When the well-connected head of the sports administration center at Ohio University heard recently from a sports marketing agency that needed an intern to help develop esports tournaments, even he was surprised by how quickly he answered.
“I may have 26,” Jim Kahler said.
Typically, Kahler would have funneled that sort of opportunity to an undergraduate. But with only three of 30 master’s students hired two weeks after graduation, Kahler was confident one of them would snap it up.
“To them, it’s almost like consulting money until the market comes back,” said Kahler, who typically would have two-thirds to three-quarters of his MBA and MSA class placed by graduation. “Some had jobs lined up that went away. It’s a nightmare.”
The stories are similar across the country, even at leading programs with strong reputations, decades-old alumni networks and deep industry connections.
“Not good. Not good,” said Steve McKelvey, director of the graduate program at the University of Massachusetts, which has placed three of its 20 graduates, well short of the 75% rate that it usually sees at graduation. “I’m doing a lot of one-on-one Zooms with the grad students, keeping them motivated and sharing a lot of networking and contacts in the industry with alums and non-alums.”
Of the three UMass master’s grads who have landed jobs, two won’t start until events resume and the business reopens, McKelvey said.
At the University of South Florida’s sports MBA program, a handful of students had offers headed into the pandemic, but most have been rescinded. One MBA grad who expected to land a job in esports instead has settled for an internship. Three students have taken jobs outside of sports, including one who temporarily parked his sports analytics dream to grab a data analyst job in health care.
“Everyone has been on an interview of some form or fashion and everyone is on hold, other than the handful that have moved outside of sports,” said USF program head Michelle Harrolle. “My message to everyone is to be top of mind. Stay connected.”
A first job outside of sports doesn’t have to mean giving up on a dream career. Kahler is only half-joking when he reminds grads that “nobody takes you seriously until you’re 30 anyway,” advising them to consider taking what they can find within their chosen discipline — analytics or brand management, for example — and trying to move into sports later.
“Some of our grad students are coming out with a fairly well-defined area of the industry they want to be in,” McKelvey said. “Our guest speakers have said maybe throw that out the window for now and do not be looking for the perfect job.”
Acknowledging that few of her MBA students are likely to get offers when they graduate next month, University of Oregon sports marketing center director Whitney Wagoner has counseled them to begin thinking of what they can bring to the business as it charts a path forward in a changed world.
“Disruption is a time for new thinking,” Wagoner said. “And that is what our students can do during this time: Work on some ideas and write some briefs and write some pitch documents on new thinking. When companies are going to be coming back and considering the road forward, it will require new thinking and outside-the-box ideas. … So be that voice.”
