By Dr. David Hoch
David Hoch, EdD, is the Athletic Director at Loch Raven High School, in Baltimore County, Md. He is the past President of the Maryland State Athletic Directors’ Association and a frequent contributor to Athletic Management. He can be reached at: dhoch@bcps.org.
Athletic Management, 18.3, April/May 2006, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1803/makingamove.htm
Have you ever thought about moving on and taking another athletic administrative position? After a particularly stressful week, this probably crosses many of our minds. Often, the grass looks a lot greener at another school.
But when is it appropriate to act on such impulses? Increasingly, it is okay to act on them quite often. Unlike our parents’ generation, where staying in one position your whole life was valued, it is extremely rare in our society’s workforce for someone not to go through several job changes.
As a matter of fact, Dana Klosner-Wehner reported in the Baltimore Sun that “… the average worker born during the latter years of the baby boom—between 1957 and 1964—held 10 different jobs through age 38.” The article further notes that this trend is likely to continue. Even though athletic directors operate in the educational and not the business sector, they should not feel bound to one position for their career.
I’ve changed jobs thee times in the last 17 years, most recently making a lateral move two years ago from one athletic department to another, both in Baltimore County. The moves were made for different reasons, but I’ve learned some things along the way about how to make the decision to change jobs.
Even if you are happy in your current position, there are a number of good reasons why you should at least occasionally consider the prospect of change. Sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself—and your school—is to consider a move.
WHY MOVE?
When the itch to look for a new position has you scratching your head, the first step is to carefully examine why. You need to figure out why you are dissatisfied where you are before you do anything else. Here are some areas to think about:
Need New Challenge: Perhaps you have achieved all that you can in your current position. Certainly there are always “maintenance tasks” and continuing efforts with any program, which can be very rewarding. However, for some administrators, if there is not the possibility of implementing new programs, building new facilities, or being visionary in some way, a job can seem stale.
Think about what excites you in your current position. What do you find challenging? If getting over the current hurdles keeps your mind running, you are in a good position. But if you feel you’ve accomplished everything you wanted to and there’s no room for growth, it may be time to move on.
For me, I’ve always been excited and energized by the opportunity to “build or create” and less thrilled by maintaining. I’ve been attracted to downtrodden programs that have potential for growth. You have to decide what is appealing to you and then decide if you and your current position are still a good fit.
Unhappy Situation: Secondary schools are challenging places to work, no doubt about it. And if something at your school makes working conditions difficult, there is nothing wrong with removing yourself from that situation.
Maybe one or more of your major working relationships have become extremely difficult. Maybe a new principal is a micromanager, has an autocratic leadership style, is inflexible, unappreciative, overbearing, or all of the above. If that principal has a number of years in front of him or her at your school, it may be better for your career to move on.
Unhappy environments are major reasons why people in the business sector change positions. Why should you as an athletic administrator stay and be unhappy?
However, make sure that the bad situation is unique to your school and not just a common problem in the field. For example, if you have become completely frustrated by overbearing parents at your school, know that it’s probably not going to be much different at another school. If your principal is giving you challenging fundraising goals, understand that athletic directors at most schools are being pressured to fundraise.
But if the difficult situation is specific to your setting and it’s not going to change soon, think about whether you might be happier elsewhere. Working in an enjoyable environment is critical to productivity. While all of us have those occasional bad days or weeks, it is not a good sign when you hate the thought of getting up and going into school for another day.
Move Up the Ladder: Another appropriate reason to look around is to fulfill your long-term career goals. Some of us are athletic directors simply because we want to impact the students in our hometown and our goal is to make the most of every day. But if you have career aspirations that include moving up the administrative ladder, you’ll want to continually look for the next rung.
Possibly there’s an opportunity to move to a bigger athletic department with a larger budget and that seems exciting to you. Another position could offer a much higher salary, greater resources, and better community support. It could offer the chance to add more accolades to your resume and allow you to become more of a public figure.
There are other options, too. Maybe there is a new school opening up and you feel you could exhibit more leadership by starting a program from scratch. The opportunity to put your stamp on a program is a great way to show your strengths, and could lead to yet another challenging position.
Or maybe there is an opportunity to make a bigger impact at another school. For example, in our area, there are some schools without lighting in their stadiums and others that don’t even have a stadium. There is also one school that was forced to drop football. The right individual could be the difference in these situations and that administrator’s impact would be noticed.
EAR TO THE GROUND
So how do you find out about new opportunities? Networking—and more networking—is the key. Get involved in your state association, talk to athletic administrators your teams compete against, and turn acquaintances into relationships.
Certainly, you can check department of education and association Web sites for job postings, but talking to others gives you an important jump on the process. Once you’re in the loop, you’ll know who is leaving, who is looking, and where the good jobs are. Having such information gives you time to examine a position on your own schedule instead of the (sometimes brief) timeframe of a school principal or hiring committee.
Finding out who is retiring in the near future is one good path to follow, because, of course, one retirement starts the domino effect. Unless a coach with no previous administrative experience is elevated to the athletic director position at a school, when one vacancy is filled, another usually opens, and so on.
If you are looking to relocate to another area of the country, you can still use your networking skills. Contact other athletic directors you’ve met over the years at conferences and in courses. You can also ask someone in your local network if they have a friend living in that area. I am a firm believer that talking with others is the key to discovering your next great move.
BEFORE YOU LEAP
Going through a hiring process is time-consuming and often stressful. I suggest you not apply for a position unless you have done some research and are confident it can be the right one for you.
What should you analyze about a potential new position? Absolutely everything. You probably want to know the salary first, but that’s just a start. Consider finding out the following:
Why is the position open? Are there major problems that have caused the former athletic director to leave? Or has the athletic director simply moved on?
What is the administration looking for? Do they want an individual to continue with the same approach and to maintain the status quo? Or do they want someone to come in to chart a new course?
What does the future hold? Is it a stable high school or do projections indicate a shrinking or growing enrollment? What are the demographics like, and are they likely to change in the near future? Consider the community and its economic base: What does future funding of the school district look like?
Is there a chance for athletic success? Is the athletic department budget similar to that at schools it competes against? Does the school have satisfactory facilities to support not only the current programs, but future programs?
Is there already a shoe-in? Is there someone within the school system with an inside track on getting the job? If so, it might not be worth going through the application process.
What is the coaching staff like? Are they young and eager, or firmly entrenched and inflexible? How might the coaching staff feel about an outsider taking over the reins of their program? I’ve gone through this twice in my career and it should not be minimized. There may be some resistance to someone who is not a member of the “family” coming in to head the program. Think about whether you are prepared to handle the challenge.
What is the administration like? Is the principal a good person to work for? Does he or she use a collaborative approach or make changes without warning? Is his or her view of athletics similar to yours?
Is it a good fit for you? Does this new position offer a missing ingredient that will help you reach your ultimate career goals? If you want to move up the administrative ladder, will the position allow you to do this? If you want better working conditions, will the new job eliminate the negative you are currently experiencing? If you’re looking for a challenge, will the school welcome someone with new ideas?
How do you find the answers to these questions? Again, using your contacts is critical. Ask your friends what and who they know. Let one contact lead to another.
The best source of information is obviously the athletic director who is leaving the position, and I don’t think it is inappropriate to contact him or her. This person will obviously know the position, school, and community inside and out. If you approach your request for information in a professional manner, he or she should be willing to answer your questions.
But the person you contact doesn’t have to be an athletic director. I’ve talked to friends from my coaching and teaching career concerning an athletic management position that they have some link to. I’ve called family members to contact their friends—whatever it takes. All of these individuals can tell you about the community, the school, the environment, and perhaps even a little about the principal to whom you will report.
Additionally, on a few occasions, I’ve actually called sportswriters at the local newspaper and asked for their take on the school’s athletic department. I’ve found journalists more than willing to share their opinions on these topics. If they’ve been following a school sports program for many years, they have a lot of knowledge and are usually not hesitant to candidly answer questions.
GETTING HIRED
If the open position looks like it would be a good fit for you, all the research you’ve done will help you to land the job. As you update your resume and construct a cover letter, play up experiences that make you a good fit for the school. If you've discovered that the school is struggling with sportsmanship, let them know the innovative things you’ve done in this area. If the athletic department needs help with fundraising, describe your success galvanizing your current booster club.
Once you get an interview, take the time to figure out how you are going to answer the questions posed. First, be prepared for the old stand-bys:
• How would you describe your leadership style?
• What would you bring to the position?
• Identify one of your strengths and one of your weaknesses.
In addition, here are some hot-button questions you will likely be asked:
• How do you lessen risks in an athletic department?
• What are your ideas on working with parents?
• Explain how you conduct coaching evaluations.
• How do you handle conflicts?
• How long would you expect to remain at our school?
Then, think about what questions might arise based on what you know about the particular school. For example:
• What would you do to increase the participation rate?
• How would you work with divergent booster groups?
• How would you go about increasing attendance at games?
What if they ask you why you are leaving your current position? Even if your reasons for leaving are negative, I would try to give a positive answer. You might explain that you think it is time for a change, or you like the specific opportunities this new school offers.
Things really haven’t changed drastically with respect to interviews over the last five or 10 years. You will want to make eye contact, use a firm handshake, and answer questions thoroughly without rambling on and on. But as an athletic director, you conduct interviews for coaching positions all of the time, so all of this should be second nature for you.
I recently read one interesting tip for interviewing in a book titled The New Talkpower: The Mind Body Way to Speak Without Fear, by Natalie Rogers. It said that you should approach an interview as if it were a speech: “A job interview is not a conversation, it’s a performance that has to look like a conversation … A performance is a situation where there is an agenda, there is certain information you want to convey about yourself. The key to presenting a great performance during a job interview is preparation and practice.”
Another good technique is to put together a professional portfolio to take with you to the interview. This can include copies of guidelines, handbooks, and programs you have developed in your current or previous positions. Such materials can be used to illustrate answers to specific questions posed by the principal or committee. It will also demonstrate preparation, initiative, and thoroughness, qualities that could set your candidacy apart from the others.
THE RIGHT MINDSET
One last tip about the hiring process is to develop a mindset that you ultimately have no control over the outcome. All you can do is to be sure that your credentials are in order, you’ve met the application requirements, and you handled the interview to the best of your ability. The rest is up to the screening committee or the person making the final decision.
While most positions go to the best candidate, there are some that may be filled before the vacancy notice is even posted. Is there anything that you can do about this? No. Understanding this phenomenon is, however, important so you don’t become frustrated with the process.
At the same time, you don’t need to feel like a hostage to the school’s hiring process. If you have questions about the position, get them answered. If you have strong feelings about how to run an athletic department, make these ideas clear, even if they are different from what you think the principal wants to hear. In the long run, you’ll avoid taking a position that isn’t a good fit.
While changing positions can certainly be rewarding and exciting, it should also be approached with some caution. Not all new positions represent greener pastures, and making emotional, hasty decisions can be dangerous. Be careful that you are not replacing some problems in your current position with others in a new setting.
However, if you have carefully thought through all of the factors, go for it! You only live once. There are many programs out there just waiting for that special athletic administrator to take them to the next level, and it could be you.