Welcome to the third MELT U Newsletter! Every Friday, we’ll highlight the week’s biggest headlines and trends in the pro and college sports business worlds.
On tap this week:
12 Famous People Who Started as Interns
Career Building Opportunities
MELT U Podcast September Schedule
We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get started!
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12 Famous People Who Started as Interns
When you think of interns, you probably don’t think of highly powerful people — Hollywood moguls, tech giants, and NBA stars. But everyone’s got to start somewhere. Turns out some of the most famous and successful people started out as interns.
Here are 12 of them: READ MORE
Career Building Opportunities
Are you looking for an internship? Let MELT U help! Check out our picks for top sites for landing that career starting internship!
1. LinkedIn: Vince’s FAVORITE networking site! Not only should you use LinkedIn to hunt for internships, but you should also build a full profile and reach out to everyone you know, especially professional contacts.
2. Crash: Our personal friends at Crash teach you how to find companies that get you excited! Resist the urge to apply to jobs on job boards. Instead, research and pitch the interesting ones. You’ll do more impactful work at a company you’re thrilled to join.
3. Internships.com: It offers 100,000 listings from 60,000 employers. When we searched for a “paid marketing internship,” we got over 100 listings. One huge advantage is that the site provides a “who” button that lets you see which of your Facebook friends have a connection to a company, either because they work there or because they used to work there. Facebook has no job listings, and no other site we could find can match a job search with your friends’ résumés. Very cool!
4. Findspark: An online and offline community dedicated to setting up every young professional for career success and connecting employers to top, diverse early career talent.
5. Your school’s job listing site and alumni network: At Vince’s alma mater, Auburn, there’s a Virtual Career Center where you can browse job and internship postings, and more! If you can get access to a database like this, you will vault over other potential interns vying for these jobs. This is a first stop if you are a student.
MELT U WEEKEND READING LIST
Expand your horizons with our curated collection of helpful articles, videos and other essential recommendations.
Should colleges that go remote offer a tuition discount? “The shift to remote education has left many students and parents upset that they’re asked to pay the same amount for what they see as an inferior learning experience. Students at dozens of universities have started petitions demanding tuition discounts. A petition at Rutgers University received more than 30,000 signatures. A handful of schools have conceded by lowering costs. Georgetown and Princeton are among universities that decreased tuition by 10 percent for the fall. But many other colleges — from elite private universities to publicly funded state schools — are charging the same price despite going entirely online.” READ MORE
Campus counseling centers are offering mental health support: “As colleges begin on-campus and virtual returns by students, counseling center directors hope ‘even students not previously engaged with the centers will drop by, tune in, check out websites or at least open email messages of support and suggestions the centers will be sending out to everyone,’ said Micky M. Sharma, director of the Office of Student Life Counseling and Consultation Service at Ohio State University in Columbus”. READ MORE
Life And Career Advice From ‘Generation Resilient’: “Today’s Gen-Zers, or ‘Generation Resilient,’ as they are starting to be called, has already experienced major challenges in their education, employment, health, and societal expectations. Not unlike the Greatest Generation, these young people are growing up during a time of unrest and rapid change—and it’s accelerating their maturity”. READ MORE
College students are making back-up plans: “‘There’s not a place in the country where the virus is under control,’ [said Scott Schneider, an Austin attorney and a consultant on higher education issues]. ‘So if the fantasy is, We’re going to reopen; we’re not going to have cases, despite everything that’s going on in both the local community of the institution and where these young people are coming from, that’s a complete fantasy.” READ MORE
MELT U PODCASTS
Catch up on all of the MELT U Podcasts here – new podcasts posted bi-weekly on Spotify and iTunes!
MELT U Episode #41: Kevin Eastman is a basketball coaching legend and author who continues to instill greatness in young athletes by sharing his knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter: @kevineastman.
LISTEN HERE
MELT U Episode #42: John Talty, currently is a Sports editor at the Alabama Media Group. John has received many awards for his writings including first place in sports non-deadline reporting in the largest newspaper category. Follow him on Twitter @JTalty LISTEN HERE
MELT U Podcast Series September Schedule
Still to come this summer on the MELT U Podcast series…
Tuesday 9/1
Tony Barnhart
Dynamite Sports Reporter and College Football Insider for CBS Sports ?
Thursday 9/3
Isaac Morehouse
CEO of Crash, the career launch platform, you should be checking out! ??
Tuesday 9/8
Darryl Cobbin, CEO, and Managing Partner for Brand Positioning Doctors ??????
Thursday 9/10
Robert Irvine and Justin Leonard
World Renowned Celebrity Chef and Savvy COO Dynamic Duo ?
Tuesday 9/15
Dennis Dodd, incredibly talented CBS Sports Senior Reporter and hockey fan ?
Thursday 9/17
David Adler, Chairman, and Founder of BizBash, North America’s No. 1 source of ideas, news, and resources for event and meeting professionals ?
Tuesday 9/22
Eric Jackson, Sports Business Reporter for the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Atlanta’s source for local business news ?
Thursday 9/24
Michael Smith, College Sports Business Reporter and NCAA Basketball Insider ?
Tuesday 9/29
Randy Bernard, Garth Brooks’s Manager, yes THE GARTH BROOKS! ??
VINCE LECTURING AT A CAMPUS NEAR YOU!
Vince and virtual MELT U are heading to a campus near you soon!
Thursday 9/24:
Auburn CLA Career Day
Tuesday 10/20:
Auburn Guest Lecture
Wednesday 10/28:
Georgia Tech Athlete Virtual Career Fair
Tuesday 11/17:
UGA PRSSA Virtual ZOOM
Book a live or virtual keynote or training session with Vince Thompson, MELT Founder, and CEO! Hear from Vince on a variety of topics such as career development skills, student-athlete branding, collegiate sports marketing, and more! LEARN MORE
Feeling FOMO over the MELTDOWN?
Have no fear; you can catch up on all of the MELTDOWN episodes by visiting our website or youtube channel.
MELTDOWN
Weekly Web series hosted by Vince Thompson, covering the business of sports and the business of college sports
The MeltDown Ep 5: “Pack Your Coolers. Drive-In Tailgates are Coming!” Vince unpacks the tailgate scene you can expect to see this season of College Football. So pack those tents and ice down the Coca-Cola, college football is getting ready to kick-off! Watch Here
MELTDOWN MUST-READS
Stay on top of what’s happening in the business.
College students may face a surprising choice: football or parties: “The most important reporting date on the college football calendar has switched from that of the team reporting to camp to students returning to campus, as how universities handle the return of students remains the most fickle variable to the sport returning. The same collegiate chicanery we’ve long associated with college footbal — packed bars, wall-to-wall parties and front-porch kegs — is now being viewed as the biggest obstacle to both the sport and, on a grander scale, the ability for higher education to function traditionally this fall.” READ MORE
The opt-in rate for Georgia football season tickets is higher than expected: “As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 50 percent of the Bulldogs’ donors were opting to pass on some or all of the tickets for which they qualify, according to season-ticket holders who have interacted with Georgia’s ticket office in the past two days. Donors had until 5 p.m. Wednesday to inform UGA Athletics they were either going to opt in for tickets to Georgia’s four home games or opt-out and accept a refund or donate the balance to an incentivized COVID-19 fund.” READ MORE
NCAA approves an extra year of eligibility for fall athletes: “Oregon’s fall sports athletes don’t have 2020 seasons to play, but they do have the option for a re-do with the Ducks in 2021. Ten days after the Pac-12 postponed all sports through the end of the calendar year, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted to give all fall sports athletes an additional year of eligibility and an additional year to compete it through a blanket waiver. READ MORE
Ohio State athletic department projects a loss of $130 million in revenue: “Ohio State’s athletic department expects to lose out on $130.3 million in revenue following the cancellation of the fall sports season by the Big Ten Conference. The official projection from the school was included among newly published materials and agenda items for a board of trustees meeting scheduled for Thursday. The university’s operating budget for the current 2021 fiscal year is up for approval.” READ MORE
Can a bubble save college basketball? “Plan on a 2021 NCAA men’s basketball tournament taking place. That’s straight from the top. Even if college basketball teams have had players test positive for COVID-19 in the past five months. Illinois among them. Dan Gavitt, NCAA vice president of men’s basketball and as much a college basketball czar as anybody, has made it clear every effort will be made to ensure last year’s cancellation was an anomaly.” READ MORE
What’s MELT?
It’s a high-powered sports marketing agency that’s based in Atlanta and works with the world’s biggest brands, teams, and events. MELT, which I founded in 2000, has become one of the nation’s leading sports marketing agencies, including a 20-year representation of The Coca-Cola Company, the activation of 17 (would have been 18) consecutive Final Fours, seven seasons of ESPN College GameDay, AFLAC’s sponsorship of The Southeastern Conference (SEC) and much more. We have won a collective 20 industry awards since 2017, including CEO of The Year, Event Marketer IT list of Top 100 Event Marketing Agencies, Chief Marketer’s Top 200 agencies, and many more. MELT and I sit in a unique position in the sports and college sports marketplace, offering insight into the significant business issues in sports and college sports.
What’s MELT U?
It’s a one-of-a-kind virtual internship program offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore the world of sports marketing. This Summer MELT U educated 1,100 students with 50 podcasts of industry leaders, live Lunch & Learns from my upcoming book, “Build Brand YOU.” MELT U will now extend the offerings to be year-round and to include newsletters, video series, seminars, student-athlete branding, and much more.
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