After attending lectures by USC Coach Clay Helton and Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll in my entrepreneurship class, “Taking the Leap,” I began to realize that working in sports may be a great fit for me. As a former high school athlete and current USC club field hockey player, I never realized how important sports were to both me and my family life. After hearing these coaches speak, I realized that I could turn my passions for communications and social media into a corporate career for a professional sports team. In the spring, I attended the Annenberg Career Connection Internship and Job Fair and the LA Rams representative had a table. I met the recruiter and that day I followed up with her via e-mail. I applied online for their general summer internship and my application floated over to the Ticket Operations department. A few weeks later, heard back from the LA Rams for a phone interview and subsequently had an in-person interview at their headquarters. While I was nervous for the three on one interview setting, the Annenberg Career Development staff eased my stress by reviewing interview questions, techniques, and personal presentation.

Working for the LA Rams this past summer was an incredible experience and each day was new and exciting. I performed various tasks within the ticket operations department, which exposed me to each department’s responsibilities, as well as learning new skills and software. I learned how to use the Ticketmaster Archtics system as well as CRM which manages customer relations, season ticket and parking passes sales. In addition, I learned various sales strategies: over the phone marketing through direct e-mail and in person sales. I dealt with specific season ticket accounts, high net worth customers, and selling seats and parking for the Coliseum. I worked on special projects including competitive analysis of other NFL team’s offerings and creating group sales and excusive ticket prices for USC students.

The Rams had an amazing work environment, similar to a startup company with an open office floorplan. They really engaged their interns into the “Ramly” or “Rams Family”. My favorite part was working at training camp and attending special events for season ticket holders and engaging with the fans. On these days, I especially felt part of a team, even though I was working for a single department.  Like the actual team, the whole staff came together working toward a common goal.

While I was working in the corporate office over the summer, I made it a point to network with other departments. Toward the end of my internship, I went around to each department head and learned about their jobs and what they look for in a candidate. It was great to learn from senior officers who have had years of experience working in both the sports and the entertainment industry.

The people I met, the skills that I learned, and the experience I had this summer was invaluable. I feel so lucky to have been able to intern for a NFL team, a job I will be continuing throughout the football season, working for the ticketing department on game days.

I want to thank USC and specifically the Annenberg School for helping and guiding me to this incredible internship. 

- Cara Straus, Communication