Nope wrote:
Portland Hobby Jogger "Most do not have any real job skills and Nike doesn't hand out "thank you for your service" jobs in sports marketing and product like they used to. " ????????? I think if you look closely at the resume's of most of the BTC team they come from prominent universities with degrees, some with post graduate work as well. Most of them have All Academic honors as well as being All American athletes. Stanford , Georgetown etc. I doubt being an internet sensation is their desired career when they are done competing.
A recruiter is interviewing two people for a job at a major company. One is a 23 year old Kent State University grad fresh out of college, the other is a Stanford graduate from the Class of 2013 that has been a professional runner for the past seven years.
Recruiter: “Please tell me about your prior work and internship experience?”
Kent State ’20: Thank you for asking. Between my sophomore and junior years, I did a three month internship at Citibank in New York. During that summer, I developed a risk assessment tool that accurately predicted default probabilities on loans to small businesses in the retail and food services sectors. The summer prior to my senior year, I returned to New York and interned at Goldman Sachs. I worked with a team of other finance students developing predictive analytics that warned traders of potential foreign currency valuation issues.
Stanford ’13: I was a professional distance runner on a Nike sponsored club. I raced on the track and almost made the Olympic team and ran at two World Championships. I was the second best U.S. 5,000 meter runner one year. I ran twice a day, lifted weights, took naps, and then posted pictures of my teammates and I on Instagram. I tried blogging for a while but, it started cutting into my training and recovery time. I traveled to Europe to do a few races each summer and to high altitude places like Park City, UT and Flagstaff, AZ every year to do training. Sometimes, the footwear designers at Nike would ask for my opinions about prototype shoes and would have me test new shoes. Other than that, I did some promotional work giving talks at local running stores and posing for pictures with kids at large high school track meets.
Tell me, who is more likely to get hired despite one possessing an elite university degree? It's a hard sell for a 30 year old with no real work experience and a dated degree when younger candidates with fresher, more meaningful skills are readily available.