On Feb. 7, 8 and 9, Elizabethtown College held their inaugural “Career in Sports Symposium,” which allowed students who are interested in having a career in sports here from those who are already in the industry. The Symposium had speakers from multiple areas in the sports industry, such as health and wellness, communications and marketing, marketing and operations and even coaching.
Held over three days, the symposium had speakers from across the sports industry, which included a writer for The Athletic, a media and brand marketing manager from FOX Sports and even an Esports director for Emerald Sports. The event was made up of virtual presentations and included many speakers that graduated from Etown. Speakers were encouraged to talk about their experiences, how they were able to get to where they are today and take questions that students had about their career.
The Symposium was put together by director of the Career Development Center (CDC) Jane Nini and other CDC staff. Nini has organized events such as these that allow for students to connect with professionals across different industries, including ones that they may be interested in. “The one thing that I heard from panelists and the one thing that I know in career development is that it is critical to have skills and those soft skills, being able to develop those relationships,” Nini said. “It’s really what we heard from panelists, is they’re relationships were key to their career success and maybe open doors for them, or someone passed along their resume, so being able to make those connections and sustain relationships can be a real benefit in someone’s ultimate career.”
Being able to make connections and help sustain relationships is a skill that can benefit students as well as those that are working towards their career and accomplishing their goals. Professor of communications Kelly Poniatowski has worked in sports before and has had a variety of jobs within the industry. In fact, Poniatowski credits her connections and relationships as one of the main reasons as to why she was able to work in the sports industry. “It’s very important to make connections when you’re working in sports and just get as much experience as you can,” Poniatowski said. “Connections is how I got my jobs in sports as well. People who knew people who knew me, kind of thing.”
Poniatowski was asked by Nini to help put together a panel that would help answer students’ questions about the sports industry, something with which Poniatowski gladly assisted. While the symposium helped highlight the importance of connections, it also had the intention of helping those who were interested in the industry get a head start on what they needed in order to enter into the world of sports. “The point of it was to just help give students more of a background on what you can do in sports and how you might be able to get there.”
Nini and the Career Development Center started the Symposium this year as a way for those who are interested in sports to get an idea for the type of skills needed for the industry. However, it’s not the only type of event that students can attend to learn more about a possible career field. In the near future, the CDC will be hosting an etiquette dinner for students to learn the proper way to act at a business dinner. In addition to the etiquette dinner, the CDC will also be holding meet and greets, such as an engineering meet and greet, a business meet and greet and a teacher recruitment day, which will be held at Millersville University. Those interested in learning more about the events can go to Handshake and register.
