Job Openings at Sub-USL-1 Clubs

[Tuscan]

I'm interested if anyone knows of any job openings at any clubs in USL-2, PDL, W-League, CSL, heck even the AMSL or the Pacific Coast league. You can look on the web all you want, but things don't always get posted.

[Richard]

At this level as with most such jobs, networking and personal contact is what its all about. Pick up the phone and start dialling. Finding a job is a job in itself.

[VPjr]

what type of job Tuscan.

[Tuscan]

Preferably (haha not to get picky is such a small job market) something that is beyond entry-level. I'm quite interested in partnership and sponsorship relations, management, and growth. I see soccer on the fringe but at a point where it will soon become a more attractive sport to form positive relations through due to the growth of the game's exposure in North America. Also, marketing and sales growth is another area that I'm interested in, as leagues like the CSL and PDL try to grow and piggyback a bit on the newfound exposure USL-1 and MLS are gaining.

I'm not opposed to something that is entry-level, either. Beggars can't be choosers, plus if it is a way to get one's foot in the door, so to speak, all the better. For a guy who's a term away from a BComm in Management, I'm hoping a few of you guys on here could help point me in a direction where I can use my skills to help build the Canadian game.

[hamiltonfan]

Try calling CSL team contact numbers provided on their websites or CSL website. Many teams will offer a great commission rate(rather than by hour or salary wage) if you are interested in corporate sponsorship sales, I’m sure the same goes for tickets sales if that is another area you are interested in.

[VPjr]

^ Sadly there are very few paying gigs at the club level below USL1.

Build your contacts, as Richard has suggested. This is a "who you know, not what you know" type of business. Many industries are like that but this one is especially incestuous.

[Richard]

Often a good way in to a paid position is to start as a volunteer.

[Regs]

Tuscan,

Get yourself on Linkedin and join the "soccer business" group - lots of notices there of jobs when they come up though I've never seen one for in Canada.

If you are looking for a job you should be set up on Linkedin anyways.

Good luck!

Regs.

[KAS]

If you are looking for paid work, then I doubt that individual teams below USL1 will have much.

I would go to the league offices. The CSL Commissioner occasionally (ok, rarely) posts here, so he knows all about the Voyageurs. If there is a paid marketing gig in the CSL, it would probably be at the league office level, but if there was something with an individual team, then they might know about it. Similarly, I would contact USL headquarters and see if they are hiring or have a club that is.

I would also try Paul Bierne. He occassionally posts here, although very rarely as the U-Sector and RPB sites are a more effecient way to reach TFC supporters. The MLSE empire is huge, and if TFC's operations for the senior squad is fully staffed, maybe their expanding academy will need more staff soon.

With the Whitecaps going to MLS and the Impact hoping to do the same, you can expect their staffing requirements to go up. Get your foot in the door with a crap (maybe volunteer) position now, and when they expand you are there to grab something better.

If you are going to contact Bierne or Caplan, then you should do it through more formal channels such as their workplace e-mail addresses. Mentioning that you are a Voyageur (and the name you post under) might help, but they could also use that info to check and see what you have written in the past about their organizations, so you have to be careful and consider (edit/delete) previous remarks if you want to claim your participation here as an asset.

Best of luck to you.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Perhaps worth noting that Paul Beirne moved to MLS from an NBA background and very few of his hires at TFC were from the local GTA soccer community. From what I remember of the first season, one of the only exceptions that comes to mind was out the door very quickly allegedly for some sort of forbidden insider ticket sales. In a CSL context Cary Caplan came from a minor league hockey background. If you want to get into sports as a career a good business degree and a willingness to work in any professional sport is maybe the more likely way in than volunteer stuff at a level that is often run in a highly dysfunctional manner by people with a lot of time on their hands who would never be hired for their roles if a full-time salary were involved. There are sometimes exceptions to the trend but highly competent people usually tend to put a value on their time and are usually unwilling to work for free or for a small honorarium.

[Tuscan]

Interesting, it's good to see some varying viewpoints on how to get one's foot in the door in the soccer biz. I have looked at starting off in another sport simply to get experience working in the sports world. I've also considered going overseas if the opportunity with a soccer club in another country arises.

I'm hoping that both the Caps and Impact will be looking to expand their staffs once the MLS entrance gets closer. I'd much rather stay in Canada and work for an organization here than go overseas, but life takes you were it takes you, so it should be interesting regardless. Thanks for the helpful posts.