Sports Agents

Working for an agent as an intern, volunteer, or assistant is a great experience that will look good on your resume. Contact agents in your area to learn more about the opportunities that are available. 

Contacts and exposure to athletes are the unofficial requirements for sports agents. Simply put, without knowing or having access to athletes, it is next to impossible to represent them. Insiders say that often, a successful agent's first client is his or her college roommate—later hired when the college athlete turned professional.

The sports industry generates revenue in the hundreds of billions of dollars, only a portion of which actually goes to the athlete, so everyone who comes to the bargaining table—from management to athlete to advertiser—has a lot at stake. Sports agents must be able to handle tension and stress well, arguing effectively for their client's interests whether the opponent is the head of an international shoe manufacturer or the local real estate agent trying to sell the athlete a new house.

Finally, a large part of the sports agent's job is talking, making contacts, and then using those contacts to improve a client's position. This type of interaction is the bread and butter of a sports agent's career. As one insider put it, being just this side of annoying, obnoxious, or brash helps in this business. Often, the agent with the most name recognition is the one who ends up with the job.