Spencer Anderson, JD/MBA candidate 2013
How does an MBA student land an internship in an area that’s not typical for MBA hiring, like sports management? For Spencer Anderson (a 2013 JD/MBA candidate), it took an incredible amount of networking and sacrifice. At one point, he almost gave up. But after being inspired by a man with a similar background who had overcome some of the same challenges Spencer was up against, he stayed on task and kept working. Today, Spencer’s hard work was rewarded with an internship offer from the Indiana Pacers. This is Spencer’s story.
“Spencer was not your typical applicant,” says Jodi Schafer, Director of Admissions & Financial Aid at Tippie. “He was a first year law student at Iowa without full-time work experience on his resume. We knew he’d be in for a lot of work, but he convinced us he was up to the task.”
Spencer agreed with Jodi’s assessment. “I knew I wanted to go into sports, but pro sports teams don’t recruit on campus or post on MBA job boards, so I knew I’d need to do more than go to job fairs. It would be much more difficult for me than my peers.”
His job search strategy included a lot of networking, utilizing all resources available through the university, networking, leaning on his mentors for support, and looking to his Tippie MBA career lead for connections and advice. Did we mention networking?
Spencer (second from left) connected with the Sports Law Society for a trip to Indianapolis, where he made connections that later helped him to land his summer internship as a Player Relations Intern.
His search for resources led him to join the Sports Law Society of the University of Iowa, which had arranged a trip to Indianapolis to meet with a group of NCAA officials. By this time, Spencer had narrowed his search down to basketball organizations, so he suggested that the group get tickets to the Pacers’ game while they were visiting Indy.
When the Sports Law Society reached out to the Pacers’ ticket office, he had to go a few steps further to get beyond the typical ‘spectator’ experience to the brains behind the Pacers’ operation. “We explained to the ticket agent that we were law students interested in sports careers, and he said they had someone who’d be happy to talk with us,” Spencer explained.
That someone was Peter Dinwiddie, Director of Basketball Administration. Peter had also gone to law school intent on a career in sports management. He obtained his role the hard way: starting at a meager salary doing ticket sales, but networked like crazy and worked his way up through the organization.
Dinwiddie’s story was inspirational to Spencer at a time when he’d gotten discouraged with the job search. “Peter’s story reminded me that a job in sports was possible, that I could get to my goal through hard work. It gave me the inspiration to keep going, to keep trying.”
Spencer connected with Dinwiddie after the game, and even after leaving Indianapolis he kept in touch with a handwritten thank you note. At a conference for sports analytics later in the spring, Spencer sought out Dinwiddie and reconnected for lunch, where Dinwiddie advised Spencer to apply for a summer internship with the Pacers.
After he applied, Spencer worked with his Tippie MBA career lead, Jana Klauke, to improve his odds. Jana knew that Tippie alum Steve LaCroix worked for the Pacers before moving to the NFL and the Minnesota Vikings (where he’s currently Chief Marketing Officer). Jana put in a call to LaCroix to see if he could make a referral on Spencer’s behalf, which he was happy to do (Spencer had met personally with LaCroix earlier in the year when he visited campus). His note to the COO of the Indiana Pacers no doubt had an effect on Spencer’s being selected as Player Relations Intern for Summer 2011.
What were the keys to Spencer’s success?
A Bit of Luck. “I’m not going to lie,” Spencer said with a laugh. “Luck definitely had something to do with it, at least for me. They say that success is the intersection between preparation and luck, and when the pieces fell into place, I was prepared to take advantage of it.”
The Little Things. Spencer perfected the art of the Thank You Note during his search. He sent personal notes to nearly everyone he connected with. “It’s just more personal,” Spencer said about the notes. “I actually typed mine, because my handwriting isn’t the best, but a personalized note says that you took time out to thank them, and that you really care about the relationship.” The notes made him memorable in the minds of the people he’d met, which made it easier to reach out down the road when he needed help.
Networking. Because he had made a concerted effort to connect with Steve LaCroix when he visited campus, asking for his referral for the Pacers internship was a natural next step. “I’ve definitely learned the importance of networking through this,” he said, referring to his job search. “An industry like sports is so tight knit, and people change jobs all the time. Every connection you make is valuable. Just because someone’s not important to your job search today doesn’t mean they won’t be critically important tomorrow. You can’t burn bridges and expect to succeed in business.”
