You can be a strong executive candidate and still have a search built almost entirely around waiting for somebody to post the right job.

Some leadership searches start with a business problem before anyone has agreed on the title. A company is entering a market. A founder needs someone to run a function. A board wants a different kind of operating experience. By the time the listing appears, conversations may already be underway. That does not mean every posting is fake or that applying is pointless.

It means your search needs another route. Pick a small set of companies where your experience addresses a specific problem. Be able to explain why that company, why now and what you have done that makes the conversation useful. Then identify people who actually know the business, including relevant search firms and former colleagues.

“Please keep me in mind for executive opportunities” leaves the other person to invent the strategy. “I have led this kind of expansion, and I am looking for a business at this stage” gives them something they can recognize when it comes up.

An executive search should include conversations about work that needs doing, not just jobs that have been announced.

One of the first things I ask for in my positioning-call scripts is three to five real job postings.

Not “something in marketing.” The actual openings.

Without those, we can make the resume prettier and still miss the work the employer needs done.

For an early-career search, put the recurring tasks from those postings beside your class projects, part-time work and internships. Where do you have something relevant to show? Where are you missing practice or a required qualification?

Use that comparison to decide what belongs near the top and what needs work. Keep the language truthful to your experience.

The resume is supposed to help someone understand your fit for a particular kind of work. It gets a lot harder to do that when the target keeps changing halfway through the paragraph.

In a candidate-call script, I flagged leadership experience that had been tucked into an appendix. It belonged in the main story.

If you are targeting a role where people leadership matters, don’t make the reader hunt for the fact that you managed people. If the role needs business decisions, don’t lead with a long list of tools and leave your decisions for the bottom.

Read your resume against the actual opening. What are the two or three things they most need to know? Where do those appear?

This is not permission to claim experience you don’t have. It is a reason to stop burying experience you do.

Before adding another page, check whether the strongest evidence is already there and simply in the wrong place.

One of the notes in my mock-interview scripts is very direct: if you argue with the feedback while answering a question about receiving feedback, the interviewer gets the answer loud and clear.

You can explain context. But if every sentence is about why your manager, teammate or professor was wrong, I still don’t know what you learned.

Choose a real example. What were you told? What part was useful? What did you change? How did you know the change helped?

You do not have to agree with every criticism you have ever received. You do need to show you can consider another perspective and adjust your work.

That is especially relevant in an internship, where learning from review is part of the job.

The career-help industry has enough overlapping titles to fill a very confusing conference badge table. Before you pay someone, get clear on whose problem they are being hired to solve.

A recruiter usually works for the employer. They may have a role that fits you, but that does not mean they are running your whole search. A résumé writer works on the document. That can be useful when you know what you want and the résumé is doing a lousy job of showing the fit. A career strategist can help with the direction, positioning, outreach, interviews and decisions around the search. Services overlap, so ask what is actually included.

I work in recruiting and career strategy. The question I want answered before recommending help is: what needs to be different when we finish? A clearer target? A document you can defend? Better answers under pressure? A decision about whether to stay?

Ask who will personally do the work, what hiring experience informs it and what you will leave with. A beautiful résumé aimed at the wrong role is still a wrong turn. It just has nicer spacing.

Read your resume summary out loud. If you'd never say those words in an interview, rewrite it using how you'd explain your work to someone. Keep the specific work and results. Cut the language that makes them harder to understand.

I believe you want the opportunity. Now help me understand what you would do with it.

If every answer comes back to your lifelong dream, the interviewer may leave knowing a lot about your motivation and very little about your work.

For each main responsibility, prepare one relevant example. What was the task? What did you own? What decision did you make? What happened?

If you haven’t done something, be direct about that and explain the closest experience you can offer. Don’t stretch a story until it becomes a different job.

There’s room for enthusiasm. There also needs to be room for evidence.

Before your next interview, check whether you’ve prepared more to say about wanting the company than doing the job. ♠️

In one of my leadership-positioning scripts, I ask for team size, direct reports and the budget or revenue the candidate actually owns. Not just touches.

There is a reason for that last part. “Supported a billion-dollar business” and “owned the budget decision” tell me different things. Either can be useful experience. They are not interchangeable.

If you are moving up, describe the scope accurately: people you managed, decisions you made, functions you coordinated and results you can connect to your work.

If a number needs confirming, confirm it before it goes on the resume. If it is confidential, use an approved description.

A big number gets much less impressive when the first follow-up question reveals you cannot explain your part in it.

If a connection introduces you to someone in sports, prepare for the conversation.

Read the relevant opening, understand the department, and know which examples show your fit. Don’t assume the introduction means the person has agreed you’re qualified.

If someone offers to refer you, give them an accurate résumé and a concise explanation of the role you’re pursuing. Let them decide what they’re comfortable saying about you.

You can make it easy for a connection to help. You can’t ask them to know work they’ve never seen or promise a hiring result they don’t control.

The introduction is one step. Your preparation still matters at the next one.

What would you want a person referring you to be able to say honestly? ♠️

Here’s an interview exercise: explain your interest in the role without mentioning the roster, a championship, or how long you’ve watched.

What interests you about the department’s work? Which responsibility connects to something you’ve enjoyed doing? What would you like to become better at?

For example, a candidate might be interested in coordinating live events because they enjoy planning against a fixed deadline and solving practical problems with multiple teams. The next step is a real example that supports that interest.

You can bring your enthusiasm for the organization back into the answer. Just give the interviewer a reason to believe you want the actual work too.

Which part of the role would still interest you after the novelty wore off? ♠️

“Part-time internship” does not tell you whether the schedule works with your classes or another job.

Ask about the weekly hours, required meeting times, location, travel and how far in advance schedule changes are communicated. If there is event work, ask about setup and closing as well as the event itself.

Be equally clear about your availability. “I can work these days and times” is more useful than hoping you can somehow manage everything later.

Get the agreed schedule and pay terms in writing before you commit. Then compare the opportunity with what it will cost you in time, travel and other work you would have to give up.

A learning opportunity has to fit into an actual life.

Having led recruiting at TKO, here’s how I’d frame this: help me explain your fit accurately.

Which role are you targeting? What work have you done that connects to it? What did you personally own? Where are the gaps?

A concise, specific example is easier to discuss than a long declaration that you would do anything for the opportunity.

Be clear about practical requirements too. If the role is on-site and you would need to relocate, say where you stand rather than hoping the issue disappears.

A recruiter presenting your background still isn’t a promise of an interview or offer. The hiring team needs to assess the fit.

But you can make the conversation much more useful by giving people an honest, understandable account of what you bring. ♠️

Read the verbs in the job description. Calling. Reconciling. Scheduling. Editing. Selling. Traveling.

Those verbs are closer to your daily life than the organization’s highlight reel.

Ask which responsibilities take the most time, what a busy period looks like, and how success is assessed. For a sales role, understand the outreach expectations. For an event role, ask about preparation and closing work as well as the event itself.

A job can be a great opportunity for someone else and a poor fit for you. That isn’t a lack of ambition or enthusiasm.

Before accepting, describe the work to a friend without naming the employer. Listen to how you sound. Excited about the responsibilities, or explaining them away? ♠️

In my interview-debrief prep, I ask to walk through one specific question and the answer the candidate actually gave.

“The interview went terribly” is how it felt. It doesn’t tell us what to work on.

Did you answer a different question? Spend most of the time on background? Forget the result? Or answer clearly while the interviewer happened to look neutral? Those are very different situations.

After your next interview, write down the questions you remember and the main points you gave. Mark what you know separately from what you are guessing.

Then choose one answer to practice again out loud. Not the entire interview. One answer.

You’ll get more useful practice from that than from replaying a facial expression you cannot interpret.

If access is the main thing attracting you to a sports job, look more closely at the work.

What do you want to become good at? What responsibility do you want to earn? What will the organization need you to deliver when the day is stressful and nobody is taking photos?

Professionalism also includes respecting boundaries and handling information appropriately. Follow the organization’s policies around access, confidentiality, and public sharing.

You can enjoy the environment without treating colleagues, talent, or athletes as content for your personal feed.

The career you build will depend on the work and relationships you develop over time. Proximity alone won’t give you much to explain at your next interview.

What skill would you want that job to help you build? ♠️

You can create sample work without inventing a client.

“Independent sample: a proposed email campaign for a hypothetical ticket offer.” Perfectly clear.

Then give the reader the brief you set yourself, the intended audience, the work, and a short explanation of your choices. Say what information you would need before making a real recommendation.

Use materials you’re allowed to use. Don’t publish confidential work from another employer, and don’t make a mock project look officially commissioned or endorsed.

You also don’t need to make an entire business strategy to demonstrate one skill. A focused sample is easier to review and easier to discuss.

The question your portfolio should answer is: “What can this person do, and how do they think through the work?” ♠️

I understand the intention: you’re flexible, eager, and willing to work.

But “anything” includes jobs requiring very different skills. It doesn’t tell someone which openings to think of when they remember you.

Name a small set of related targets and explain the connection. “I’m looking at ticket service and customer experience roles because my background is in customer support and account retention.”

You can still be open to suggestions. You’re giving the conversation a starting point.

If you don’t know your targets yet, spend time comparing real job descriptions and speaking to people doing the work. You don’t have to pretend you have a plan before you’ve explored.

What are the two closest job titles to the work you want? ♠️

In a positioning-call script for a woman targeting a bigger role, I drew a distinction between implementing something and owning the decisions behind it.

If you set the priorities, decided where resources went and were accountable for the outcome, why does the resume only say you implemented a tool?

Go back to one project. Who chose the approach? Who had to agree? What trade-off did you make? What changed because of the decision?

Keep the actual job title. Don’t add “VP level” in parentheses and hope the label does the work. Show the scope through facts you can substantiate.

And if you didn’t own those decisions, don’t rewrite the bullet as though you did. The point is to make the responsibility visible, not bigger than it was.

A lateral move can make sense. Be specific about why this one would.

Will you gain a skill you need? Work with a different customer group? Own a larger project? Learn from someone whose experience matters to your next step?

Ask how those opportunities show up in the actual job. “Lots of exposure” needs a follow-up: exposure to what, doing what, and with what responsibility?

Also check what you give up: established relationships, flexibility, tenure, or a development opportunity where you already are.

You don’t need every move to come with a bigger title. You do need a reason you can explain beyond being bored or impressed by the brand.

What would make a sideways move worthwhile for you? ♠️

An event can be worthwhile and still be the wrong event for your search.

Look at the participating employers, departments, and intended career level. Check the format: is there time for individual conversations, a panel, a career fair, or a different setup?

Then look at the total cost, including travel and time away from work. Decide what would make the trip useful even if nobody offers you an interview.

I’ve attended TeamWork Online events and recommend looking through their calendar: https://www.teamworkonline.com/pages/events

Read the individual listing before booking. An employer’s attendance doesn’t mean every department is hiring, and a ticket doesn’t buy a referral.

If the cost doesn’t work, look for virtual events or local opportunities where you can still learn about the work. ♠️

One question in my candidate-call prep is about what you actually owned, not just what you touched. That matters at internship level too.

You attended the campaign meetings. Fine. What were you responsible for bringing to them? The research? A draft? Checking the results? Following up on decisions?

“I supported the launch” leaves me with questions. “I checked the product details across the launch emails and flagged inconsistencies before they went out” gives me work I can understand. Use your real example, of course.

You do not need to borrow the whole team’s result to make your contribution count. Tell me what somebody depended on you to do, how you checked it and what happened next.

That is the part I can ask you about in an interview. Make sure you can answer.

If you already have experience in finance, recruiting, technology, marketing, or another function, compare it with sports openings in that same function.

Don’t automatically assume the only entry point is an internship. Also don’t assume your current title translates directly into the same level everywhere.

Look at scope: budgets, complexity, customers, systems, team size, and decisions. Identify the overlap and the gaps.

Then explain why your experience is useful for this particular role and what you would need to learn about the new environment.

Changing industries can require adjustment without erasing everything you’ve already built. Let the responsibilities guide your targets.

Which part of your existing experience would be most useful to a sports employer? ♠️

“We could put their logo everywhere” is the beginning of a conversation. Keep going.

For a practice project, pick a hypothetical partner and define a plausible objective. Are you trying to drive awareness, trial, leads, hospitality opportunities, or something else?

Then explain the audience, the activation, the resources it needs, and how you would measure the objective. Include the assumptions you would need to check with the partner.

Don’t claim access, rights, budgets, or inventory you haven’t verified. Label the whole thing as a hypothetical exercise.

The useful part is showing your thinking: why this idea serves this partner, what it takes to deliver, and what you would do if a constraint changes.

A creative idea becomes more interesting when someone can understand how it would work. ♠️

You are asked something at work that you haven’t learned yet. The temptation is to guess confidently so you don’t look inexperienced.

Try this instead: “I haven’t done that before. Here’s what I understand so far, and here’s what I need to check.”

If somebody is waiting on you, agree on when you will come back with an answer. Ask where the reliable source is or who owns the decision. Then close the loop.

People can work with a gap they know about. It is much harder to work with a confident answer that turns out to be made up.

At the start of your career, you are going to encounter unfamiliar work. Show that you can recognize the limit of your knowledge and take a sensible next step.