How to Write a Winning Sports Management Resume in Seven Steps

A well-written sports management resume can blaze pathways to a fulfilling, high-achieving sports management career. Great resumes not only highlight a job seeker’s particular skills and employment experiences, they also paint a vivid picture of a candidate's all-around talents to attract hiring managers. Once a candidate has garnered a hiring manager’s interest, that coveted job interview, where you can flex your best interview skills, is sure to follow!

So what are the best ways to craft your resume in order to showcase a winning background for the sports management career arena?

Read our seven-step guide to creating an outstanding sports management resume and improve your odds of scoring the right job in your field.

When developing your sports management resume, it can be tempting to look at templates as a one-size-fits-all solution. However, before you create a resume that’s likely to blend in with the competition’s, consider creating an original resume that will visually dazzle hiring managers. Allocating more attention to the visual details and overall appearance of your resume is certain to help you rise above other job contenders from the starting gate.

Start with a blank page. Then give your resume a novel layout that best suits your work history and higher education skills to make a powerful—and positive—first impression with hiring managers.

Instantly appealing resumes are well-organized, clearly laid out, and have visually outlined sections. Your resume should have legible, modern fonts (lean toward Times New Roman and Arial; stay away from script fonts and Comic Sans). Use consistent alignment and a good balance between text and white space to please the eye and enhance your resume’s reading experience. Avoid designing a disorganized, dull, or overly busy resume that could make your work stand out for the wrong reasons.

Sport management resumes typically use one of two formats:¹

The chronological resume format is a popular format that is particularly helpful in showing off a sizable, consistent work history. If you’ve had a steady career path with a series of evolutionary roles in the same field, this resume format is ideal.

Chronological resumes follow this order of information:

1. Contact information
2. Objective or summary statement
3. Relevant skills
4. Professional experience (including dates, responsibilities, accomplishments, related leadership experience, and lists your most recent job experience at the top)
5. Education
6. Additional information (i.e., volunteer work and special interests—optional)¹

Functional resumes are best for candidates who would like to shine the spotlight on their qualifications and soft skills (e.g. time management, communication, creative thinking, teamwork, emotional intelligence)¹, and not their chronological work histories. If you’re new to sport management or looking to start your career, or have had a few gaps or shifts in your career, you may prefer the functional resume format, which showcases examples of your specific abilities, such as coaching or organizational skills. Include a summary of your employment background at the bottom of the resume. This format can help you win over a potential employer based on your overall skills and unique experiences and talents rather than your time in the business.

Hiring managers and potential supervisors don’t just want to know that you’re educated, experienced, and capable in the field. They also want to know what makes you the perfect candidate for their sports management job in particular. How do this job’s unique requirements align with your skills and goals? How can your distinctive talents and traits create excellent results for this individual employer? Answer these potential hiring questions with your audience-focused resume.

Reach your audience by tailoring each resume you submit towards the specific position you’re applying for and the organization you’re hoping to impress.

Hiring managers have huge workloads and limited time. If your resume uses templated, hackneyed wording, it will disappear into a hiring manager’s resume pile, leading to missed work opportunities.

Make yourself stand out by using strong, active wording. Use dynamic words to convey your sense of initiative and the importance of your past work. Excise “worked for” and “completed” in favor of more active phrases such as these:²

Though it can be tricky to strike the right balance for your audience when writing a resume, be sure to use words that promote your accomplishments effectively without sounding purely boastful or putting readers to sleep. These suggested active words will help you highlight your achievements in a concise and professional manner that resonates with readers and keeps them engaged.

One full page is the standard length for a resume. However, if you’ve accumulated enough relevant experience, you can expand your sports management resume to two pages to paint a more complete picture of your background.

Always submit a cover letter with your resume.
Your letter is an essential introduction to your potential employer.

Never lie or pad your experience on your resume.
Employers can recognize exaggeration and will check up on what you claim as past experience.

Use 11- or 12-point type.
These font sizes are standard. Type that’s too small is harder to read and type that’s too large looks like overcompensation for lack of credentials.

Emphasize important information with indentations, bolded words, and bullet points.
Avoid colored text, exclamation points, and capitalizing whole words.

Do not include references or offer to provide them.
Asking for references is a standard part of the hiring process. The hiring manager will initiate that part of the conversation at the appropriate time.

Omit personal information.
Your age, marital status, and home contact information do not belong on your resume.

Having a resume that has zero grammar or spelling errors goes a long way towards framing you as a thorough, detail-oriented professional that is ready to hire. When you believe your resume is ready to submit, set it aside. After a few hours have passed, come back and read your resume again, looking for any errors or edits that may have been missed in your first draft. Revisiting your resume with a fresh set of eyes will help you catch any remaining issues and ensure it’s easy to read and follow.

A pair of even fresher eyes also helps touch up resumes. Ask a trusted friend or colleague to give your resume a final proofread. They may have perspectives and feedback that you wouldn’t have thought of on your own. Incorporate any helpful critiques and corrections into your resume.

Once you have followed these seven tips, your sports management resume is ready to send out and is sure to be a grand slam with hiring managers.

Build the skills and the network you need to propel your career. With the KU online master’s degree in sport management*, you’ll have plenty of achievements to include in your winning resume. Explore the curriculum, including our internship opportunity, and schedule a call with an admissions advisor today.

*This program is a Master of Science in Education (M.S.E.) degree in health, sport management, and exercise science with an emphasis in sport management.