A year from now, Georgia Tech guard Omoregie Uzzi likely will be counting the days to his selection in the NFL draft.
However, recently he was among 72 Tech athletes gathered in the club lounge beneath the east stands of Bobby Dodd Stadium for a job fair for the school’s varsity team members. The sharper ones wore suits or cleanly pressed blouses and skirts as they networked, trading résumés for business cards.
Uzzi, a two-time All-ACC selection, already has a summer internship with the Barton Executive Search headhunting firm, so he was looking further down the road.
“We’ve known the importance of trying to get your degree and knowing that football isn’t [everything] for you,” he said. “So, [you] kind of try to look at the master plan, meeting the right people to get to be a successful person, not just a successful football player.”
Uzzi is one of about 25 football players who have summer-internship plans, part of a program that has helped players land internships and jobs in a rough economic climate. The endeavor is part of the Total Person Program founded by former athletic director Homer Rice. The program has been championed by many Tech coaches and administrators including football coach Paul Johnson, who has encouraged his players to seek internships.
“I think he’s supported it because, one, it makes sense,” said Doug Allvine, the assistant athletic director for special projects. “Two, it’s in the genuine best interest of the kids.
“Sometimes, [Johnson] plays a good poker face, but I think that at the end of the day, he’s genuinely interested in their best interests, and not just football.”
Former Tech linebacker Albert Rocker is a shining example. Rocker parlayed experience in an internship with payroll-services company ADP into a management position at Microsoft. Former wide receiver Tyler Melton, who like Uzzi interned at Barton last summer, has a few job offers on the table in case his impending attempt at professional football doesn’t pan out. No fewer than eight starters on the 2011 team had internships last summer.
“To get that experience at a young age while you’re in school was a big one-up while I was interviewing,” Rocker said.
Of eight ACC schools who responded to a query, two (Maryland and North Carolina) had a job fair specifically for athletes this year, although N.C. State has had them in the past. Georgia will hold a career fair for its varsity athletes (as well as graduate assistants, interns and recent graduates) May 1, the second year that the school has organized the event. The UGA athletic association has held pre-fair sessions to go over résumés and prep athletes for what to expect.
“I think a lot of times, it’s hard for student-athletes because they’re so involved in school and athletics, to think ahead, and so we try to help them do that,” said Heather LaBarbera, the athletic association’s director of student services.
On Wednesday, 13 employers, including The Home Depot, Chick-fil-A, Northwestern Mutual and AT&T, attended the Tech job fair. College athletes have proved a fertile hiring source, Enterprise Rent-A-Car recruiting manager Karen McGrath said.
“We find a lot of the skills that these guys and gals have are a really great match for what we’re looking for,” she said. “That’s why we put money and resources into it.”
At a training event for seven or eight recent hires that day, three had competed in intercollegiate athletics, McGrath said. An associate of McGrath’s mentioned that of three hires made by the company Wednesday, two were college athletes. McGrath guessed that 50 percent of employees had participated in college or at least high school athletics, as they often held valued traits such as competitiveness and teamwork.
“I definitely think that the combination of [athletics and internship experience] puts you ahead of the regular students,” Rocker said.
A-back Orwin Smith left the job fair with a handful of business cards and an optimistic feeling. Conversations with representatives from Chick-fil-A and CNN had intrigued him. Smith, who has a couple of internship offers for the summer, has an interest in marketing, but is open.
“I’m not really sure what I would like, but just having options is better than nothing,” he said.
As in football, as in life.
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