How the #@$! am I Going to Obtain an MLS Internship.....

Discussion in 'MLS: General' started by Paco Joe, Jun 29, 2005.

  1. Paco Joe

    Paco Joe New Member

    Jun 12, 2003
    USA
    .....When I'm a college student smack dab in the middle of Iowa?

    I would LOVE the opportunity to work for a semester or a summer as a marketing or finance intern for an MLS team or at HQ in Manhattan; the problem is I have absolutely no friends or family in any of the MLS cities.

    This could lead to a serious problem in regard to:

    1. Housing - MLS doesn't help you out with this. Should I even dare apply for a future position at MLS HQ in Manhattan or any other MLS city when I can't even visit it beforehand? What are the living expenses like in some of these cities? What's the best way to find a decent affordable apartment or whatever other form of housing I could use?

    2. Interviews - Of course they say they can help out-of-state applicants by granting over-the-phone interviews, but do you think they're really gonna hire someone they can't talk to face-to-face? Those personal interviews are VERY important. It probably doesn't matter what I put on my resume if I can't show up to talk to them. I'm not sure I'd be able to travel all the way out to the east coast just for a job interview for an internship I might not even get anyway.

    My initial impression was that I should apply for almost every MLS team if I want even a decent chance of working an internship as early as next summer, but is that the smartest thing to do?
    Should I focus instead on some of the nearest cities and some of the smaller ones that I could more easily picture myself living in -- Kansas City, Chicago, Columbus, Foxborough, Salt Lake -- rather than applying all over hell and trying to seek out the best housing in every single city?
    Maybe if I just focused on four or five cities I could more easily work out plans to travel out there for an interview and/or find affordable housing should the opportunity arise.

    Yes, I know MLS isn't the only option; there's also things like USL, and I'll definitely be looking into things like the Minnesota Thunder for other opportunities, but that probably doesn't change the importance of putting lots of effort into MLS; it seems as good, if not the best, vehicle as any for an internship.

    I'm aware that if I'm going to be seeking a job in the soccer industry in this country and without any impressive playing/coaching history, I'm going to have to be "livin' on a prayer" no matter what, so to speak, but I was figuring every bit of help and advice I could get along the way couldn't hurt.

    I probably answered a lot of my own questions with this post, but any help or advice would of course be much appreciated. And even without that, I feel a little better to have vented my worries to random strangers. This is indeed the main thing I've been worrying about lately. I have to at least try to go through with this.

    thank you
     
  2. bigtoga

    bigtoga Member

    Sep 16, 2000
    Dallas, Texas
    Good luck - so many of the questions you're asking can be answered on 1,000's of sites ("What are the living expenses like in some of these cities?"). If you want MLS-specific advice, I'd suggest focusing your questions on that topic; not making generic questions that you could get answered on a site like about.com or something similar ("What's the best way to find a decent affordable apartment or whatever other form of housing I could use?").

    I wish you luck - but don't limit your advice seeking to those on BigSoccer hehe
     
  3. Milhouse

    Milhouse Member

    Dec 29, 1998
    Clifton, NJ
    Do MLS teams pay interns?
     
  4. Screech Powers

    Screech Powers New Member

    Dec 11, 2003
    Highlands Ranch, CO.

    I was a former San Jose Clash intern, and I did not get paid. Only got free tickets to the game.
     
  5. regulator

    regulator Member

    Apr 25, 2004
    New Jersey
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    NYC living expenses = much much higher than anywhere else...unless you wanna live in the projects, then it would be inexpensive and kinda cool. :eek:
     
  6. Roehl Sybing

    Roehl Sybing Guest

    Didn't even know I could expect anything like this from an internship worth any value.
     

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