Marc Zumoff: Get an Internship. Then Do The Stupid Stuff With A Smile On Your Face.

MARC ZUMOFF, A TEMPLE GRAD who is now the voice of the Sixers, spoke to the class about finding work in communications. Did you take notes? He walked you through the process.

Here's what I wrote down:

- You need passion. Without passion, you'll be bored and not do a good job.
- When he was at Temple, he was chunky, insecure and didn't understand the media landscape.
- Now he has his dream job where they treat him like a king - five-star hotels, fancy meals, first-class flights, front row seats, etc.
- You need to network. And you can start by interning somewhere.
- Present yourself appropriately when meeting people in the business.
- When you get that internship, suck up your pride and do the little crap they make interns do. And do that stuff with a smile on your face.
- You need to bust your ass all the time.
- Take initiative. Work hard, all the time.
- Stay in touch after your internship. Internships lead to jobs.
- When you write to prospective employers or anyone else in the business, keep it brief. Explain what you want. Mention mutual connections. Use proper punctuation.
- Don't be afraid of rejection.
- As a student, you should have no life. You should be immersed in your school work, internships, jobs, student activities, and other fun journalism related stuff.

Regarding his job, he said a few things that got my attention:

- He's not a journalist. He essentially works for the team.
- He is not objective. He is a die-hard Sixers fan. It's not his role to be critical.
- He does three or four hours of prep for every game. Then he goes live on television for about 2.5 hours during games.

And here is one thing that Marc did not say: there are only 30 teams in the NBA, which means there are only 30 people doing jobs like his. People would kill to have his job. And he knows it. So he works his ass off.

What did you think?

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