because I felt like I was missing something in the business world… which is funny to think about now.
Hey Kev,
I’ve heard similar stories from other people as well. I’ve known several elite athletes who gave up running earlier than they should have because they felt they were missing something in the business world…and I have felt that pull several times in my athletic career. Interestingly, I think this is one of the things that Kenyans don’t have to deal with culturally, but that is another topic altogether.
Just out of curiosity, what was your dream career that you left?
Lauren
as much as I would love to hire an ex pro athlete, I don’t think it’s a wise business decision. Serious athlete bring many talents to the table — they are motivated and self-disciplined. However, I have learned that the potential to learn and develop a crucial is not the same as actually possessing the skill. Unfortunately, many managers do not have the time necessary to teach specific business skills to new employees no matter how smart or motivated they may be.
So, as much as I would love working with a pro athlete day after day, I think I would have to pass on hiring them for anything other than an entry level position.
But, Lauren, I’ll hire you if you promise to train me to run a sub 3 hr marathon in Boston next April!!!
Sara,
You know, I think all the comments on this post so far have been really well written and supported by great reasoning, and yours is no exception. You might be surprised, but I actually feel similar to you. If I were a business professional, I would be weary of hiring a former pro athlete. They would absolutely have to blow me away in the interview. Some pro athletes are successful because they are simply obsessed with sport, which drives their motivation and work ethic. Others know how to apply those skills to other tasks. What it comes down to is this: Will this former athlete’s work ethic translate to business? How can one know?
I actually spoke about this with our GM a while ago; what I think – and he agreed with me – is that pro athletes are very passionate and more important, they want to be good. They want to be the best. They also have the ability to start an ongoing process that doesn’t always yield immidiate affect – ie, they can work on long term projects.
So, to make a long story short – both he and I think hiring athletes is a good buisness decision.
Do you think team sports are as effective as individual sports in preparing people to work on (delayed gratification) long term projects?
It’s funny you say this because, while I am not a pro- athlete, the fact that I am a dedicated marathon runner helped me land a job in my interviews a few months ago!! The thing is that athletes ( especially pros) have several outstanding qualities, which are just even more exaggerated when you become pro: passion, hard work ethic, determination and focus. You can’t be a successful athlete without those, and those traits would make you successful in any job! However, this of course depends on what industry and what job you are taking about. If you’re taking about being an analyst or something “behind the scenes” then hard work ethic can only get you so far- you need to be qualified with a good knowledge of software programs and be good with numbers. But if you’re talking about something in the clients services side, or anywhere where you are ” in front of the scenes” these traits would serve you very well. So i think I would be way more inclined to hire a pro ( or ex pro) athlete because they are bound to have at least these 4 qualities, however, it still depends on the nature of their job and their other capabilities and qualifications! If I had two candidates that had equal qualifications and were just a personable ( you can’t hire someone you don’t like, because then you’re stuck working with them!), I Would definitely lean towards the athlete!
That’s interesting Melissa. It sounds like you should post some tips on how you nailed your interview! It would seem to me that business professionals who are also dedicated marathon runners would be some of the most highly sought-after employees. You’ve proven you have the work skills, and you maintain something else you are passionate about that takes incredible discipline. You must be impressive with time management! If I were an employer, I would think a healthy worker who sweats off the days stresses with running is more likely to bring a fresh face to work every day. 🙂
I am a small business owner and former college runner. I prefer to hire athletes. No, I am not looking for former professional but if they applied I would interview. I like to hire athletes because they are dedicated, hard working, and willing to do things little different to achieve a goal. Also, the degree just get you in the door but work ethic, people skills, and being a team player gets you hired.
What’s an example of the athletic mindset helping someone “do things a little different to achieve a goal?” That sounds interesting.
The question that you raise is really similar to what a lot of military personnel go through when they start to look for jobs in the civilian market; as one person put it – there aren’t a lot of companies that have aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines). The trick is to look at the basic skills that make up the bigger activity. I would suppose that a pro-athlete would have skills in short term and long term planning, scheduling, budgeting, etc.
I bet both military personnel and athletes rely quite a bit on their social network in the workplace…former military people and athletes who can relate, to help them through the transition.
I know it’s super late for a reply, but I only found your site recently…so maybe – just maybe – this will help a tiny bit, if you even see it…
I did transition from the military where I was infantry/airborne/ranger, etc. Basically a lot of things that don’t seem to be of value out here in the “real” world, right? Even worse, I knew I wanted to work in civil engineering (very technical/experience required, yada yada) and I only had 45 hours of college under my belt from before my six years in the military. It felt like going on an impossible career search.
Well, I got a job at a civil engineering firm using Microstation, which was software I had never heard of before (and I made this clear to my interviewer). Also, I recieved an offer everywhere I interviewed. This was in ’07 when I got out of the military. Now I am a structural designer and the company is paying me to finish college. I’m positive you will have no problems transitioning. Many skills you have as an elite athlete can be stripped of the “athlete” and remain very useful. Like you and others have mentioned, maybe it takes an athlete to know this. Lucky for you, however, many employers out there are also recreational athletes, or they have tried to be at some point. Therefore they understand, to some degree, the level of commitment and perseverance required to do well. This actually helped me a lot in interviews, because many people want to hear stories or make comparisons, which makes it a lot more personal than “just another” interview.
Most companies (that I know of) are looking for someone that really has a passion to do whatever it is they do, and common sense. You are very educated, you have been a part of many successful teams (and the leader of successful teams), you have very high standards (those of a champion in fact), and the list goes on. If I were hiring and I saw your resume, I wouldn’t care too much about the running per se. The fact that you do what it takes to be the best as a member of a team and as an individual (not to mention an excellent education background) would get you an interview. Then you would just have to show that your personality works for my team; and show that you really do have some level of excitement for this work.
You’ll have no problem if you search for a career using half the determination that you run with. Whatever you do, DO NOT use those internet search engines – they will haunt your inbox forever!
FYI though, it sucks sitting at a desk 8 hours or more a day! It may sound relaxing after a career of hard physical work, but try it at home for a couple weeks first – very monotonous! I miss the Ranger Bn every day, and I suspect you will miss competitive running at least as much, if not more so. At least find something challenging so you can still feel the joy of accomplishment. Why would you leave Picky Bars anyway??!! You guys are gonna be rich – I hope! At least write some books or something. A lot of people enjoy and learn from your writing!
Sorry this is soooo long….I guess I figure there’s only a slim chance anyone will read this anyways…
Happy running
Thank you Lauren for highlighting such an important topic. Its no secret that professional athletes across all sports notoriously struggle with the transition to their post-competitive careers. The volunteer board and donors of the USATF Foundation are determined to offer professional Track & Field athletes the strongest program of career transition support of any sport in America. Seventy-five (75) highly successful people (Corporate CEO’s , etc) have agreed to be career mentors and thirty-five (35) companies have signed on because they DO believe that professional track athletes have special qualities that lead to success in the business world.
About 60 elite T&F athletes are already using these services and if any of your fellow athletes are reading this and are curious, they can check out this site: http://www.usatffoundation.org/elite/career_development_programs.htm.
This was a really interesting post! I wonder the same things. I feel like the qualities inherent to serious athletes: dedication, passion, tenacity, planning, etc all can translate in the “real world.”
It depends on the position itself. Though, everything is possible. I’m not a pro but as a part time athlete myself, I’d definitely hire a pro (from running, not sure about some other sports…) Runners generally have “the drive” like no one else, and we all know it takes a lot of dedication and training to get to the point where you call yourself successful. When you apply this drive to your job, it could be tremendous. On the other hand, there are special skill sets that might be absent from the athlete, and it’d take more time for that person to acquire those skill sets in order to get up to speed in the “real world.” Is it achievable? Sure. Life is all about learning and everything is a learning process — whether you compete on the track or work in the real world, you always need to learn, whether you have the experience or not.
Like Lauren said, I’d be a little wary as well. I know that I apply the same kind of dedication and drive to my work that I do in running, but I think the world of a professional athlete is really different. I mean, you spend years following this passion and this dream, so it’s hard to know how exactly you’re going to react when you transition to a “normal” job. I’d definitely believe in a former pro athlete to be very disciplined if they’re passionate about what they’re doing, but what if it’s something that doesn’t motivate them that much? It’s easy to imagine them getting somewhat disillusioned, and sort of resigning themselves to doing a mediocre job if they don’t care about what they’re doing. So a lot of it would come down to the interview; do I get a sense that this person really cares enough about what they’re doing, or about doing a good job in it, to learn the necessary skill sets and really use their drive for excellence? Or is this just something to fill out the days that will seem soul-crushing after their experience as a pro athlete?
Hi Lauren,
I would suggest playing to your strengths. You would obviously make an excellent collegiate coach or you could run some sort of training facility, as you have a ton of knowledge and personal experience. I would avoid the corporate world if at all possible. Just my opinion : )
Brian
As much as drive and passion are wonderful characteristics that employers certainly look for, I think a lot of professional athletes may need to return to school to hone the necessary skills. Clearly, no amount of pure work ethic will give a person the knowlege to become a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. That said, if I were an admissions officer in a grad school, I would gladly accept athletes – who would know how to persevere through long and challenging extensive programs.
Even less intensive jobs like becoming an accountant or teaching in a high school require some career-specific schooling.
I agree with Brian, that playing to your strengths could be extremely beneficial. Lauren, if you were a trainer or nutritionist or even an aerobics instructor, I’d sign up to be your client or in your class in a heartbeat. And for runners that feel at home on the trails, they could seek outdoorsy jobs working in parks or leading backpacking trips, etc.
Dear Ms. Fleshman
Let me get this straight. You’ve a Stanford education, a lovely smile, well spoken, world class athlete, have traveled the world, and as smart as you are, have probably put a way a few bucks. You’re feigning false modesty — you’re not really worried about what you’re gonna do to earn a living. Thousands of companies would hire you, millions of men propose marriage. Only thing you should think about is what adventure you’re going to tackle next. Life is very short, and you’ve got it by the tail. Do the most exciting thing you can think of. Great run in London, reminded me of Mary Decker taking the bit in her teeth and putting the world away. Too bad there wasn’t someone there to push you.