WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - In April, the Purdue Athletics Department selected six student-athletes to serve as interns in various areas this summer, one each in communications, compliance, John Purdue Club, marketing/fan experience, ticket operations and the John R. Wooden Leadership Institute.
The second-year internship program aims to provide student-athletes real-world experience working within a university athletics department and help them in their desired career paths. They will be working 150 hours between May and August and will be paid $1,500 for their service.
Junior thrower Brad Hoselton, an economics and finance major, took a little time away from his workouts and his internship with the Athletics Ticket Office to update purduesports.com on how everything is going.
How has the first month on the job been going?
My first month has been great, and I really enjoy all the people I work with. I've been able to learn the daily operations and finished a few projects along the way.
What have you learned through the internship so far?
So far I've had the chance to learn how to do quite a few different things on the software that the tickets are sold through. I've also learned how to set up and use another software that is primarily used by coaches and student-athletes to reserve tickets to home games.
Do you have a new respect or understanding for what goes on behind the scenes in the department?
I have a lot more respect for the behind-the-scenes operations after working here. There is so much more than you would think that goes into getting the tickets printed and mailed off to the correct person. I've also got a whole new respect for people who work customer service after having been in their position.
What is your typical day like? How do you balance your new work schedule with your offseason workouts?
- 6:20 a.m. -- Wake up
- 7 to 8:45 a.m. -- Practice
- 9:50 to 10:50 a.m. -- Class
- 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. -- Homework/Tutor
- 12:15 to 1 p.m. -- Lunch
- 1 to 5 p.m. -- Work
Balancing my work schedule with everything was fairly easy. I was lucky enough to be able to dedicate my mornings to class and offseason workouts, then go to work in the afternoon. The biggest sacrifice I had to make was moving my practice times to the morning. What makes those morning workouts hard is not having the comradery of my teammates.
Has your internship changed your career plans or made it clearer to you what you might want to do?
Working in the ticket office has reinforced my decision to go into the finance industry. This internship has given me the opportunity to develop my communications skills, which will help with creating and maintaining client relationships in the future. Starting out, I had very little experience dealing with customers/clients over the phone or face to face. I wasn't sure if I'd be very good at it, but now that I've been able to learn the ropes I'm much more confident.