Learn how to create a sports resume that highlights your skills and experience and helps you stand out from the crowd.
Learn how to create a sports resume that highlights your skills and experience and helps you stand out from the crowd.
What’s the dream? You know, your dream. In our book, it’s being able to do what you love for a living. If your passion is sports, we hope you’re pursuing a career as an athlete, coach, commentator – anything that keeps you close to the game.
Whether you want to write for a sports magazine or coach at your local university, you’ll have to show future employers what you’re made of in the interview process. And the first step of that process is usually presenting your resume. We’re here to help make your first impression as sharp as possible.
The must-haves and best practices below will help anyone with a love of the game show their passion and skills on a resume – whether you’re a talented athlete preparing your professional sports resume or someone looking for a more administrative role in the sports industry. It’s time to take the first step toward your dream job.
When putting together the perfect team, sports recruiters travel the country watching talented athletes play. Job recruiters perform a similar task, just from behind a desk. They skim through countless resumes looking for specific skills, qualifications and anything that gives a candidate an edge. Make sure your professional resume format meets the mark by including the following sections.
Do you ever fantasize about answering the phone and finding a job offer waiting on the other end of the line? That’s unlikely to happen if you don’t put contact information on your resume. Give recruiters several options for contacting you, like a phone number and email address. It’s also a good idea to include a physical address so they know whether or not you’d need to relocate for the job. Finally, show them who you are by providing your social media accounts (if your profiles are public and showcase your professional skills) and website.
Even if this is your first time applying for a job, you have previous experience. Anything and everything you’ve done related to athletics should go in this section, even if it’s an internship or a position on a high-school team. Put your most recent work experience first and the rest in reverse chronological order. List the most high-level skills you’ve performed in each role, and describe what you did with action verbs like “led” or “organized.” Include each role's dates, location, and job title. Not sure how to put sports on a resume? List your sporting experience in this section if you're an athlete or someone trying to get a job related to sports skills. If this experience isn’t relevant to the position you’re applying for, add your sports accomplishments in a separate section.
In the education section, include any college-level and postgraduate degrees you hold. Many will only list their high-school diploma if it’s the last degree they’ve earned. Include the institutions’ names, your majors or degree track, the years of study and any recognitions or awards (like cum laude) you earned. Feel free to add relevant continuing education courses or certification programs.
You can list any academic honors in the schooling part of your resume, but highlight career recognitions in a separate section. If you're an athlete, provide some of your most impressive stats – this is the place to list sports achievements on your resume. Include awards you’ve received for exceptional performance or teamwork. If you're not an athlete, list any other awards or job recognitions you may have received. Depending on what kind of work you do, you may want to reframe this section a bit. For example, consider switching out Awards for a Publications section if you're a sports writer.
In the skills section of your resume, try to be as specific as possible. You don’t want this section to sound like you copy-pasted a list of desirable qualities. Include hard skills like time management and soft ones like interpersonal skills. Make sure the skill set you list aligns with the job description. If you have the space, add a quick anecdote or achievement that shows your mastery of the skill. For example, if you list “teamwork” on your coach resume, talk about the time you led your football team to win a national championship.
Recruiters are busy people, and they see a lot of resumes every day. They expect CVs to contain certain information, but they may also have formatting and delivery preferences. Here are some best practices to ensure that your CV fits universal guidelines:
If you’ve had a long, successful career as an athlete and are looking to retire, or you simply need a change of pace, stay close to the industry you love by considering some of the following sports jobs:
