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The Book

Book Excerpt

Excerpt from the Introduction

I love my job. And I wrote this book because I want you to be able to say that too.

Why do I love my job? As one of just a handful of female sports agents in the US, I embrace the relationship building side of my work whether it is with the clients, their employers, their families or my employees. As President of the Client Representation division of CS&E (www.CareerSports.com) I am managing relationships with some of the world's greatest athletes. To be a sports agent, we must become not only our clients' closest confidant, but also their greatest advocate.

Your Challenge: Scoring Your Dream Job

Many of you are reading this book as young people who are beginning to think about entering the working world. You probably have all kinds of hopes, ambitions, and goals. Armed with your education and your enthusiasm, you're ready to conquer the world and make your mark. You probably have a dream job in mind, one that puts you in the "big leagues" of your field. Hopefully, it is a job you love and feel passionate about. You want to have what organizational psychologists call "high job satisfaction" – you want to be excited by your work, you want to feel engaged, and you want to be happy. Let's say you are the typical American worker. You get your first job out of college at age 22. And then you work between 40 and 50 hours a week, 50 weeks a year (you do take time off for vacation, right?) for the next 43 years, until you are about 65 years old. That means that over the course of your career, you will have spent over 100,000 hours at work! Don't you want a career that makes you happy and a job you feel passionate about?

Because I have a unique job, I am often asked to speak in front of students who are about to enter the work force. I have noticed, after I am done giving a speech, about 100 people out of every 1,000 people listening will approach me at the front of the room. Out of the 100 people who take my business card, I find only 30 ever follow up and email me. Four or five will do so within a few hours of walking out of the room, and the rest over the next week or two. Of those who send an initial email, only two or three will make the effort to stay in touch with me over time. They will send me emails updating me on their studies their career status, an article I might be interested in reading, or industry events they attended. Some will congratulate me on an achievement by our agency for one of our clients - a big win by a coach, a significant contract for one of baseball clients or an endorsement deal we secured. Of course, it is this small group that gets my attention. Within a relatively short period of time, I come to feel like I know them. While lots of people approach me for help, it seems only 2-3% "get it" and understand how to be "their own agent."

I know looking for a job is hard work, and can be very stressful for young people. I want to teach you what all the books, all the web sites, and all the career guides don't provide. If you believe your resume and a cover letter is good enough to find you your dream career, you should put this book back on the shelf. But if you want me to take you behind the curtain keep reading. I will explain how the process of finding the tough-to-land jobs really works, and start you on your way to building your dream career.

As you read this book, you will see this book is about five tools you must master to best position yourself to pursue your dream job. You must be passionate and consistently present yourself with great style. You must remain fearless by being consistently, uniquely, and respectively aggressive. You must execute against your game plan in order to create choices for yourself. I have tried to include as many step-by-step guides to my philosophy and approach as possible so that you can capture and apply what I have learned over my years in the highly competitive work world of professional sports. This book is about what really matters in starting your own dream career. I'll give you examples, tell you stories of people just like you who have done the right things and the wrong things, and help you build a road map for your own job search process. I will teach you how to build relationships with people who can help you, whether you know them now or not. And when you land that great offer, I will help you set yourself up for a positive start to a "Big League" career.