The University of Tampa Strengthens Sport Management Curriculum With Sports Career Game Plan (SCGP)

The full story:

Background

The University of Tampa is a private university that offers more than 200 majors, minors, and pre-professional programs for over 9,000 students in Tampa, Florida. Its Bachelor of Science in Sport Management degree program provides students with a combination of sport business theory and practical experience to prepare them for a successful career in the sport management industry.

Opportunities

Michael R. Flynn, Associate Teaching Professor and Internship Coordinator for the University of Tampa’s Department of Sport Management, guides conversations around professional development and career paths in the university’s Professional Development in Sport (SPM 298) course.

“The class assists students with developing strategies to answer who am I, what’s out there, and what I want to do,” Flynn said. “It’s not enough to just ‘like sports’ to find a career in this industry.”

Flynn aims to deliver students useful content about the different aspects of the sports industry and potential career paths as he assists with their professional development. Recognizing that students have different learning styles and preferences for absorbing information, Flynn saw the opportunity to augment the course with the WorkInSports Sports Career Game Plan (SCGP).

Solution

SCGP is a comprehensive online engaged learning program from WorkInSports, part of employment platform iHire’s family of 57 industry-focused talent communities. Designed to teach students how to stand out and get a job in sports with actionable tips backed by 200+ industry experts, SCGP offers 175+ career advice articles, checklists, worksheets, quizzes, videos, audio content, and interviews. The program is broken into five modules, offering micro-credentials in the following disciplines: Gaining the RIGHT Experience for Your Sports Career; Building and Maintaining Your Sports Industry Network; Mastering Your Resume, Cover Letter, and Personal Brand; Interviewing for Jobs and Internships in the Sports Industry; and Soft Skills to Move Your Sports Career Forward.

All materials are accessible online 24/7 while students also enjoy a five-year Premium job seeker membership on the WorkInSports platform, giving them access to thousands of verified sports industry jobs, resume and cover letter building and scoring tools, and many more job search resources.

Flynn seamlessly integrated SCGP with SPM 298’s curriculum: Students complete a module every two weeks outside of class and submit a completion certificate via the University of Tampa’s learning management system (LMS). The following week, they hold in-class discussions about key takeaways from the module and then break into smaller groups to continue the conversation.

As the class leverages SCGP, WorkInSports’ Customer Success team provides support to facilitate registrations, address any technical issues, and answer students’ questions directly – Flynn trusts WorkInSports’ reps to take these tasks off his plate so he can focus on teaching.

Results

Over the past five years, more than 500 University of Tampa students have used SCGP to help them gain valuable skills for launching careers in the sports industry.

“SCGP is a good augmenting resource for our program,” said Flynn. “As educators, we know that students have different learning styles, and SCGP offers another way for them to absorb the information. It’s echoing what we’re teaching and getting them ready for the workplace. That’s what higher ed is about.”

Because students complete SPM 298 with SCGP during their sophomore year, they are equipped to create their resumes, conduct informational interviews, begin building their professional networks, find internships, and more during their junior and senior years. Upon graduation, they are ready to jump-start their careers and can also go back and reference material from SCGP – and use their WorkInSports Premium membership – to keep themselves on track in their job search.

Students often tell Flynn that they’ve applied what they’ve learned from SCGP in their job search, such as following up with contacts after networking events or sending a post-interview thank you email. Students also particularly enjoy the in-class discussions about each module and appreciate host Brian Clapp’s ability to deliver content in a way that is easy to listen to and digest.

“We’ll talk about something in class – like applicant tracking systems – then they’ll hear about it from Brian in the SCGP modules and see or experience it in the real world,” Flynn said.

Moving forward, Flynn plans to continue using SGCP to enhance the course and empower students to discover the right jobs in the competitive sports industry.

“Students are more prepared for the workplace because of these augmented conversations,” he concluded.

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