The audio program is entitled; The Job Process, Research, and Finding Open Jobs. The focus is on two parts of the job process; research and finding open jobs. 

You also must become an expert at finding all you can about history, connectors to the job and the pain points!

History

If you don't know the history of the job, you have really minimized your chances of getting it. Learn all you can about the school, tuition, enrollment, notable alums, popular majors, changes in admissions policies, President and his closest advisors, the Presidents background, his advisors backgrounds, the faculty, areas of research, the athletic department, the athletic director, each sport's head and assistant coaches, Sports Information Director, Trainers, Compliance officers, and secretaries. What is the history of the athletic department, championships, coaches hired and fired, budgets, obstacles, friends and enemies of the athletic departments, fund raising, and special projects or facilities upgrades.

Connectors

A connector is a person that may or may not be a part of your network. This person is the go between so that you, because of yoru relationship with the connector, and the decision makers are connected. A connector is very valuable to your job success because if you just go by who you know, there areen't many jobs you can get involved in. But, you can theoretically going to be involved in every job out there if you work hard to identify a connector who has in-house contacts. This is invaluable because many times your chances are tied to the relationship that exists between the other two. If your connector has a strong relationship wiht the Athletic Director, your chances are very good. Another important aspect is not just looking at current staff, faculty, coaches, or secretaries who looking to connect. Your research will be much more effective if you find out who previous help jobs at this school. This opens up the pool of possible people that you or your connector may be able to help you with. Like most situations, it's all in the details.

Pain Points

I've worked with many coaches trying to get a job they are qualified for. Most of the time they don't get the job and they come away disappointed and frustrated. One golden nugget I can share with you is finding "pain points" in the athletic department or specific sport. Many times the biggest pain point is budget, athletically or university wide. But within the program itself, many times there have been a few lingering problems that hold the program back from being a consistent winner.

One situation I've been involved in can explain the skill of finding the pain point. I was working with a coach who was looking for an entry level job at a Division II school. It was a good program and they had an excellent starting job available.

Here's where I asked some tough questions to help him get prepared;

1.  "Why would you hire you? It is a crazy question but it forces you to immediately talk about why you should get the job over everyone else. If you can't answer the question, you shouldn't get it anyway.

2. My next question was, "What does the program need?" "I'm not real sure was his answer," a poor one at that. I said the head coach is going to hire a coach that he feels comfortable with, has the right qualifications, has an expertise that can help the program, is a person of integrity, and most importantly, brings something to the program that no one on the current staff has! 

3. The head coach wants a difference maker, a creative thinker, and someone who brings a new skill to the program. "What is your special skill or expertise?" Again, no answer. 

4. Last question is this, if you are hired and work here 5 years, what will they say about you here when you leave? That one left him scratching his head.

Although this coach didn't have a lot of answers to my questions he learned a lot in our session and I helped prepare him with solid answers to all of those questions. In the end, the pain point in this situation was summer basketball camp. He found out about this situation while talking to a rival coach and took a very specific and detailed plan into his interview and addressed the pain point straight on! It was a bullseye and yes, he got a very good entry level job and in the process, learned a lot about preparing for the interview and getting the job. 

 Job Search TIPS

1. Job Search Success is up to you.
2. How to Research to prepare for the interview
3. Do all of your coaching friends know your goal this spring—if not tell them.
            --If you have 50 coaching buddies and they all hear of 10 openings, that’s 500 possibilities.
            —If they don’t know you want a job this spring, you’ll never hear from them and 500 job possibilities are down the drain.
4. Don’t be afraid to SELL YOURSELF!
5. DO-give examples/stories about how your skill (s) have made a positive difference in the past
    DON’T talk about what you’ve done and what you can do.
    DO—make a point/ give an example…….make a point/show the proof/numbers/stats/video…..etc…….etc.
6. FACT tell, but STORIES sell! Remember that before you speak.
7. The HC or AD should take 70% of the time, you speak 30% of the time. If not, you lose.
8. Design some well thought-out questions to ask in the interview.
9. There are 60 open college Head Coaching Jobs right now at all levels; over 20 in Division I.
10. If each head coaching position creates 10 jobs by the trickle down effect, that’s 600 job opportunities that will be out there.
            —As coaches are fired or move on, a potential 300-600 more jobs may open………….that’s a possible 1,200 open jobs!