I love statistics—especially when applied to sports—so it should be no big surprise that some of my favorite blogs include The Wage of Wins Journal, Sabernomics, and FanGraphs. Surprisingly, the statistical knowledge found on the best blogs these days is often far ahead of what you will find in the front offices of many major sports teams. The reason for the recent advancement in statistical sports knowledge of laypeople has a lot to do with how easy the Internet and computers have made it to collect and analyze in-depth data. A big reason that sports data is available is because of Northbrook, IL based STATS. Their story is pretty cool. They were founded in 1981 and “began as a grass roots operation tracking baseball in a unique, esoteric fashion.” Now, they’re “the world’s leading sports information, content and statistical analysis company.” I guess that numbers worked out for them.

Do Your STATS Match Up?

If you’re a sports stats geek like me, you’re probably already dying for a job with STATS. As you look more closely at the company, I think that your excitement will grow. They couldn’t be a bigger deal when it comes to sports statistics—they cover an insane number of sports, and their clients include the NFL, the NBA, CBS Sports, Google, Yahoo!, and quite a few other impressive names. So what about jobs at STATS? There are quite a few opportunities, and plenty of them appear to be suitable for new college grads. Current entry level positions include Part-Time Paralegal, Soccer Optical Tracking Position – Major League Soccer, Database Administrator, Computer Programmer, Data Collectors (Golf, Football, Baseball, or Soccer), and STATS Reporter. All of these jobs look awesome, so apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to jobs@stats.com (a few positions require you to apply in a different way, so be sure to check out all of the Job Listings first).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• STATS.com
• Jobs at STATS
• About STATS
• STATS’ History
• Management at STATS
• Sports Data from STATS
• STATS Blog
• STATS’ Clients

And if you ever wondered about proper sports grammar, you need to check out STATS’ Style Sheet.

When you think of non-profit organizations and their missions, you typically think about groups that are feeding the hungry, saving the planet, or promoting education. There are myriad non-profit organizations that aren’t dealing with such serious issues, but they still deserve attention during your job search. One example is the United States Golf Association. As golf’s national governing body, the USGA is constantly focused on anything that is “for the good of the game,” whether it be running tournaments, writing the rules of Golf, or supporting other golf related programs.

The USGA’s main entry-level job offering for new college graduates is a two-year Fellowship Program that is aimed at getting young people started in a career in golf. The USGA website has all kinds of information on the fellowships, including job descriptions and profiles of current and past fellows. Unfortunately the application deadline for the USGA Fellowship was in January. If you love golf, it’s something that you should watch for next year. Until then, you can hang at the driving range and the practice greens. If you’re already a scratch golfer and looking for a job right away after you graduate (it’s actually ok to apply if you can’t break 100), there are current openings for a Rules of Golf Associate and Volunteer & Player Services Liaison, 2009 U.S. Open Championship. There are a few other jobs listed on the USGA’s Careers page, so be sure to take a look at all of the current openings.

We’ll be back to normal length posts on Monday. We had a great Spring Break, and we hope you did too – even if you spent it job hunting.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• The United States Golf Association Website
• Jobs at the USGA
• About the USGA
• The USGA’s FAQs
• The USGA’s Wikipedia Entry

What’s your handicap?