As a former student-athlete, I know the challenge of balancing sports and career planning. That’s why I’m here to help you bridge the gap and translate your athletic experience to employers in a relevant way during a professional job interview!
The student-athletes I work with all have one thing in common: they feel like their athletic experience isn’t valuable to employers. Before we go any further, know this belief is false! Your athletic experience has helped you develop unique and valuable employability skills that are highly sought after by employers.
The key to communicating athletic experience in a job interview is thoughtfully preparing interview stories that speak to the skills employers are seeking. Let’s take a closer look at the employability skills employers seek, how to prepare good interview stories, and
Understanding the Value of Your Athletic Experience
Employers are struggling to find employees who have basic employability skills. Employability skills are personal attributes that are essential for good performance in the workplace.
Here are a few skills employers seek that student-athletes typically have mastered:
- Teamwork – you understand the importance of collaboration and work well with others to accomplish more.
- Coachability – you can take constructive criticism and use it to improve performance.
- Interpersonal skills—you have been a teammate to people with many different personalities and have learned to build relationships and work with them.
- Conflict management – you have learned to resolve conflict with coaches and teammates and put differences aside so the team can move forward toward a common goal.
- Work Ethic – you know the meaning of hard work, have demonstrated strong commitment, and have worked tirelessly to accomplish goals.
- Time management – you managed being a full-time student, games, practices, weight training, study hall, etc.
- Grit – you learned to press on despite an injury, setback, etc.
- Goal Setting & Progress Monitoring – you set individual and team goals, monitor your progress, make adjustments, and keep pushing toward your goals!
- Communication Skills – you have learned to communicate well with coaches, teammates, trainers, and the media.
- Leadership—You have developed leadership skills by taking charge in situations, mentoring younger athletes, helping with sports camps, and recruits. Additionally, you have learned how to leverage each teammate’s strengths for the team’s success!
And the list goes on! My list above is certainly not exhaustive, but it is a great start and has likely made you realize just how many valuable skills you have to offer your future employers!
Understanding Situational and Behavioral Interview Questions
Situational and behavioral interview questions are two of the most common types of interview questions. Situational interview questions are focused on the future. They ask hypothetical questions so an employer can better understand how you might handle situations. Along with your explanation of what you would do in the situation and why, it helps to tell a story about a past experience related to the situational question/scenario.
Behavioral interview questions look at the past and help employers know more about you, your character, etc. Similar to a situational interview question, they are trying to gauge who you are, how you operate, and what they can expect of you as a colleague. Again, stories about past experiences are the best way to approach a behavioral interview question!
Explaining Your Skills through STAR Interview Stories
Since both behavioral and situational interview questions require more lengthy responses and stories to help illustrate, it is best to have five to seven interview stories prepared and rehearsed before the interview. The STAR method is a great framework for ensuring your stories provide enough detail to adequately answer the questions and ace the interview!
- Situation – Provide background information for the audience. What was happening? Who was involved? What was your role, participation, etc.?
- Task – Describe the challenges and problems. What were the issues? What made the situation difficult? What factors contributed to the situation?
- Action – Explain what you did and how. What steps did you take and why? What resources did you leverage? Who helped?
- Results – Provide the outcome or resolution in a tangible way. How was the situation resolved? What was significant about it? What did you learn? How would you do things next time?
The STAR method ensures you provide enough context and explanation to the interviewers and give them insight as to why and how you make decisions.
Examples of Communicating Athletic Experience in a Job Interview
Question 1: Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership. (Behavioral Question)
My athletic career as a softball pitcher afforded me many opportunities to develop and demonstrate leadership skills. One particular leadership experience I am really proud of came at the end of the season my sophomore year of college. We traveled four hours for an away game. Typically, we would have at least a few fans and parents in attendance at our games, but at this particular doubleheader, the stands were empty. Our head coach, assistant coach, and the team were the only ones in attendance for our college. The game was tied 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Both teams were competing hard for the win. I delivered a pitch, and a baserunner began to steal third base. Our catcher threw to third, and our shortstop tagged her as she was sliding into the base.
It seemed obvious to our team that the opponent was tagged out before she reached the base; however, the umpire called her safe. This was a big call as it put the runner in scoring position. While I held my composure and returned to the mound, our coach handled the situation differently. He stormed the field and exchanged words with the umpire. Unfortunately, he lost his cool and was ejected from the game.
Our coach’s actions left my team and me with an inexperienced assistant coach in a very tight game. In that moment, I calmly asked the umpire for a timeout and called a team huddle on the mound. I was not a team captain, but I was a team leader as the pitcher. I gave a great, positive talk to the team and explained that we had this under control! We were an exceptional team, we knew how to play ball, and we were great teammates. I explained we had two outs and were going to focus on getting the batter while being mindful of the leadoff of the runner on third. I am happy to report that we got the third out, played two extra innings without a coach, and won that game! It felt incredible to take leadership in a difficult situation, display confidence in our plan, and lead my team to victory! All of us learned a lot that day about leadership. We had a good example and a bad example, unfortunately, to learn from. I know how important it is to keep our emotions in check in difficult situations, remain positive, and rally a team for a common goal!
Question 2: This position requires exceptional time management. You may have three to four projects to manage simultaneously. How would you handle this workload? (Situational Question)
Great project management involves planning in advance, setting benchmarks, monitoring progress, and making adjustments as needed. I am a visual person and prefer to have a project management board that I can use to set project benchmarks, make notes and updates, and mark progress toward completion. This approach helps me manage time, resources, and expectations. It also allows my team and supervisors to see project progress at a glance.
Regarding time management and the ability to manage multiple projects, I am confident I have exceptional time management skills and work well under pressure. My time as a student-athlete taught me the importance of managing my time well and how to work under pressure. Every semester, I carried a full-time student load of 15 units, managed a practice schedule, weight room workouts, games, and study hall. During season, my typical week brought me 15 hours in class, 15 hours of practice, at least five hours in the weight room, 10 hours of study hall, and an average of 20 hours traveling to and competing in games. Managing all of my commitments required careful planning and attention to my progress and goals. My 3.8 GPA and honors at graduate are evidence of my ability to manage my time well and work under pressure to meet deadlines, expectations, and goals.
Practicing Your Delivery & Choosing Versatile Stories
It is very important to have five to seven interview stories and illustrations prepared and rehearsed for each interview. The more you practice telling the stories, the more confident you will feel. It is more important to practice your stories than it is to have them linked to specific interview questions.
Take my first example above about demonstrating leadership during that tough game. That story would have also worked as a response to these interview prompts:
- Tell me about a time you disagreed with a supervisor’s decision.
- Tell me about a time you overcame an obstacle.
Good interview stories highlight your skills and character and can also be used for a few different questions. Having at least five stories prepared will help ensure you have a story for almost any behavioral or situational question!
Additional Interview Preparation
I am passionate about helping student-athletes get a great start professionally because I was a student-athlete myself! As a professional interview and career coach, I can help you prepare for your interview, craft interview stories, and get the job offer you deserve! Let’s connect so I can help you get your dream job out of college!
More Helpful Content for Student Athletes
- Winning Strategies: How to Write a College Athlete Resume
- Case Study Examples of Student-Athlete Resumes
- How to Write a Standout Cover Letter as a Student Athlete
- How to Write a LinkedIn Profile for Student Athletes
About Loren
I am a passionate career coach with over ten years of experience helping student-athletes and students with job searches! I specialize in highlighting your best skills and accomplishments in relevant and valuable ways! It is hard to write about yourself without feeling like you are bragging. Conversely, it can be difficult to connect your athletic accomplishments to what the employer seeks! Leave the strategizing and writing to me! Let’s chat today to see how I can help you land your dream job!
