Like hundreds of NIRSA members, Colleen Sorem, Erin Davis, and America Minc are proof-positive that using the NIRSA Foundation Career Opportunities Center at the Annual Conference to find a position in the field of recreational sports…works.

As an undergraduate, Colleen Sorem, Coordinator of Intramurals and Facility Staff, at the University of Massachusetts (Lowell), was interested in both intramurals and facilities and marketed herself accordingly.

“I felt I could go anywhere for two years of grad school so I applied to many different schools, large and small, east and west coast.”

After a whirlwind of interviews at the NIRSA Annual Conference, Sorem wound up moving from James Madison University to University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa).

“If it hadn’t been for the COC, I definitely would never have attended grad school, and eventually wouldn’t have ended up where I am today. It was an amazing experience,” she says.

As an undergraduate student at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, Erin Davis, a graduate assistant at University of Tennessee (Knoxville), started searching BluefishJobs.com in January 2003 to prepare for the COC the following April.

“You need to be aware of the academics the school offers, because if the school you apply to doesn’t have your program, it is a waste of your time as well as the employers.”

Knowing that her résumé was the first impression she made on a possible employer, Davis also had her's evaluated by several people prior to coming to the Annual Conference. At the COC, she was careful not to schedule interviews too closely together, and says she used the onsite computers there for last minute fact-finding about the institutions where she had interviews.

“This gave me an opportunity to develop some questions of my own to ask at interviews,” Davis says.
There is plenty of help available in the COC for first-time job seekers, says Davis. America Minc remembers that her office at Georgia Southern University began “buzzing about the upcoming COC in Cleveland” in the early spring of 2003 as she was finishing up her graduate assistantship.

“I began to realize that my work needed to begin before I arrived at the Conference. I started searching for positions on BluefishJobs.com and sending out résumés to initiate contact with those institutions who would be interviewing at the conference.”

America also consulted both her supervisor and her mentor for insight about some of the programs she was looking at, and how the Career Opportunities Center would work for her.

Sorem, Davis and Minc all agree that the COC, as well as the entire Annual Conference experience, are excellent opportunities for networking. Even if you are not searching for a job at the time, all advise spending time in the COC at the Annual Conference to see how it works and to get to know others in the recreation community. The experience you’ll gain will help you to relax a little when you do use the COC to look for your next job.