Calling All Athletic Supporters

By Jeff Konya, Associate A.D. for Compliance

(not exactly what I meant)

Al Gore’s Internet can be a wonderful and strategic tool (this is the space where you, the reader, could choose to insert a political joke). With it, several companies have sprung up and prospered while others like socks.com wilted and died (which is interesting to me since I lose a sock in the dryer at least one a week).

One of the more successful niche industries on the web is job placement services (i.e., Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com). This concept has made its way to the level of the college student-athlete, and SMU has just aligned with careerathletes.com to be a virtual, 24-7 job placement center for all things SMU Athletics. Once you click here, you will be taken to a world where all current and former SMU athletes can register and post resumes, cover letters, etc.; where employers can list advertisements for permanent jobs, summer jobs, part time, full time, internships, etc. earmarked for SMU student-athletes; and where alumni and other SMU professionals can sign up to be mentors. The site is a SMU restricted community, and all participants have a distinct interest in the welfare of the SMU student-athlete. We, in athletics, are very excited about the potential for this website, and it is already receiving rave reviews from Mustang family members who have already registered and passed the word on. Please be on the lookout for a massive email campaign to help get the word out about this initiative (click here for a preview of the two emails that will be sent out: one for student-athletes and one for would-be employers/mentors). Of course, should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at jkonya@smu.edu.

As great of a service that this website will give, it would be a huge disservice if this is all the services that the athletics department provided for our student-athletes in terms of their future job placement. That is why the athletics department has contracted to bring Competitive Resources Group (CRG) to the SMU campus from February 27-March 1, 2007. The purpose of CRG’s visit is to formally educate all SMU student- athletes on issues related to job searches. Specifically, the company will discuss such topics as proper interviewing skills, effective resume writing, networking principles, professional etiquette and information on how to compare companies. CRG is the largest and most established career services company that targets student-athletes, and last year, they visited over 100 campuses.

And now to completely change gears . . .

In Richard Sweet’s last blog of February 14, 2007 (where he was searching for his glasses), he sent a verbal Valentine’s barb my way that references a spelling error I had made in my first blog submission. I am a big boy and can take the criticism (even though I had originally thought the blogs would be proofread by the blog gatekeepers). But, in reading his blog, I came across the following phrase - this group will ultimately will reshape our future – and unless Richard knows some unique rules of the English language, this is a glaring grammatical error. I dare say though that Richard is doing a great job, and personally, I can’t wait for the next marketing campaign slogan and try to figure out what the play on words/songs is. Perhaps, next year’s football team will be described as “Mustang-licious,” or that we should all join the “Mustang Parade” and buy season tickets.

Last Download- “Don’t Look Back In Anger” by Oasis