Building Your Resume

People, starting out in their working life, are often worried that their resume will not stand them in good stead when applying for a particular job they desire.

Here are some suggestions to build your resume and give you more confidence to apply for jobs in the sport and recreation industry.

Knowledge of Sport

Sport administration does not require expertise in the technical skills of the sport. The knowledge that is important includes: (follow links for more information)

Understanding of the important issues that sport organisations face e.g. risk management, funding, volunteer recruitment and retention, facility management,
Understanding of the structure of sport i.e. the hierarchical system of sport organisation
Understanding of how sport organisations are funded e.g. membership fees, game fees, sponsorship, government funding, etc.
Understanding how the majority of sport organisations are managed through voluntary committees or boards

While you may not have direct experience of sport management, if you make very brief bullet point statements on your Resume that you have understanding of the issues that sport organisations deal with, and the way the sport industry works, your Resume will be much improved.

Technology Skills

Be sure to mention any or all of the following skills on your resume. I quick study of mail merge before going to an interview would be useful.

Skills and knowledge in using social media and developing Facebook pages (now important in sport organisations for communication with members)
Skills and knowledge how to mail merge i.e. Microsoft Word Templates with Microsoft Access Database, or Microsoft Word Templates with Microsoft Excel Database, Microsoft Word Templates with Microsoft Outlook. These skills are exceptionally important in Sport Organisation. Administrators will be constantly sending out information by email preferably to the membership.
Skills in creating or editing a website. Nearly all clubs run a website and it is important to keep them up to date.

Communication skills

Communication skills are important in almost any job. Rather than make simple statements such as "Possess good communication skills", make a brief statement (one sentence) on any of the following in your resume if they apply to you:

Worked any kind of job where you had direct contact with the public, face-to-face or by phone. You can put a good spin on this i.e. receiving and following up with customer enquiries, providing information to customers.
Given presentations to work colleagues or other students, or public speaking at school or any other place. Often the sports administrator has to talk to groups to give information e.g. talk to parents of teams, talk to coaches, talk in committee meetings. Your resume should reflect that you have confidence in yourself in such situations.
Achieved success in writing complex documents and/or highly skilled in formatting documents. It is very useful for the sports administrator to be able to create brochures, sponsorship proposals, newsletters, etc.

Organisation Skills

People who work in the sport and recreation industry generally have the responsibility to organise events and programs.

Have you organised or participated in the organisation of an event at school, college or university?
Have you organised or participated in the organisation of a major social event e.g. someone's birthday party.
What has been the best example of your organisational skills? Were you involved in a project and you needed to coordinate people.

Your resume needs to convey that you are comfortable with coordinating people, and that you can be relied upon if given a coordination task. If a person is young and/or not experienced in sport administration, it is unlikely they can demonstrate actual experience in organising sport events. However, they can demonstrate that they have the basic coordination skills i.e. coordinating people, using checklists, planning tasks, etc.

Length of Resume

It does no good for a resume to be long. One page, double-sided, well spaced out is the longest it should be for most people. But one single-sided page may be sufficient if it says the right things about you.

It is really important to consider that having one standard resume that you use for all jobs is not a good idea. Your resume may need to be altered slightly to reflect the objectives and duties of each job to which you apply.