ESPN looking for folks

[Larrbear]

It's 22k for the year- not for seven months.

Sorry I didn't make that clear.

 

[eroc]

hopefully not many people will apply. that way i can score a nice paid internship with ESPN. I'd love to write, but this will definitely look good on my resume, and no matter what you people say on here, it can't hurt to have that. I already have an ESPN The Magazine editor as a reference (he taught one of my classes in college) and so far I still haven't landed a job yet. Sent my resume in last week. Still haven't heard anything. Anyone else hear back yet?

 

[mustangj17]

applied three days ago, still havent heard back. Nor do I expect to.

 

[FirstDown]

Does anyone know generally how difficult it is to land one of the statistics associate jobs? It seems like a lot of the discussion on this board has centered around the seven-month production job instead, or has it? Does anyone know about the stats jobs?

Thanks.

 

[mustangj17]

Was there any movement on these? It has been a long while.

 

[BYH]

You're hired!

 

[mustangj17]

Yeah, didn't see that one coming. Seriously, anyone on here apply for one of these things and hear back?

 

[Tenhut]

"on your resume" means less and less - moreso for many - with every breath you take.

 

[Tom Petty]

Yeah, didn't see that one coming. Seriously, anyone on here apply for one of these things and hear back?

you're hired!

 

[Moderator1]

Hahahhahahha! God that's funny.
Or maybe it isn't after the 10 millionth time.

 

[playthrough]

Infinitely less so when posted for the second time on a page. C'mon TP, you've got more game than that.

 

[sportsed]

Was there any movement on these? It has been a long while.

There's constant movement on this, but a list of names of those hired wouldn't register a blip on the screen. Typically, they are recent grads and young journalists usually no more than a year or two out of college.

 

[Jay Sherman]

Was there any movement on these? It has been a long while.

There's constant movement on this, but a list of names of those hired wouldn't register a blip on the screen. Typically, they are recent grads and young journalists usually no more than a year or two out of college.

One of my buddies just got started with ESPN as a statistician for ESPNews and SportsCenter. Job starts at $35,000 and they really push cross-department job transferring if you see something open up in another department, which is pretty cool. Plus $1,500 relocation costs FTW.

 

[Tom Petty]

Hahahhahahha! God that's funny.
Or maybe it isn't after the 10 millionth time.

yeaaah, it was the same guy. there was some sarcasm intended in that post.

 

[NateL]

Hey, I registered to ask anyone if they had actually tried applying for this, what happened, how it is, etc. Basically wondering if anyone has any first hand experience.

Sorry for digging up an old topic, but they have this position yearly, and I'm looking into it this year, not so much as a journalist but as a job opportunity.

Thanks guys

 

[mustangj17]

Hey, I registered to ask anyone if they had actually tried applying for this, what happened, how it is, etc. Basically wondering if anyone has any first hand experience.

Sorry for digging up an old topic, but they have this position yearly, and I'm looking into it this year, not so much as a journalist but as a job opportunity.

Thanks guys

I've definitely posted this before. Here's how my experience went.
- Applied 3-4 times and never heard back
-Applied a fifth time sending in multiple resumes from multiple e-mail addresses applying for any position
-Got a call back on a Saturday at 10 p.m. while I was at the bar (I'm EST just like Bristol, WTF?) had an impromptu quiz where I had to name the starting lineup for the Lakers, had to explain how to calculate ERA and had to name the last 8 Heisman Winners and their schools.
- Passed the test and the made me schedule an hour long block to speak to them again (immediately) there was no waiting. They said they like to move the process along quickly - a bunch of **** really.
- The next morning they called back, gave me a Data Assesment, which I think I deleted (DAMN). It was a 45 minute test where you had to edit things, check stats, do some simple sports math etc. The test had weird rules, like if you didn't finish one question in a section you got them all wrong. I didn't finish editing a box score for a basketball game and got that entire section wrong. (I had to submit it within 45 minutes or I failed... so I took the loss of points)
-Passed the test. They called me about a week later and told me. Set up an interview for a few days down the road.
-Had a really cool interview with a team member about sports. He talked about his path to ESPN and basically we talked about Fantasy football, Brett Favre, Chad Henne and the Dolphins. The interview was cool and I had a great feeling.
-I didn't hear anything back for a while... and I mean a long while. The hiring manager told me it was going to be a bit of a long process.
- I followed up every few weeks and this did not make the hiring manager happy. I kept leaving messages and never heard back. At one point she returned my call and said that I was "being excessive". I apologized to her, and said that I was trying to be persistent and would not have kept calling if someone had returned my calls.
-Finally, after months of this ridiculous charade, I had a phone interview with said hiring manager. She was very cold and rude. I tried to be as nice as possible. I wasn't nervous and did great in the interview. She was short and cut me off after about 10 minutes on the phone. From there, I pretty much knew it was over (however, she told me the next step was that they would fly me in for an interview... so I held out hope)
-A kept following up, and after about a month the hiring manager left a voicemail saying there was a hiring freeze and I wouldn't have the job.

Nine months total for the interview process just to go down like that. It was dissapointing because I had done everything right on my end. I was a bit bitter, but after the way the hiring manager treated me, I realized that's not the type of place I wanted to work.

 

[mustangj17]

Here is the Data Assessment I received in May of 2008. WFW.

DATA GROUP EMAIL ASSESSMENT – Version 2.0


Instructions:

1. Make sure you have received all sections
2. Once we go over the directions, you have 45 minutes to complete the assessment.
3. Let's say in one section there are five questions and you only answer one question and leave the other four questions blank, we are going to count the other four questions in that section as wrong. So if you answer one question in one section, make sure you answer all the questions in that section.
4. We are looking for you to complete as many correct responses as possible; obviously we will grade you on any incorrect responses as well.
5. You can use a calculator, the Internet, resources and reference materials. Make sure the source is reliable. If the source is wrong and you enter a wrong answer, you will get docked for a wrong answer.
6. Each section has different instructions and different expectations. Make sure you read the directions in each section.
7. You can either reply this email right back to me or you can cut & paste this document into a word format. Doesn’t matter, just so long as we know what answers go to what sections.
8. After going through all of these instructions we will agree upon a 45 minute deadline.
9. Email your responses before your deadline and good luck!




Section 1

THE NUMBERS GAME

The Data Group deals with statistics and statistical formulas. In order to ensure 100% accuracy, we must understand the formulas to get the stats correct. Compute the following stats:

Baseball

1. Who has the BETTER ERA and what is their ERA?

Randy Wilson 100.1 IP, 54 ER
Mike Scott 30 IP, 15 ER

ANSWER:



Basketball

1. Mike Scott shoots 8-for-19 from the field, 3-for-5 from 3 point range, and goes 5-for-6 from the free throw line. How many points does he have, and what is his field goal percentage?

ANSWER:


Football

1. Green Bay scored 42 touchdowns, made 35 extra points, made six 2-point conversions, made 36 field goals and had 2 safeties … Miami scored 40 touchdowns, made 36 extra points, made two 2-point conversions, made 41 field goals and had 3 safeties. How many points did each team score and which team scored more points?


ANSWER:


Hockey

1. Philadelphia scored 263 goals and allowed 253 goals in a season. What is team’s Goals for Average and Goals against Average?

ANSWER:




Section 2

PROOFREADING BOXSCORES

Box scores from most major leagues (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB) and colleges are usually correct, but we must always verify their accuracy. For the final boxes to be complete, we must find any inaccurate stat(s) and modify accordingly.

Find the three mistakes in each box score

NBA BOX SCORE

TORONTO (104)

Bosh 7-15 4-4 18, Peterson 2-5 2-2 7, Bonner 5-12 0-0 12,
James 10-15 0-2 26, Rose 3-11 11-12 17, Villanueva 6-10 1-2 13,
Calderon 1-4 2-2 4, Graham 1-2 0-0 3, Sow 1-2 2-3 4,
E. Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-76 22-27 104.

LA LAKERS (122)

Brown 1-5 1-2 3, Odom 1-7 5-6 8, Mihm 5-8 2-3 12, Parker
5-11 2-2 13, Bryant 28-46 18-20 81, George 0-4 0-0 0, Vujacic
1-5 0-0 2, Walton 0-1 0-0 0, Cook 1-1 0-0 2, Green 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 42-88 28-33 122.

Toronto 36 27 22 19 - 104
LA Lakers 29 20 42 31 - 121

3-Point Goals - Toronto 11-20 (Peterson 1-3, Bonner 2-6,
James 6-8, Rose 0-2, Graham 1-1), LA Lakers 10-23 (Odom 1-2,
Parker 1-5, Bryant 7-13, Vujacic 1-3). Fouled Out - Bosh.
Rebounds - Toronto 27 (Bosh 8), LA Lakers 51 (Brown, Odom 10).
Assists - Toronto 20 (James 10), LA Lakers 18 (Odom 7). Total
fouls - Toronto 27, LA Lakers 24

MISTAKES:

1)


2)


3)




NCAA BOX SCORE


FLORIDA (73)

fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
C Brewer 37 4-12 1-3 3-7 4 3 11
J Noah 33 7-9 2-2 2-9 3 2 16
A Hoford 24 5-8 4-5 2-7 3 2 14
T Green 36 1-9 0-1 0-4 8 1 2
L Humphrey 36 4-8 3-3 0-1 2 1 15
A Moss 10 3-6 3-4 2-6 0 0 9
W Hodge 12 0-3 0-0 0-1 1 1 0
C Richard 12 2-3 2-2 0-0 0 3 6
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 201 26-58 15-20 9-35 21 13 73
_____________________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.448, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals: 5-19, .263
(C Brewer 2-3, T Green 0-7, L Humphrey 4-8, W Hodge 0-1).
Team Rebounds: 0. Blocked Shots: 10 (J Noah 6, A Hoford 2,
C Richard, C Brewer). Turnovers: 6 (J Noah 2, C Brewer 2,
A Hoford, T Green). Steals: 7 (C Brewer 3, W Hodge 2,
J Noah, T Green).

UCLA (57)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
C Bozeman 25 2-3 5-6 0-3 3 2 9
L Mbah a Moute 32 3-9 0-0 3-10 1 4 6
R Hollins 26 4-10 2-2 5-10 0 2 10
J Farmar 34 8-21 1-2 0-2 4 2 18
A Afflalo 32 3-10 2-2 0-2 1 2 10
D Collison 21 0-3 0-0 1-3 1 3 0
A Aboya 14 1-1 0-2 2-3 1 2 2
L Mata 9 1-4 0-0 2-5 0 3 2
M Roll 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 200 22-61 10-14 13-38 12 22 57
_____________________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.361, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals: 3-17, .176
(L Mbah a Moute 0-2, J Farmar 1-8, A Afflalo 2-7). Team
Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 1 (R Hollins). Turnovers: 12
(A Afflalo 3, D Collison 3, C Bozeman 2, J Farmar 2,
R Hollins, L Mata). Steals: 3 (J Farmar 2, A Afflalo).
-----------------------------------
FLORIDA 36 37 - 73
UCLA 25 32 - 57
-----------------------------------
Technical fouls: None. A: 43,168. Officials: James
Burr, John Cahill, Tony Greene

MISTAKES:

1)


2)


3)






Section 3

SPELLING

There are rare times when a name is misspelled. If this occurs, we must know what looks different, especially when entering rosters.

WRITE “YES” OR “NO” IF THE ATHLETE’S NAMES ARE SPELLED CORRECTLY. IF NO, THEN PLEASE WRITE THE CORRECT SPELLING.

Johnny Peralta

Amare Stoudemire

Ashley Lelie

Dwayne Wade

Sheldon Williams

Scott Niedermayer

Mark Buerhle

T.J. Houshmandzadeh

Joe Nemecheck

Tony Kanaan

Garrett Anderson

Teddy Bruschi

Helio Castronieves








Section 4

SCORING PLAYS

Part of the job is scoring a game. Read the examples and score the plays:

Baseball

Runners are on first and third base with one out. Ground ball to third base, third basemen throws home and catcher tags out runner from third base. Catcher throws to first base where the batter is called out at first base. Score the play …

ANSWER:


Football

New York punts the ball from its own 35-yard line. The ball is caught at the Dallas 18-yard line and is returned to the Dallas 27-yard line. How many yards did the ball travel and what is the NET average?

ANSWER:


Golf

Tiger Woods starts the Par-5 18th Hole by hitting his first shot 325 yards. The second shot goes 175 yards into a bunker. His third shot out of the bunker goes 24 yards, or 3 feet from the hole. The fourth shot goes in the hole. What is his score relative to par for that hole and what is the specific terminology for his score?

ANSWER:

Tennis

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are tied 6-6 in the final set. In order for the set and match to be completed, they will play a tiebreaker. How many points will it take to decide a winner?

ANSWER:
Section 5

MAJORS

There are four majors for each of these sports. For tennis, name the event and the surface on which the event is played. For golf, just name the event.


Tennis

1.

2.

3.

4.


Golf

1.

2.

3.

4.









Section 6

WHAT SPORT DO I PLAY?

Write the sport next to the athlete


Martin Truex Jr.

Jermain Taylor

James Blake

Andrea Bargnani

Dawn Staley

Miroslav Klose

Lorena Ochoa

Jeremy Sowers

Duncan Keith

Nick Barnett

Chris Burke

Jeff Halpern

Dario Franchitti









Section 7

ESPNU


WRITE THE NAME OF THE COLLEGE EACH ATHLETE ATTENDED BELOW

Allen Iverson

Brett Favre

Vince Young

Tamika Catchings

Chris Drury

Ray Lewis

Grant Hill

Kevin Garnett

Reggie Bush

Donovan McNabb

Jason Kidd




Section 8

WHAT TEAM DO I PLAY FOR?

Write the team most recently associated with the player

Daunte Culpepper

Charlie Villanueva

Peter Forsberg

Keith Brooking

Jarome Iginla

Leandro Barbosa

Deron Williams

Muhsin Muhammad

Marion Barber III

Larry Hughes



--- END OF ASSESSMENT ---

 

[DBerov]

will something like this be posted this year?

 

[Birdscribe]

Hey, I registered to ask anyone if they had actually tried applying for this, what happened, how it is, etc. Basically wondering if anyone has any first hand experience.

Sorry for digging up an old topic, but they have this position yearly, and I'm looking into it this year, not so much as a journalist but as a job opportunity.

Thanks guys

I've definitely posted this before. Here's how my experience went.
- Applied 3-4 times and never heard back
-Applied a fifth time sending in multiple resumes from multiple e-mail addresses applying for any position
-Got a call back on a Saturday at 10 p.m. while I was at the bar (I'm EST just like Bristol, WTF?) had an impromptu quiz where I had to name the starting lineup for the Lakers, had to explain how to calculate ERA and had to name the last 8 Heisman Winners and their schools.
- Passed the test and the made me schedule an hour long block to speak to them again (immediately) there was no waiting. They said they like to move the process along quickly - a bunch of **** really.
- The next morning they called back, gave me a Data Assesment, which I think I deleted (DAMN). It was a 45 minute test where you had to edit things, check stats, do some simple sports math etc. The test had weird rules, like if you didn't finish one question in a section you got them all wrong. I didn't finish editing a box score for a basketball game and got that entire section wrong. (I had to submit it within 45 minutes or I failed... so I took the loss of points)
-Passed the test. They called me about a week later and told me. Set up an interview for a few days down the road.
-Had a really cool interview with a team member about sports. He talked about his path to ESPN and basically we talked about Fantasy football, Brett Favre, Chad Henne and the Dolphins. The interview was cool and I had a great feeling.
-I didn't hear anything back for a while... and I mean a long while. The hiring manager told me it was going to be a bit of a long process.
- I followed up every few weeks and this did not make the hiring manager happy. I kept leaving messages and never heard back. At one point she returned my call and said that I was "being excessive". I apologized to her, and said that I was trying to be persistent and would not have kept calling if someone had returned my calls.
-Finally, after months of this ridiculous charade, I had a phone interview with said hiring manager. She was very cold and rude. I tried to be as nice as possible. I wasn't nervous and did great in the interview. She was short and cut me off after about 10 minutes on the phone. From there, I pretty much knew it was over (however, she told me the next step was that they would fly me in for an interview... so I held out hope)
-A kept following up, and after about a month the hiring manager left a voicemail saying there was a hiring freeze and I wouldn't have the job.

Nine months total for the interview process just to go down like that. It was dissapointing because I had done everything right on my end. I was a bit bitter, but after the way the hiring manager treated me, I realized that's not the type of place I wanted to work.

Thanks for the story, mustang. Interesting stuff.

I always find it amusing that hiring managers at places that stress and emphasize breaking news get cranky about people following up and displaying a quality you would think would be prized in a possible employee. The irony hits you between the eyes like a sledgehammer.

A college buddy of mine did this nearly 20 years ago. He was one of the 93% of washouts, but he did get a trip to Europe out of it, for the '92 Olympics, I believe.

That said, the one that intrigues me the most is the programming track. It seems not a lot of folks would be on that track and your chances for getting hired -- not to mention promoted -- would be higher. Plus, that's the area most of senior management comes from, IIRC.

 

[NBAonNBC]

Very similar experience on my end.

I went through the initial test via phone in the Summer of 2008. Then I had the data assessment soon after. I had a phone interview a few days later. Nothing. Then the original person I interviewed with called and suggested I take more tests - one for the bottom line and one for stats, I believe. This was the Fall of 2008 by this time. Multiple follow-ups led to a series of not-so-friendly e-mails saying that I was told I needed to be patient. Etc. Etc. Then the e-mail came that the job was frozen in early '09.

I moved on, took the steps toward a career outside of journalism and then I got an e-mail in the Summer of 2009. They asked if I was still interested in the position - pay in the mid-20k range. I responded and said I wasn't interested but could do part-time work (was doing some freelancing, taking classes and could use a part-time gig). I get forwarded to this guy that offers me a part-time job doing stats on weekends, says he will follow up with training time, etc. Never calls or returns my calls. Finally I get a hold of him and the dude claims he has no idea who I am or any details about our previous conversation. And that was that. Very odd experience.