One good, one bad; life has a way of balancing you…

Recently, I had two screening “interviews” if you will. And anyone going through this process right now knows how exhausting and discouraging it can often be.

Here we are faking a smile and personality either over the phone or in person, smiling so much your face hurts, or talking in your “professional” voice over and over again to where you forget how many octaves lower your voice actually is. It can be challenging! But it also can be rewarding.

I happened to have two interviews back to back, both which with whom will remain unnamed, but as this forum is for sports and law, I will disclose that one was for a Players Union and the other was for a major NFL sports team.

The interactions I had in both of these phone calls were polar opposites, although only 3 days apart.
During the first interview, I felt high energy from my caller. He was engaged, interested in me, in the city I currently live in, and in the things I wanted for myself. Often, in sports, networking is the key to getting your first dream job. Half of the time, my interviews are the outcome of me networking my ass off. Excuse my French. But that is what needs to be done. It’s a HUSTLE. For everyone. So you HAVE to just be one to play the game as well. But this doesn’t mean you should be fake, or rude, or disingenuine. That is what reminds me of this first interviewer. We discussed having people skills, being friendly in the industry, and overall just being willing to learn and make friends! We are all people who want to meet other nice people. Trust me, it goes a long way and people always remember how you make them feel even if they don’t remember what you say.

The second interviewer was a drastic change of pace. He was “realistic.” He told me to pursue a big firm job instead of diving head first into sports. He said it’s a tough industry to get into (duh) and that most people won’t hire you unless they need “immediate help.” He explained how lawyers in sports are so busy that they often don’t have time to “train” other people, and how that’s the likely reason for the scarcity of internships in the realm of sports and law. I was so discouraged by his reality. The next couple hours for me was truly shot. Emotionally, I was re-considering my entire path, my resume, and what I thought I wanted for my future. After this summer working in a dream world, I felt so close to my goal of working in sports. Yet, after one phone call, I was evaluating my career all over again…it was stomach-wrenching. I didn’t’ have words.

I have always been given two strains of advice: 1) if you know what you want to do, go head first into that with all you’ve got. Build your resume around it and just hope and pray and work and grind for it because hard work eventually pays off. 2) diversify yourself. Try new things and be good at an array of many than an expert in one. Be open and don’t have tunnel vision.

BLAH! Which one is it? I guess it depends on you. For me, I was elated after my first interview and then disheartened by my second. Then I quickly realized that the universe just HAD to humble me and bring me back down. I know the difficulties of the industry I am in, and I know the rarity to even get interviews sometimes, so for even the chance to talk to some of these esteemed professionals, I am grateful.
I have been brought back down to earth by the reality slap I was given by that second call, and maybe I needed it. It’s not always going be easy, it’s not always going be good news. When one bad thing happens, one good happens. When one door opens, another closes. Life has a way of balancing us out when we need it the most. I am here to keep striving though. I will take the open door I was given and continue pursuing that direction. I am here to overcome adversity, and I am here to stay resilient.

And for the many of you that are going through this interview process with me, I am just here to remind you that we only need ONE “yes.” It is okay that we have not gotten that yet, because it will come. It has to.

 

Edited by Leigh Ann Skaggs