Sports agent internship raises career choice doubts

DEAR J.T. & DALE: I went to college passionate about launching a career as a sports agent. But I’m doing an internship in the industry and I’m not excited about it. I’m slated to graduate soon and I want to be in a different type of job altogether. My parents are upset. They feel that, after all the time and money I put into this degree, I should stay in the industry. Advice? — Logan

Dale: Tell your parents this: Time and money spent on education are good investments, unless they lead you to pursue a career that saps your spirits, in which case you’ll never be good at what you do and you’ll spend your life in the iron collar of mediocrity.

J.T.: Yikes. Sounds bad. However, I think one internship is not enough for you to decide whether a career is a fit; I’ve seen a lot of young people decide to throw away careers based on limited experience. That being said, these days, every job is temporary. You’ll have many jobs/careers in your lifetime. So, why don’t you try the industry for a couple of years before deciding on a switch? And if you really feel you just can’t do this job, then focus on finding the replacement. You may realize that you don’t have a sense of what to do next and then choose to get into your current career path while you search for the next direction.

Dale: No, no. After a couple of years in, it will be even harder to leave. So here’s what you do now: Get your professors to give you connections to recent graduates working in the business. Ask them to meet with you and really talk about what their lives are like. You’ll either get re-enthused, while creating a nice new network, or you’ll know enough to turn and run before that iron collar has you.

Dear J.T. & Dale: My daughter has been working in a library for 10 years. She had a run-in with a patron that traumatized her. She’s taking anxiety medication, but the situation still affects her work. Now they are pushing back on her performance. I suggested that she go on disability, but she says that will only make it worse. Advice? — Leah

J.T.: Going on disability is a big decision. She will have to explain, later on, to other employers what happened, which can make it tough to get hired someplace else.

Dale: If your daughter got sick or were in a car accident and needed to take weeks or months to recover, almost no one would count that against her; rather, they’d be cheering her on. Should your daughter go on disability, she can dip into that pool of sympathy by simply saying she had “a medical problem” from which she fully recovered. Period. Forget trying to explain the trauma. Now, all that said, my question for her would be: What can she accomplish while on disability that she can’t accomplish while working?

J.T.: I think we know her answer, given her reluctance to take her mother’s suggestion. So, for now, my concern is that her employer is not sympathetic; indeed, it sounds like she is close to being put on a performance plan, which could lead to her termination. I think she should speak with her doctor about the situation, as well as meet with her employer to explain the level of anxiety and how it affects her work. The ideal situation is everyone working together to help her get back to normal levels of performance.

Dale: Well said. And here’s how to get everyone working together: First, she needs to get an aggressive medical treatment plan in place. Next, with that in hand, she can reassure her employer that her future is bright, while seeking specific guidance on getting her performance back up. Then she should go back to her employer regularly, perhaps once a week, and ask for feedback and advice. Doing so will shift her manager’s mindset from judging to coaching and, when that happens, they’ll be back on the same team.