I'm an old timer here, but haven't been around much for the last year (except for a bit of lurking.) I first joined this board when my son was in 8th grade. He played HS, college and then a couple of indy-league pro seasons before getting hurt in the summer of 2014.
He spent six months rehabbing the injury, but it eventually became apparent to him that his shoulder would never be strong enough to swing a bat the speed he needed to swing it. So he decided to hang them up and get a real-world job.
That meant getting a resume together. Anyone who has been through the D1 baseball process knows you don't exactly spend your summers and off seasons doing internships at Merrill Lynch. He asked me "What do I put on a resume when I haven't done anything for the last 10 years but baseball?
Good question. We talked about what skills he developed over those years that an employer might consider relevant. He had no problem coming up with quite a list. So I said: forget about a resume. Write something that tells a potential employer what those skills are.
I have pasted below what he came up with. I do this because I think a lot of baseball players find themselves in the same position - trying to hammer the square peg of a baseball player's experiences into the round hole of a traditional resume format. It just doesn't fit.
I don't know whether it was from the rather unique "resume" he sent out to prospective employers or that they liked the profile of student athlete (lots of employers do) but the response he got was ridiculous. He had a number of options, and ended up in a very good job with a great company, and just recently got a big promotion that moved him to Florida.
So if and when your son finds himself in the same position, consider something a little different when deciding on what to send prospective employers. Here's what Jeff sent:
Summary and Objective
As long as I can remember, my goal has been to play professional baseball. My life's work has been focused on paying the price to achieve that goal. A shoulder injury last season, which I am still rehabilitating, has caused me to entertain the question of a post-baseball career.
Because the demands of Division I baseball require year round commitment, my “resume” doesn’t look like that of the typical job-seeking graduate of a top tier university. My summers were spent playing baseball in places like Wilson, North Carolina and Anchorage, Alaska, and therefore I don’t have the employment and intern experiences that typically adorn the resume of a person my age.
But through my quest to succeed at the highest level of college and professional baseball, I’ve forged a set of skills and abilities that I believe have prepared me well for a career off the baseball field. I offer this description of these skills to help tell the story a more traditional resume couldn't tell.
Teamwork
When I play pick-up basketball, I’m not the guy who puts up three pointers and holds his finish as he backs away from the net. Even if I could do that, I wouldn’t. I’m the guy who blocks out, crashes boards, and kicks the ball to someone who actually knows how to shoot.
Being on teams all my life has taught me to figure out how I can best help the team, and then to give maximum effort in that role. That usually put me in the less glamorous, more physical positions on my teams: nose tackle in football, and catcher in baseball.
Baseball, my chosen sport, seems like an individual sport until your job is to hit behind the runner to move him up so the next guy can knock him in. The stat line doesn’t reflect it, and most of the fans (and radio announcers) might not know you did your job, but you know. Being a leader on a team is not just being a cheerleader, and it’s not just leading by example. It’s paying the price for the team.
Talk to any of my coaches through high school and college, or any of my bosses in the jobs I have done, and they will all tell you the same thing: I pay the price, whatever the role, to make the team better.
Work Ethic
I was never the biggest, fastest, or strongest guy on any of my teams, so working harder is the only way I have ever been able to compete. It’s what I know, and max effort is how I have fun.
I graduated from an elite academic university while playing baseball in one of the toughest conferences in the nation. I was able to do it because of one reason: I work hard.
It took more than just studying and showing up for practice. I won an award for the effort that I put into the weight room, and made the All-ACC Academic Team three times. I knew that my approach to everything I did would determine what I got out of the opportunities I had as a student and an athlete at Duke.
Overcoming Obstacles
Getting the opportunity to play baseball at Duke only got my foot in the doorway of my goals. I came to this brutal realization toward the end of my very difficult freshman year when the head coach told me that I wasn’t in his plans for next year, and that I had until the end of my sophomore fall practice season to prove I was worth a spot on the team. That door was closing quickly.
I spent that summer and the next fall transforming myself from a weak, overweight liability to the hitter with the fifth best batting average in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It turns out a foot in the door was all I needed because I put in the work to overcome anything else.
My senior year, I was beat out at the catcher position by a younger player. To get on the field, I knew I would have to again transform myself - this time into a right fielder – even though I had never played outfield in my life. I had to work hard to increase my speed, and shag thousands of fly balls to read them properly. I became an asset to my team on defense as well as offense.
Although I was disappointed after graduating from Duke that I didn’t get drafted by a major league club, I wasn’t ready to give up on my dream of playing professional baseball. I was signed by the independent Frontier League's Rockford Aviators, where I have spent two successful seasons.
My second professional season, however, was cut short by a shoulder injury that I've worked tirelessly to rehabilitate. It is uncertain at this time whether this injury will prove to be career-ending, which is why I am now seriously pursuing post-baseball career opportunities.
Education
Lake Oswego High School, Lake Oswego, Oregon; Graduated 2009
Duke University, B.A. Political Science; Graduated 2013
College Summer Baseball:
2010 Portland Ports- West Coast League, Portland, Oregon
2011 Wilson Tobs- Coastal Plains League. Wilson, North Carolina
2012 Anchorage Glacier Pilots- Alaska Baseball League. Anchorage, Alaska
Professional Baseball
Rockford Aviators 2013-Present. Frontier League. Rockford, Illinois
Undrafted after my senior year at Duke, I signed with this independent minor league team. In my first season I was second in the league in batting average, and was runner-up in Rookie of the Year voting. My second season was cut short by injury.
Off-Season Employment:
2013-2014: Nike Portland seasonal athlete
I worked in the downtown Portland Nike store selling shoes and other merchandise in one of Nike’s premium retail outlets.
2014: Promote Oregon campaign field staff
I walked door-to-door representing an Oregon State House of Representatives candidate and made campaign and polling phone calls on behalf of Promote Oregon.
Current: UPS driver helper
I aid the driver of the UPS truck primarily delivering packages from the UPS truck to the door.
