Cory Shakarian
Doing What It Takes to Work in Sports
June 19, 2006 | by brett | Permalink
Cory Shakarian is an Account Executive for the Los Angeles Clippers, after working for ten years with the San Francisco Giants. He has only been with the organization for a couple of months now and is getting a feel for the culture and how things are done around Staples Center. His ultimate goal is to climb the ladder to a management position within the Clippers organization.
Originally from Northern California, Cory got away from the laid back California lifestyle when he attended the University of Michigan, the same college where his parents met, and where his grandfather played football with former President Gerald Ford. With this family history, and being an athlete himself in high school, Cory’s appetite for sports would be satisfied by Michigan’s “Big House” and the infamous “Fab Five” Men’s basketball team. He decided to walk onto the baseball team where he played for the first two years at the Division I level. He obtained his degree in Sports Management and Communication. He admitted that his degree was a very good choice for people who want to work in sports.
The summer of his senior year, Cory traveled to Florida to be with his Dad. Once there, he obtained an internship with the Florida Marlins baseball team. This was his introduction to professional sports. After that summer he graduated from Michigan and returned to Northern California, where he worked for Smith Barney cold-calling for brokers. He did that for about a year and realized that sports was more of his style of work. He began networking with people he knew and was able to get informational interviews with all of the major sports teams in the Bay Area. Each one had a small window of opportunity, and at 23 years old Cory accepted a position with the Giants making $10 an hour. His responsibilities included answering phones and servicing accounts.
He did that for about ten months before he was hired on full time. Cory said that although the job caused him to go into a little bit of debt for a while, that it was the stepping-stone into his career in the sports industry.
“Communication is the most important skill that I took away from my degree. Public speaking to five or ten people about ideas you have is important. Also being able to write a marketing piece is crucial.”
“Internships are important. My internship was key for me landing a job later on. While you’re in school I’d highly recommend that you get an internship because after you graduate you’d like to earn a salary. How do you get the internship? You just network, talk to your family and friends in your hometown to ask them if they know of anybody.”
“When I interviewed with an executive from the Oakland A’s, he told me people have to be willing to sacrifice, and that’s financially. He said that you have to come into the organization with the attitude that you’d be willing to pay someone for the right to work in their organization. School doesn’t teach you how to work in a professional organization, but getting work experience does.”
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thebizofknowledge Says:
June 19th, 2006
I just wanted to say that this was an excellent post. I enjoyed reading about Corey’s rise to the executive level. One thing that really stood out was the way that he took a $10/hr job even though he had a college degree and even though he knew he would end up going into debt because of it. He had the foresight to realize he would gain a lot more from that first job than just an hourly wage. It’s a lesson that all recent college grads should keep in mind.
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