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The Best Way to Write a Cover Letter for a Sports Job

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While a cover letter should be simple and succinct, it provides a perfect opportunity to state your intentions and make a case for you as the ideal hire. If you want a job in the sports field, your cover letter should look different than if you wanted a job in finance. The following tips can help you write a strong cover letter specifically for a sports job, and help you use a valuable tool to communicate with a recruiter or hiring manager to introduce yourself, your employment record and your qualifications.

The sports field is expanding faster than most. New jobs are available in women’s sports, youth club leagues, legalised sports betting, fantasy sports and sports science. Experts project that by 2025, the global sports market will reach $600 billion in value.

You don’t need to be an athlete to work in the sports field. Organisations hire coaches, marketers, sports management professionals, product developers, sports lawyers, journalists and sports gamers.

As the internet created a space where jobs are easier to find and apply for, your sample letter of interests and resume must stand out above the rest. Hiring managers read through hundreds of resumes for each job posting, and only 2% of applicants get an interview. Ideally, your cover letter catches their eye and makes them more interested in your resume.

Discuss Your Connections

As sports jobs are competitive and often hard to land, connections with the organisation make a huge difference in how competitive your application is. The truth is that those with connections often get the job because it limits the time a recruiter spends interviewing for a position.

If you have a connection that makes your name stand out, don’t be afraid to use it. It may be something as simple as the fact that you worked in a sports team’s ticket office in the past. Any contact you have with the organisation or work you have done for them in the past (paid or volunteer) needs to be on your cover letter to catch their attention. It’s also easier for a hiring manager to check your references if they are within the organisations.

Don’t Be Afraid to Get Personal

The sports field is one where personalities shine. While your resume is the more formal document you present, the cover letter is your chance to highlight how you’ll fit into the company culture or organization’s goals. Pick your primary skills and make them clear in your cover letter.

In your cover letter, share any experience you have with the sports industry you want to work in. For example, your experience in high school baseball or your year’s coaching rec sports may help you get a job with a professional baseball team if portrayed accurately. You can expound on this experience in your cover letter and discuss how it made you the best choice for a particular job. Along with your connections, your personal experiences directly shape your ability to perform certain jobs, so don’t be afraid to share them.

Apply the Rule of Less Is More

When it comes to getting a sports job, you are the product, and your cover letter is your advertisement. Don’t be afraid to list recognitions and awards you received but keep it short and sweet. Focus on specific milestones to show how you were intricately involved in the company’s success.

When writing your cover letter, you get to write your own story. How were you vital in improving profits in your last job? What specific characteristic or recognition have you received that makes you relevant for the job you want?

For example, if you have a degree in sports marketing and you received departmental honours, this highlights not only your commitment to getting things right, but also the fact that you have the textbook knowledge necessary to do the job. If you were MVP of your football team in high school or college, you have valuable lived experience that makes you an asset to the job.

Focus on specific achievements rather than listing off every award you’ve received. Determine which accomplishments you have are most relevant to the job you are applying for, pick two of them and go from there.

Change Your Letter for Every Application

Your resume largely stays the same throughout the process, but you must change tweak your cover letter for each job you apply for. It may just be a change to two or three words, or you may need to completely rewrite paragraphs.

Check the job description to find out what the job requirements are. Use provided cover letter templates and match your skills with the requirements.

For example, you apply for a job as a sports analyst. You haven’t done more than a few years of analytics, but you did play the relevant sport in college. This experience helps you decode data patterns in a way that shifts in real-time. Highlight your college playing experience to cover for the fact that you don’t have as many years of formal experience analysing data.

If you know who the hiring manager or recruiter is, focus your strengths on things that pertain to them. For example, if their background is in a specific sport, use your cover letter to highlight experiences within that sport or make your qualities relevant to it. Hiring managers are more likely to pay attention to a cover letter that is relevant to them and may skim over one they can’t relate to.

Wrap It Up

Even though the hiring manager is doing something that is part of their job description, they still appreciate a thank you for looking over your cover letter and resume. Associate your name with positive emotions by thanking them for their time and effort. Even if you don’t get the job you want now, they may remember you later for something you are more qualified for. Always end your cover letter with a note of appreciation and thanks.

Sources:

Jobs in Sport:                     

  careers in sport

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