⚽️ ISSUE 001: So, you want to work in soccer?

Total read time: 8 minutes

IN THIS ISSUE [001]

• 🤝 Introduction: Welcome to Pathway!

• 🤩 A Special Offer: 20% off at WorldSoccerShop

• 👨‍🎓 Soccer Thought Leaders: Meg Patten of the Washington Spirit

• ⚽️ Soccer Jobs: The most interesting new jobs in soccer

• 🫵 Do This Now: Improve your LinkedIn profile with this one tip

🤝 INTRODUCTION: Welcome to Pathway!

Hello! I’m Kyle Sheldon (@kylesheldon), one of three co-founders at Pathway, and I’m thrilled to be sharing the inaugural edition of the Pathway Newsletter.

Our aim is for this to become the one-stop, must-have, here-to-help newsletter for those who want to break into or build a career in soccer. Every Wednesday, we’re going to drop one of these beauties in your inbox. And our commitment to you is that there will always - always! - be something you can immediately take and use from each issue.

The Pathway leadership team has more than 40 years of experience working in American soccer and we want to pass some of that experience and knowledge on to others who love the game. We hope you’ll stick around. And if you like what you see, forward it to a footy-loving friend!

If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover or someone you’d like to hear from, please drop us a note - we’d love to hear from you: [email protected] 

Welcome to Pathway.

👨‍🎓 SOCCER THOUGHT LEADERS: The Washington Spirit’s Head of Brand, Meg Patten

“Being able to roll up your sleeves and being able to do a lot of different jobs is really an important skill.”

Meg Patten knows what it’s like to wear a lot of hats. The Head of Brand Marketing at Washington Spirit, Meg is as likely to be sitting in a strategy meeting with the executive team as she is running around Audi Field with three different cameras in tow (seriously - and one of them is a Polaroid camera!) documenting the Spirit’s world-class players.

A former collegiate soccer player herself - a goalkeeper at NYU - Meg came back to soccer earlier this year after several years outside the sport working in media and television (FOX), in the agency world (Deeplocal) and in the blockchain space (Dapper Labs). She worked on sports properties like the NBA, NFL, and UFC, among others before making the move back to her favorite sport. ⚽️

Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

PATHWAY: Meg, you joined the Washington Spirit in the early stages of an ownership change and what seems to be a reinvention of the club. How would you describe the club’s evolving culture and why are you optimistic about the future of the Spirit?

MEG: Our owner Michelle Kang and her vision for the club is a big reason why I was attracted to moving to DC and to this club in particular. From the jump, in my first interview, I was told this is going to be a culture of high performance. And she wants the team and organization to be a preeminent global sports organization. Culturally speaking, she wants to win. I'm competitive, so I was very much attracted to that. Building a culture of high performance, holding ourselves accountable, pushing boundaries, failing fast, having fun while doing it is really part of our Spirit culture and we’re continuously building on that.

PATHWAY: You have a deep background in the sport of soccer and have had the benefit of working both inside and outside the sport. What do you view as some of the more important skills or experiences now that you’re back in soccer?

MEG: I think number one thing, generally speaking - and something I think my dad and mom would want me to say because they pounded it into my head as a kid - is being humble and kind. That’s number one.

Sports can also really be a lot like startups - where I've also spent a fair bit of my career being sports adjacent - and having to roll up your sleeves and having to wear many hats is very appealing to me. When you work in soccer, you might have a smaller department than if you're coming from any other [professional] world. Our team at the Spirit is small and nimble, so being able to roll up your sleeves and being able to do a lot of different jobs is really an important skill.

And then, generally speaking, building relationships in sports is very important, and I cannot overstate that enough. The sports industry is small, but what I've come to find out is the soccer industry is even smaller. Surprise, surprise! Everyone knows everyone. So be nice to people, work hard, and everything else will follow because the only thing you have to your name is your reputation.

PATHWAY: Thinking about the hiring process, as you evaluate a candidate before the first interview, what are you looking at in terms of their resume, their references, their cover letter, their LinkedIn profile, and social channels?

MEG: The best piece of advice I've ever gotten is to customize your resume for the job that you are applying for. Look at the job description, look at your resume, and then customize it for the job. Number two, you're going to write a cover letter and it's probably going to go into Teamwork Online and it's going to be lost. But, if you can seek out the hiring manager and send them a quick note to say “Hey, I saw you're the hiring manager for this job. I'd really love an interview” I can then go in and let my HR team to let them know this person has initiative, which is really big in sports. I get hundreds of emails a day, so that extra effort or initiative just goes so far. 

What I also do is I go on LinkedIn, I check to see how much work have they put into their LinkedIn profile. I hire both tactical executional roles like marketing, web and email and then I also hire creative roles. So photographers, videographers, social teams so if you don't have a portfolio, I highly recommend getting your portfolio put together. Whether it's a Gondola account or a personal website showing that you have initiative to put your work together in a concise and easy to digest way is really great. 

And then clean up your social profiles. I don't care about you going out, but I do care about what you are putting out on X [formerly Twitter]. Are your accounts private? That's okay, too, just know that we [hiring managers] are looking at your social profiles and we're not just looking at your posts, we're looking holistically - what are they saying about other clubs? Are you making disparaging remarks? We want to make sure every person is a culture fit because we know that skills can be taught, but culture is more of how you handle yourself as a person.

PATHWAY: Thanks, Meg!

Ed. Note: You can follow Meg on X [Twitter!] and connect with her on LinkedIn, too.

Go work with Meg! Here are a few current Washington Spirit job openings:

• Sr. Manager, Partnership Activations

• Manager, Group Sales

• Physical Therapist

• Head Coach (seriously!)

👥 PATHWAY MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITY

Meg Patten has also generously offered to make herself available for three individual mentorship sessions next week.

If you’re interested in speaking with Meg directly, click here to learn how you might be able to secure 1-on-1 time with one of the nicest gals in the industry.

⚽️ SOCCER JOBS: The most interesting new jobs in soccer

You can’t land your dream job if you don’t apply! Here are a handful of the more interesting jobs in soccer that have recently been posted. Click each job title if you fancy throwing your hat in the ring. Good luck.

• Director, Public Relations - Bay FC [NWSL]

• Lead Performance Coach - OL Reign [NWSL]

• Director, Marketing - USL Super League [USL]

• Senior Manager, Soccer Marketing - Puma [Brand]

• Digital Specialist, Global Soccer - SPORTFIVE [Agency]

• Director, Venue Operations - FIFA 2026 World Cup [FIFA]

• Coordinator, Social Media - FC Tulsa [USL Championship]

• Sr. Director, Partnership Activation - Inter Miami CF [MLS]

• Motion Artist/Graphic Designer - Major League Soccer [MLS]

🫵 DO THIS NOW: Improve your LinkedIn profile immediately with this tip

It’s simple, really, 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!):

• Greg Lalas - CMO, United Soccer League

• Ana Rincón - Media Partnerships, U.S. Soccer

• Rodney Wallace - Director, Views Football Club

Now, go update that profile headline.

👋 When you’re ready, here are a few ways we can help you:

1. If this email was forwarded to you, you can sign up here to ensure you get every issue (sent on Wednesdays!) directly in your inbox.

2. And, if you’re a club or brand looking to hire the most ambitious talent in soccer, drop us a line and we can tell you about our process, our growing talent pool, and the services we offer.

🙏 Tell a friend?

⏩ Finally, if you found this issue helpful would you be so kind as to do us a favor? Forward it along to a friend or two who also love the beautiful game. It’s the number one way people find us and it’s a massive help. Thank you!

And if you really want to plug in to all things Pathway, you can also follow us on social media:

• Twitter / X

• Instagram

• LinkedIn

That’s it for the first-ever issue of Pathway. If you’ve made it this far, you’re by far our favorite reader of all time.

See you next week, soccer friends. 👋

• Kyle Sheldon

• John Bello

• Nolan Sheldon