Job Hunting

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the season is officially over. We have entered what I like to call the post-postseason. Obviously, it's an abrupt change for anyone involved in the basketball organization when the season ends. It requires a shifting of gears for the players, the coaches, and of course, the managers. As I watched the seconds tick off the clock in the final game of the season, I also watched my job disappear. There is no demand for a manager in the post-postseason (Except for the office work I'm going to be dragged into every few weeks between now and summer vacation). I am sad to see the season come to an end because this also means I have to leave the luxurious and disillusioned world of college basketball (where the only important thing is getting the W) and return to the real world (where people expect me to be productive with my time: volunteer, study, work, etc) ... And let me tell you, adjusting can be very difficult. No matter what job I find, they probably won't let me wear sweatpants and t-shirts all the time. Very few employers will feed me as well as the basketball department. Not to mention, I have to apply for these jobs. The application process for becoming a manager was very simple and took place via email:

Me: Hi there. I would like to be a manager.
Boss: Sure! Come on in and we'll set up your work schedule!

In hindsight, I should've been slightly more skeptical of a job that was so easy to obtain. I now know for future reference that a job that does not require an application, a letter of recommendation, or even an interview is probably a job that nobody wants.

But that is beside the point. I've taken some time in these past few weeks to apply for a few summer internships/jobs/etc. and I've had the same problem on all of them... It is nearly impossible to make "college basketball manager" sound legitimate. No matter how I sugarcoat it, my job is just a slew of menial tasks that require little/no brainpower. Most of the job applications have a section titled "Previous Work Experience" and as I fill it out, I wrestle with wording and exaggerations to try and cover up the truth about my joke of a "job." I'll show you some examples.

Job Title
What I Wrote: ______ University Women's Basketball Team Manager
What I Should Write: ______ University Women's Basketball Indentured Servant

Dates of Employment
What I Wrote: September 2009 - Present
What I Should Write: September 2009-March 2010 [6 month break] September 2010 - March 2011

Major Responsibilities
What I Wrote: Assisting with practice: setting up, rebounding, running the clock. Capturing and editing film. Assisting with office work.
What I Should Write: Assisting with practice: standing around with a basketball in my hands, fetching basketballs out of the bleachers, googling random things for Coach (like the time he wanted me to find out what type of monkey lives in the Mayan Riviera valley of Mexico). Addressing envelopes and folding camp brochures. In general, avoiding all film and office work and hope that the other managers pick up the slack. And of course, my most important responsibility: Making sure all the players are hydrated at all times.

As I wait to hear from my potential summer employers, I sit back and watch the managers that are lucky enough to still be employed (hopefully your March Madness bracket looks nothing like mine). I'll admit that I am slightly jealous of the Duke managers, even though they probably work 100x harder than I do. And I can only imagine what it would be like to be a manager for uConn - talk about job security!