Usually our goal at One Day, One Job is to tell you about jobs at companies that you might not have considered working at before. We’re all about new ideas, but sometimes you just need help. You may be stuck researching a company that you’re dying to work for. Or you may be having a nightmare trying to navigate a corporate careers site. We’re here to help with today’s case study on ESPN.
When we first visited ESPN’s Careers (Join Our Team) Site, we were impressed by it’s looks, feel, and College Relations link in the navigation bar. Our sense of ease that this would be an easy company to research quickly faded when we realized first, that this section of the website had no content, and second, that it was mostly directed towards hiring interns (or would be if it had content, we should say). There was a link to their PA (Production Assistant, we think) training program, which also was a dead end. In the face of this disappointment, we rolled up our sleeves, put on our gloves, and started digging through ESPN’s job listings to figure out which positions were right for new college graduates.
One note before we tell you about the entry-level positions that we found at ESPN: clicking the Jobs link in Safari, our browser of choice, breaks the rest of navigation for the site. This is frustrating, but remedied by going back a few pages and trying again. Ok, one more note: ESPN’s job listings are messed up. We’re not sure what’s wrong with their Applicant Tracking System, but sometimes clicking a link to one job title will take you to another job. Whoops. Also, identical job titles can have vastly different qualification requirements – one job may be entry-level, and the other job with the same title might require 7 years experience. Generally, positions at ESPN with the word Associate in the title are geared towards the entry-level, but some require 10+ years experience. There are also many entry-level jobs that don’t have the word Associate in the title. Ugh. At least we did the hard part for you…
By the way, we put all the jobs into loose groupings. This is based on our understanding of the job descriptions, but we could be way off. ESPN does not group their jobs in this way. We just wanted to make it a little easier to find what you’re looking for.
Graphics/Design/Web: Animator, Associate Graphic Designer, Associate Web Developer, ESPN Fantasy Games – Web Designer, Creative Assistant, and Associate Photo Editor in Bristol, CT or in Washington
Production: Programming Content Associate, Associate Technical Producer, Multimedia Production Assistant, Graphics System Controller, ESPN International- TV Production Assistant, and Assistant Editor
Research: Research Analyst, Statistics Associate (probably our favorite of the bunch), Multimedia Research Analyst, Computer Assisted Reporter (this is also one of our favorites), and Director of Business Affairs
Other: Affiliate Marketing Coordinator and Promotions Coordinator
Almost all of ESPN’s jobs are in Bristol, CT or New York City; however, there are a few other locations where they are hiring. Despite the problems with the way ESPN lists jobs, most of their job descriptions are pretty decent. Even without great descriptions, it seems as though it’s much easier to imagine what it’s like to work for ESPN than what it’s like to work at most other companies. Maybe it’s all those SportsCenter commercials with the players, mascots, and tv personalities hanging out in the office.
Now, we don’t usually do this, but today we’re going to give you our perspective on applying for a job at ESPN. You can be sure that working for ESPN is high on the lists of many college students’ dream jobs. That means there’s going to be a lot of competition for these jobs. You need to stand out, so take a little risk when you apply. Include that wacky thing that you’re not quite sure belongs on your resume. Apply for a job that requires more experience than you have. Try cold calling or contacting your would be manager, if you can track him or her down. Be creative. Be unique. Be yourself. They are going to get hundreds of resumes from college students that all look pretty much the same. You need to stand out if you want to work at a company like ESPN.
Good luck! Now go research.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
- ESPN’s Home Page
- ESPN’s Careers Site
- About ESPN
- The Businesses of ESPN
- ESPN’s History
- Benefits of Working at ESPN
- Health and Fitness at ESPN
- ESPN’s Participation in Charities
- ESPN’s Jobs Site from 2002 (Why is this still online? We thought you might find it interesting nonetheless.)
Note: On April 24th we revisited entry-level jobs at ESPN.
Da-da-duhhhhhh, da-da-duhhhhhh! (That was supposed to be onomatopoeia for the SportsCenter update music.)
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I am a PR major, and plan on getting my Master’s in Telecommunications or Broadcasting. What kind of jobs does ESPN provide?
Hi Amber, I think that our post answered that question pretty well. For more current options, you should check out ESPN’s Careers site.
Hey,
I am a Camera Operator/Videographer, My Main Focus is sports, I shoot for a Sister Company of CBS, Football and Basketball and Also film for a Ski Resort, covering events and there promo video (Won’t say who)
Am I qualified for a camera operator position with ESPN, It has been my dream since 18, I am 22 years old now, Do I s till have a chance!!
Hi team,
I am a MBA graduate and working as an performance coach in an IT company.I would like to be part of ESPN so could kindly recommend me as to what job shall i be elegible for,as i want to make a career in ESPN.com
Hey,
I am Head Camera Op for The Magic of David Copperfield, for the last four years. I have been trying to break away from theater and move to sports, but keep coming up against a brick wall. Does ESPN hire camera ops directly, or contract from unions?
Also Lee, if you read this, I wouldn’t mind knowing how you started? Thanks.
Willy this ansewered half of my ESPN Qs, How about just those one time gigs, I would like to be a fill in cameraman occasionally in a vast amount of different sports. Where are are the posts for those gigs, or do they already have thier 5 year veteran back ups. Should I start cold calling for those gigs, or will I get black listed? How does ESPN managers percieve that, bothersome?
I doubt that you’d get blacklisted. Why not call? I have no idea what the inner working of ESPN are like, so I can’t really answer your questions accurately.
I was an intern for ESPN last summer.. the work environment is awesome and most importantly I got paid twice as much as every other intern… I got a chance to work with sport celebrities such as A-rod or Derek Jetter and I also got a free golf course from ESPN Golf school I had a blast and Just got hired for a full time job… in other words it is awesome.. oh and by the way the college relations program rules… they even paid for my housing… in other words keep trying to get in ESPN.. unfortunately they are not hiring as many full times but they are always looking for interns.. but u definitely have to be special.. bring something unique to the company…like me .. 3.98 GPA lived in 11 countries and speak 5 languages… a must have for any company.
hey kevin,
just wondering if you can respond to me a lil bit about how i should go about prepping for the interview. i have one in LA tmw for stats and information team… haha doubt youll get this message now but might as well try. thx in advance. if anyone else can holler, thatd be great
Hi my name is Dominique and I want to get into the broadcasting business. I love sports and this is my dream to work for ESPN. So I want to know how can I get into broadcasting and what should I do get ready to become a broadcaster? I was going to major in broadcasting or communications in college so I can learn more about the business of broadcasting. So I am going to pursue my dream and become a sports broadcaster for ESPN.
Hi, i am a journalist major, with sports business somewhat of a minor, and it’s been my dream since being 12 to work for ESPN, my question is do they have an intern program for any writers for their internet, or magazine publications? Would I be better off trying to land an internship at the local newspaper or MLB club, thanks. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, I’m a soon to be graduate from high school and i was wondering…..what path would be best for trying to get into ESPN as a Research Analyst or writer?
I started working at ESPN right when I got out of college as a Statistics Associate. It was great for a little while, but then you get to see the dark side of ESPN. Try to avoid the Stats and Analysis/ Information Department. Every full-time employee in the department hates their job and the managers do not care and do not try to figure out a way to help make it a better place to work. The hours suck, sports are usually on at night so most days you are working 5pm-2am or 6pm-3am. During college football and basketball season you are required to work every saturday for around 11-12 hrs, without a break, most of the time. It is probably the most useless department at ESPN because you are just monitoring statistics feeds from various sports to make sure they don’t screw up. most of the time they don’t any you just end up watching whatever game you are assigned to with no problems, which is great at first, but after you are scheduled to watch your 40th Nationals game of the season, it gets a little old. A lot of people I talked to who work at espn, not in this department, love the place. I would try and avoid this department as much as possible. Ive been here for around 2 years still making the same amount I made as a temp, there are no promotions or raises and since I have been here there has been about 75% turnover of the department.