Do this now

4 tips to help you become a LinkedIn pro + the latest and greatest soccer jobs

 

IN THIS ISSUE

  • 🤝 Introduction: Soccer is quickly growing

  • ‼️ Do This Now: Become a pro on LinkedIn

  • ⚽️ Soccer Jobs: A few of the latest and greatest jobs

  • 📰 Extra Extra: The USL Super League has a new name!

INTRODUCTION

Greetings, Pathwayers! 👋

New soccer job opportunities have been springing up left and right (including the ones listed toward the bottom of the newsletter 👇) and there’s no sign of that trend slowing down. It’s a hyper-competitive market as the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2026 FIFA World Cup rapidly approach.

You might be wondering "How do I break through the noise? How do I standout from the rest?”

There isn’t a one-size fits all answer, but we’re here to help.

Longtime subscribers may be familiar with our “Do This Now” sections where we provide tips and advice to help you advance your soccer career. In this issue, we’ve updated and rewritten four of our favorites to help you put your best foot forward on everyone’s favorite business networking site - LinkedIn!

We hope you find it helpful!

-Nolan Sheldon, Co-Founder & CXO
-Kyle Sheldon, Co-Founder & CEO

LET’S GROW TOGETHER

First off - thank you! Whether you’ve been here since Issue 001 or this is the first time we’ve hit your inbox, we’re grateful for you!

In addition to this newsletter, be sure to keep with with Pathway on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and Instagram.

Oh, and if you would be so kind as to share this newsletter with your followers (psst, share this link and tag us), we would greatly appreciate it! 🫶 

It’s an easy one, and yet so many on LinkedIn don’t do it (or do it poorly) - you have to absolutely nail your profile headline.

Here’s why:

  • When you send someone a message or your post shows up in someone’s feed, it’s the only thing they see other than your name

  • When someone lands on your profile, it’s very likely the first thing they read

  • Even if you have a job, you never know when your profile is going to catch the eye of a future employer - always be ready

It’s simple: The profile headline is your first impression

So, what should you include?

If you’re employed, you should consider including:

  • Your job title and company name - always!

  • A short sentence about your capabilities or interests

  • A qualification or degree

  • Optional: A well-placed emoji can grab attention 👀

If you’re looking for your next gig, consider including:

  • Disciplines you’re interested in (ex: Analytics | Business Intelligence | Strategy)

  • A short sentence about what you’re looking for (ex: Currently seeking opportunities to grow soccer in digital + social media)

  • Past experience/employers (Ex: Formerly: Ohio University Athletics Dept., Columbus Crew Intern)

Profile headline examples you can copy (you should follow them, too!):

Now, go update that profile headline before moving on to our second tip, which is…

It can be difficult to put yourself out into the world on social media. Many feel like they don’t have something interesting to say. Some are afraid of being judged for what they do share.

If that’s you, let this be an encouragement to START.

Like most anything in life, we get better by doing. And if you’re able to get into the habit of regularly (even semi-regularly!) posting to LinkedIn you’ll absolutely make new connections, reach potential employers, meet like-minded individuals, or simply connect with someone who might share your interests. It’s worth giving it a go.

Here are a few writing prompts to get you started. Pick one or two that suits you and go post to LinkedIn - this week.

  • Share work you admire

    • Post a visual (screenshot or photo) or link to an article

    • Tag the club or company that produced the work

    • Share a few sentences about why you love it and why it stands out

  • Shout out a co-worker or industry colleague

    • Identify someone in your circle that has been crushing it

    • Write a few sentences about what makes them great and what they’ve been doing to stand out (Tag ‘em, too!)

    • Express gratitude for their partnership and/or friendship

  • Share the best advice you’ve received

    • When has a manager or mentor given you advice that stuck with you?

    • Share that advice with a few notes about why it impacted you

    • Steal one of these openers:

      • "The most impactful career advice I've ever been given…" or

      • “I’ll never forget when a manager told me…”

Alright, so you’ve enhanced your LinkedIn profiled and started posting. What’s next? It’s time to dive in and…

This is what we call “low hanging fruit.” And, if you do it consistently, it will lead to more connections, a bigger network, and eventually, more opportunities.

It’s time to harvest that fruit. Go to LinkedIn, scroll your feed, and find 10 posts within your area of interest or expertise and add a comment.

Keep these tips in mind:

  • Be positive, encouraging, and supportive

  • Add value to the post by sharing your own opinion (in other words, don’t just say “way to go!”)

  • Write 2-4 sentences to ensure substance

  • Avoid sarcasm, hot takes, and banter

If you don’t yet have a ton of connections and are having trouble finding 10 posts to comment on, here’s an approach you can take to unearth some:

  • Find active and influential LinkedIn users and click on their profile

  • Scroll down to “Activity” and click on both “Posts” and “Comments”

  • Find a relevant post and add your commentary

Voila, you’re in the conversation!

And, if you need a head start, here are a handful of soccer industry professionals who tend to be active on LinkedIn (and are worth following!);

The professional soccer community is small. By simply increasing the breadth and frequency of where you show up on LinkedIn, especially if you can add value to the conversation, people will start to take notice - and you’ll very likely see connection requests increase.

Now that you’ve started mingling with fellow industry professionals, you might be inclined to reach out to folks 1-on-1 with questions or inquire about opportunities. Before you impulsively slide into someone’s DMs, let’s talk about how to…

Because we’ve been in in the soccer industry for a minute (actually, it’s been more than 10,000,000 minutes!), we tend to get a lot of cold outreach - most often via email or DMs on Instagram, X, or LinkedIn.

The reason for the outreach varies (job seekers, sales people, potential clients, informational interview requests, etc.) but there’s a common thread - most of the outreach is, in fact, COLD. 🥶

Impersonal. Rote. Boring.

We’re always a bit amazed at how often someone writes to ask us to do something for them and it’s clear we’re receiving a copy/paste special. Even a little bit of work before you hit send can go a long way towards increasing the likelihood of a reply.

With that in mind, here is our cold outreach playbook to bring some organization to your approach and ensure you’re sending messages with a higher success rate. Go get ‘em!

  • Block 30-60 minutes on your calendar every week

  • Spend the first half of your scheduled window searching LinkedIn for individuals you would be interested in speaking to

    • Look for folks who work in your area of interest but consider those who may be adjacent to your specific area, too (Ex: If you work in social media, connect with someone in marketing) 

    • Look for individuals to whom you have a specific, personal connection: 

      • From the same city/state 

      • Went to the same college 

      • Played a sport in the same conference 

      • Have a mutual friend that you know well 

      • Support the same teams 

      • Etc. 

  • After you’ve identified a potential contact, spend time researching and reviewing their digital presence 

    • Find them on LinkedIn, X [Twitter!], Instagram, etc. 

    • Look for examples of their recent work and projects 

    • Look for mutual connections 

    • Look for anything that might provide a personalized opening sentence in your email

    • Then, if you plan to reach out, drop them in your tracker with your insights and notes 

  • Spend the second half of the window, sending very short introductory emails to those you’d like to speak with 

    • Your message should be no more than 4-5 sentences 

    • Your only objective is to get in-person time with them - not share your entire career journey 

    • If you have a specific connection, be sure to mention it (Ex: “I went to Wingate University, too…”) 

    • Reference something specific you found in your research (Ex: “I loved the season ticket campaign you recently launched…”) 

    • Ask for no more than 30 minutes (and sometimes asking for 15 or 20 minutes will increase your chances of success)

  • In your initial outreach, give them an out right off the bat 

    • This is counterintuitive but giving someone permission to say “no” often leads them to say “yes” instead (Ex: “If now isn’t a good time, I completely understand…”) 

    • If you don’t hear back, follow up 7-10 days later with a short, simple note (“Following up with the hope you might be willing to connect…”) 

    • If you don’t hear back after a second follow up, move on - you’re simply not going to hear back from everyone (and no one likes getting hounded)

  • PRO TIP: Don’t just make outreach to senior executives

    • Send requests to folks who are early or mid-career 

    • They likely don’t receive as many requests 

    • They often have more schedule flexibility 

    • Careers are long and today’s mid-career professional is tomorrow’s c-suite executive 

  • Track your outreach and keep at it every week!

    • You may only hear back from less than 10% of the individuals you reach out to - don’t get discouraged and keep going

There you have it, soccer friends.

You now have a top-notch LinkedIn profile, you’ve learned the art of posting and commenting, and you’ve mastered your cold outreach. You’re well on your way to standing out and making a name for yourself in the soccer industry.

Go get ‘em!

NEW SOCCER JOBS

ICYMI: MUST-READ ARTICLES

📰 Feeling behind the times? Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us from time to time. Let us help you keep up with the latest headlines around soccer in America.

ALSO…

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SEE YOU SOON, SOCCER FRIENDS