Larry Majchrzak
2016
Majors:
Sports Marketing
Minors:
Communication Studies
Internship/Job Position:
Ticket Office Intern
Internship/Job Company:
Baltimore Ravens
How did you land your current position?
I actually found the opportunity through the Ravens’ website. They had posted on there, and I just filled out an online application with my resume, cover letter, and then a bunch of questions that they asked you to answer. And about two months later they called me out of the blue and were like, Hey do you want to come in for an interview? and it’s kind’ve been a dream of mine for a really long time. So I said of course, I went in, I was one of 10 people they interviewed and I was able to get the job.
What was the interview process like?
It was just the one interview, I went in and it was the Vice President and the two Directors of the ticket office. It was me and those three in a room. And it was one of the more grueling interviews I’ve ever had, actually. We were in there for right about an hour. I know that’s probably standard going forward, but it was probably like two pages front and back of questions that they were just like grilling me with. But it was good, I think it was a good interview. A lot of those behavioral based interview questions, like name a situation where you did this.
What does a normal day look like?
It’s tough, I always ask that question when I go to interviews and it’s tough because sports is just a different thing every day. As a general basis, we have a phone system that’s called an ACD, I think it’s Automatic Call Distribution, that goes to different people throughout the office. So if someone calls into a general number, it might go to my desk or the person next to me. So I was responsible for answering probably about 40 phone calls a day, is what ended up coming through to me on most days. It’s a lot of talking, lot of interacting with customers, Ravens fans, people who want to buy tickets. And then also, over the summer, because obviously there’s no football, they have concerts. So they had Billy Joel come in and do a concert, One Direction, the boy band, and uh they also had a soccer match, this like international soccer tournament. So we had not only preparing for the ravens season, and getting all their tickets, and dealing with their fans, but also these outside events. So it’s definitely a balancing act a lot because no day is the same, so you’re not always consistently working on one project, you’re gonna be like send me now parking passes for a concert, and then sending out ravens tickets, and it keeps you busy. Which is good.
Did you get any perks?
They are actually really such a well-run company. The CEO actually made all his money starting a staffing firm, so he’s really good with personnel and training people. So we actually got free lunch every day that was catered, which was awesome they gave us stuff a lot, like we got apparel and like at the end they gave me a huge gift bag of like a ravens shirt and hats, you know, swag. And they just really know how to treat their employees well. Being an NFL team you’re obviously bringing in a decent amount of money, so they do a good job of that and they would treat us to lunch if we had a game day, take us to Chipotle, things like that.
What do you like most about/ and find most challenging in your position?
Like most: As much as it can be challenging, I love the fan interaction and, you know, you have people that can be unpleasant, but football fans, or sports fans in general, are just crazy passionate. The Ravens actually just this year are celebrating their 20th year as a franchise, so big year for them. And it’s cool to see all the people who have been with them since day one and are just so die hard and passionate about the team, and, you know, there are so many interactions you have with people, and people that kinda just influence you in a way you don’t really realize. So I love all the different people you get to meet in sports. When you have 72,000 people coming into a stadium, you never know who you’re going to run into.
Most challenging: It’s definitely managing a lot of different tasks at once. So, not only was phone coverage was one of our responsibilities, but the interns rotated sitting up at one of those ticket windows we always had someone up there, so you might be on the phone with someone. working on a project for a boss, and also someone comes up to the window trying to ask you questions, or buy tickets, and you got to manage all these things and get them done in a timely fashion. Because if you have someone sitting there for 15 minutes, they’re frustrated because they have somewhere to be, it gives them a negative impression of the Ravens and you know you always have to think about the brand that’s one thing I noticed, fans are hyper critical of sports teams, I think in some ways they think, you know, you’re the Ravens, you can do anything. So I think always being conscious of, like, you have 72,000 fans in the stadium and you really need to do your best to care about each individual one. You can’t be like, this is the person who pays the most money so I’m going to pay attention to them. You gotta look out for everyone.
What is some advice that you would give to students who are currently searching for internships?
I would say, in general, just find something you like. You know, find something you’re passionate about, and find your end first and you can figure out the rest. Like you can figure out how to get there, if you are committed to working hard enough and put in the time to search out jobs, or maybe find an internship first that’s going to get you there, but you may not be able to get your dream right away. I wasn’t going to get an internship at the Ravens after my freshman year, but I got a different internship that gave me sales experience, and sports teams really value sales experience, so I feel like that was a big factor at the beginning of this job. I think definitely, early on, setting your goals and then doing whatever you can to get there. And following up with people, people really appreciate the extra effort. I sent in a thank you note to my interviewers after the interview and most people just won’t take that initiative, most people barely send an email, so I think just sending a thank you note, something tangible they can hold on to, people really remember you.