Student Athlete Professional Branding

Athletics is a significant part of your Roger Williams experience and student-athletes have many valuable experiences and skills that are worthy of being highlighted on professional documents. Your resume can be used as a tool to showcase your incredible accomplishments as a Division III student-athlete and how the skills you have developed as a student-athlete such as time management, leadership capabilities, work ethic, and communication skills will help you succeed in a professional environment.

Why do employers want to hire student-athletes?
Most employers associate collegiate athletes with the traits they are looking for in prospective employees. Employers value non-industry specific skills such as time management, commitment, integrity, and excellence and as a student-athlete, it is clearly indicated you possess said skillsets that make you valuable to an employer.

Employers look for candidates who are goal-oriented, and student-athletes are proven to set long and short-term goals every season and work tirelessly to achieve them. In addition, employers often look for accountability, dependency, and resiliency, three attributes that student-athletes show through countless hours of practice, and games while prioritizing academics. The ability to work within a team-oriented environment, or to collaborate with others to achieve a common goal is one of the most highly marketable traits to employers. College athletes naturally have the capability to be confident leaders and trailblazers. Student-athletes continually define what a good teammate looks like and are coachable, respectful, and always acting within the team’s best interest.

For additional assistance and resources visit our resume guide or cover letter guide.

    • How Can I Market the Student-Athlete Experience in My Resume & Cover Letter?

      The student-athlete experience is essential in equipping you with skills outside of the field that can aid you in a professional environment. Listed below are key characteristics of a student-athlete and how to articulate your experience on your professional documents:
      Team Player: It is of the utmost importance to recognize the importance of working on a team with players of diverse backgrounds, communicating with coaches, and game officials. Most professional opportunities will involve teamwork in some capacity, and it is important to communicate the intangible skills and contributions you bring to a team.

      Communication Communication is an essential interpersonal skill that is often overlooked and as an athlete, the way you communicate effectively with your teammates, coaches, and officials is proof for any employer that you can communicate successfully within a team. e.g. “Demonstrated effective communication skills to assist in mediating team conflict”
      Work Ethic  As a student-athlete, you dedicate a lot of time between heavy practice schedules, off-season training, and competing in events, with the intention of getting better every practice and game. Employers look to hire people who are committed to growth and look for applicants who can demonstrate their strong work ethic and commitment to excellence.
      Solution-Oriented What do you do in a game when you are down by 2 with 10 minutes left? Student-athletes have the inept ability to create solutions to win a game, win a race, or create game-winning strategies to win. The ability to recognize when to change your gameplan, or to change strategy and the flexibility, adaptation, and discipline to execute said plans, is highly marketable for employers.
      e.g. “Planned, executed, and reviewed yearly competition goals set by coaches”
      Strategic & Analytical Having a strategic and analytical mindset allows for better problem-solving and decision-making skills. This mindset helps student-athletes analyze their team plan and helps employees analyze data.
      e.g. “Collaborated with coaches to design team practice, team workshops, and community involvement opportunities”
      Time Management It is no secret that being a student-athlete comes with having to juggle class schedules, practice, traveling to away games, and additional extracurriculars on campus. It is important to communicate the steps you take to stay organized, excel in academics, but also compete at a very high level.
      e.g. “Managed a full-time student course load with an average of 20+ hours per week training, play review, and competition”

    • Marketing Your Athletic Skills on Professional Documents Utilizing Action Verbs

      Student-athletes develop many characteristics during their collegiate careers, many of which can be applicable and marketable to employers: Here is a list below of transferrable skills and traits to include on your professional documents that highlight your skills and accomplishments.

      • Ability to Multitask
      • Assertive
      • Competitive
      • Challenge-seeker
      • Discipline
      • Energy
      • Preparation
      • Solution-Oriented      		 • Focused
      • Growth-Oriented
      • Leadership
      • Solution-Oriented
      • Mentally tough
      • Overcoming Adversity
      • Team-Oriented
      • Time-Management

    • Where do I put these skills on my Resume?

      Creating an experience under ‘Collegiate Involvement’ or ‘Leadership experience’ can include:

      Accomplishments or Awards
      • Student-athletes can be awarded scholarships, nominations, or received honorable mentions and awards that should be highlighted on their resume, and when a student is nominated or awarded, it proves that coaches, teammates, and directors recognize their level of achievements and dedication to the sport.
      • Be sure to include inter-athletic, athlete scholar, conference, division, or national recognition such as Rookie of the Week, League or Team Player of the Week, Player of Month award, All-Conference, All-Academic Scholar, League Champion, NCAA National Champion etc.
      • In addition to athletic accomplishments, academic accomplishments such as Dean’s List is just as important to include.
      Leadership Roles & Opportunities
      • If an athlete holds a leadership position such as captain/co-captain, undergraduate team leader, or member of NCAA S.A.A.C Roger Williams chapter shows employers that you are capable of taking initiative and can motivate or lead a team to success.
      Community Involvement
      • Experience in public speaking in media or at camps, schools or conferences shows dedication to the community and growing the game.
      • Coaching or training you have done emphasizes the communication, motivational, and organizational skills to be successful.

    • Sample Action Verbs for Bullet Descriptions

      When crafting your resume, it is of utmost importance to articulate your responsibilities, accomplishments, and awards when crafting action statements on your resume. Below are examples of verbs for your action statements for your reference.

      • Achieved
      • Accomplished
      • Collaborated
      • Created
      • Competed
      • Developed
      • Directed
      • Established      		 • Led
      • Mentored
      • Motivated
      • Oversaw
      • Reinforced
      • Replaced
      • Revamped
      • Instructed      		 • Reviewed
      • Saved
      • Served
      • Strengthened
      • Supported
      • Exceeded
      • Influenced
      • Initiated

    • Sample Student Athlete Positions and Descriptions

      Roger Williams University Track & Field, Bristol RI
      Team Captian
      •Served as one of the three team captains and lead the teams in warmups, created scouting reports, coordinated team schedules for game day routines
      • Successfully balanced 30 hours per week of athletic activities, including but not limited to away game travel, practices, meetings, and film sessions, while managing a demanding academic schedule
      • Exercised strong leadership capabilities by effectively communicating with a diverse group of teammates, coaches, and game officials

      Roger Williams University Women’s Rugby, Bristol RI
      Team Member
      • Effectively communicates with a diverse group of teammates, coaches, and game officials
      • Manages time effectively between academics, traveling for games, and attending practice
      • Crowned National Champion in the 2023 Division II Collegiate Rugby Champion National 7’s tournament in Washington DC

      Roger Williams Women’s Varsity Softball, Bristol, RI
      Manager
      • Coordinates and prepares the field for practice; including drill set up and break down
      • Manages the maintenance of home and away uniforms, packaging uniforms and equipment for away travel, and additional equipment tune-up and maintenance
      • Supports the coaching staff by recording statistics, managing physical game records and social media platforms on game day

      Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Bristol, RI
      Member
      • Served as an advocate for student-athletes on the Roger Williams campus in efforts to create an environment where athletics and academics are prioritized and celebrated
      • Attended weekly meetings to discuss NCAA DIII goals, rules, regulations, and campus initiatives to enhance the lives of student-athletes on campus
      • Supported the campus and Commonwealth Coastal Conference through community outreach efforts and campus events

  • LinkedIn Checklist

    Utilizing LinkedIn to broadcast and post your accomplishments as a student-athlete creates visibility to employers and distinguishing yourself as an athlete creates an opportunity to connect with fellow RWU Athletic alumni.
    • Create an Experience in your ‘About’ section to highlight your experience as an athlete with your curated action statements from your Resume
    • Create an Awards & Recognition to include athletic academic honors, on-field achievements, and additional Team recognition or individual awards
    • Change Your LinkedIn Title to look like: ‘(Your Major) Student Athlete at Roger Williams University
    • Keep your LinkedIn network up to date on your accomplishments by posting to your network when you have received network