Recommendations/Resume for a Professional Athlete???

Question

Hi,

I hope that you are well and I appreciate your reading this. With the exception of two summer internships at a law firm, I've made my living playing basketball in Germany and Spain since graduating from in 2005. I graduated from an Ivy institution with a 3.0 and played sports there as well. I just took the GMATS and. I've run into a bit of a problem in that I don't know where to go for recommendations. Most of my bosses (coaches) don't speak English very well and as nice as most of them have been I don't have alot of confidence in their ability to produce a high quality essay. Does anyone have any suggestions? Who else can I turn to for a respectable recommendation?

Also, I've run into a bit of a problem with my resume. Over the course of my 5-yr career I've played for 6 teams and aside from wins and losses and statistics I have no concrete data to offer. There are no special projects that I've managed, no promotions or managerial positions. My duties have been identical for each and every team.

That said, I was hoping someone could offer me some advice as to where I might want to look for possible recommendations and how I can put together an effective resume.

Again, thank you all for your time and thanks in advance for any input!

Best Regards

AlexMBAApply · Answer

If you have an agent, try him/her. Yes, your agent technically works for you, but he/she is someone who knows you well and would likely be seen as a "peer" reference. Another source may be your teammates - perhaps a veteran. Or the coach. The thing is, the English doesn't have to be perfect - what needs to come through is that you are a strong leader on the team, or at the least a great teammate who knows how to work well with others.

cdo2004 · Answer

Hi Alex,

Thanks alot for taking the time to reply. I'll certainly take your advice on the recommendations. But could I trouble you for a bit of advice on my resume as well?

As I mentioned before, my background is definately non-traditional as far as mba hopefuls go. Over the course of my 5-yr career I've played for 6 teams and aside from wins and losses and statistics I have no concrete data to offer. There are no special projects that I've managed, no promotions or managerial positions. My duties have been identical for each and every team. And because I've played for a variety of teams with different circumstances, it's difficult to compare one season to the next. Moreover, should I list each and every team? Or should I just create one entry that includes all teams? Two entries ... one for each country?

I hope that you'll take the time to respond ... as my resume is looking might shabby :-S

Thanks very much for your time and take care

AlexMBAApply · Answer

It sounds like you're trying too hard to characterize your job in a way that it isn't.

You were a professional athlete, a basketball player. Not a product manager in a cubicle. Trying too hard to make your job sound like a "business job" frankly will make you look silly. Sort of like a QB on a football team talking about "managing stakeholders on conference calls with team members" and "incentivizing and marshaling resources" or "identifying synergies in the game plan" or "initiated a process to elicit buy in from project team members".

Just write down what you did. What position or positions you played, notable stats (FG%, PPG, rebounds, assists, 3-pt, free throw %, etc), and so forth. Your team win-loss record. As for whether you break it out into six separate sections for each team or have one section is a matter of clutter and personal choice. Don't over think it.

You played pro basketball in Europe. Most adcoms will think that is pretty damn cool. Don't sell yourself short by trying too hard to make your job sound like it's a business job.

Recommendations/Resume for a Professional Athlete???

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