By Breanna Armstrong
So you are a senior collegiate athlete that is just about to graduate? Either you’re going to be signed to your favored pro team or you’ll have your degree and job offers will be thrown at your feet! The “real world” should come as second nature, right? This is usually never the case for any college graduate. After the graduation cake is all eaten, what comes next for the typical college athlete who has just entered into the working world?
According to Sports Illustrated, “You have a roughly one in 12,000 chance of becoming a pro. The average career lasts in the vicinity of five years.”
So now what? Sure if you don’t make it pro after graduating there’s always that degree to fall back on. But research has clearly shown that making the transition from college athletics to the "real world" is a difficult, frustrating and oftentimes painful experience for student athletes. The reason for this is, unlike most traditional students, athletes are focused on practicing and competing in their sport well into their senior year. This significantly reduces the time available to participate in career fairs, campus interviews and other programs designed to help them find gainful employment. But how does one begin to transition from an athlete to business?
CBU alumni, David Odien, thought the same thing after he played three seasons on the men’s soccer team at California Baptist University. The coach recruited him while he was playing soccer at MT. SAC. He graduated in 2003 and after graduation, David explained, “For me, like many student athletes, athletics was a huge part of my life. I decided that I would coach soccer because it was what I knew. I coached at the high school level for five years while looking for a solid career. It was a tough transition for me and I luckily found Athletes to Business.”
“Athletes to Business is a privately owned company dedicated to coaching, counseling and placing highly talented student athletes into the corporate world. Working in harmony with educational institutions and America’s top companies, Athletes to Business helps student athletes make a smooth transition from the playing field, to their vocational field, and find rewarding employment.” Said Odien.
Odien first heard of Athletes to Business from a friend who had used their services to start a great career after college. “After speaking with Athletes to Business, I became extremely excited and passionate about helping student athletes who were struggling with the transition from College to Corporate. Then an opportunity opened in the Inland Empire for a Career Coach and I quickly accepted the position.”
Odien and other career coaches meet with the students during their Junior and Senior year. “We sit down and discuss the importance of making good decisions their first year out of college. We then help them use all of our resources to position themselves to make these decisions. We work on their resumes, we help them with interview preparation, and we can help them set up interviews with corporations they are interested in.”
Athletes to Business has helped many student athletes transition and prepare for life after college. “A2B” is working on almost every college campus in California, including Point Loma, Westmont, UCLA, UCR and many others. They have helped many students on each of these campuses, and many of these students are 2 – 3 years into their careers and are extremely happy with the guidance that A2B provided.
For Odien, “A2B has provided me the opportunity to have a positive impact on my students lives. It has enabled me to become a positive mentor and resource for many great people. It is an unbelievable gratification to see students that we with successfully transition from the playing field to the working world. The positive feedback and gratefulness we receive everyday makes this opportunity that much more exciting.”
Athletes to Business is not just offered to athletes but to all students looking for guidance into the working world after graduation. It is important to develop a career consciousness early on and therefore Athletes to Business is open to anyone who is looking for guidance and help in finding and preparing for their career. They provide help with resume development, interview preparations, and if the student is interested in Business, they can be set them up with high quality interviews with great corporations who are excited about seeing them.
This program has changed many students’ lives and provides a very practical transition into the working world. To get involved with this successful program, visit: www.athletestobusiness.com or to contact David Odien, an Inland Empire Career Coach, you can contact him at: dodien@athletestobusiness.com
Only you can choose your future, and Athletes to Business will be there to help you to reach for your goals.
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