IN THIS ISSUE

• 🤝 Introduction: A shout-out to Name & Number

• 👨‍🎓 Soccer Thought Leaders: James Armold of D.C. United

• 👥 Mentorship Opportunity: 1-on-1 with James Armold

• ⚽️ Soccer Jobs: A few new soccer jobs in North America

• 🫵 Do This Now: Nail the first impression

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, Pathwayers!

In today’s newsletter, we share an interview with D.C. United’s James Armold - we cover his approach to building a career, what qualities he believes are most valuable to have within your team, and how D.C. United evaluates and retains talent within the ticketing team. James is a thoughtful, humble, and forward-thinking leader - which is why we’re so happy to have him as this week’s Pathway Soccer Thought Leader.

In the ‘Do This Now’ section, we provide a Pathway resource to better prepare you for your next virtual interview - every detail matters, so we focus in on how to make the best impression within the first 90 seconds of the interview.

And, a shout out to fellow Pathway Co-Founder Kyle Sheldon who shared some big news earlier this week regarding his marketing and creative agency, Name & Number - check out the write up in Sports Business Journal and a few announcements on social. Big things happening at Name & Number, y’all.

Enjoy the newsletter and write to us; we’d love to hear from you.

-Nolan Sheldon, Co-Founder & CXO

SOCCER THOUGHT LEADER: JAMES ARMOLD OF D.C. UNITED

“Anyone we bring in, we want them to come in and push us to be better”

James Armold has been a mainstay in D.C. United’s front office for 12+ years.

Throughout his time with the club, James has grown into a core member of the D.C. United leadership team, currently serving as the club’s Senior Vice President of Ticket Sales & Service.

James is refreshingly down to earth. He is a people person and a dynamic, thoughtful, and confident leader.

In our conversation, James shares his approach to building a career day after day, which is rooted in the benefit of a solid day’s work and how consistency leads to building a long and fruitful career.

James also shares his approach to leadership, team building and, lastly, what he believes are the qualities that really separate the high performer from the crowd.

We hope you enjoy!

-Nolan Sheldon, Co-Founder & CXO

Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity (and any emphasis below is ours, fyi!)

PATHWAY: You’re currently one of the longest tenured employees at D.C. United, with more than 12 years of service to the club - what has your approach to career growth been throughout that period?

JAMES ARMOLD: I think my north star, which got hammered into me early on in my life, I guess from my parents, but also then transpired into my career, is my barometer with everything I do is people first.

Simply, do I feel that I am working with a group of great people that not just make me better, that I can help make better - all the change and transition we've seen at D.C. United over the last 12 and a half years, I've probably worked with hundreds of people at this point in time, but at the core of it, I've always had a good group of people working alongside and above me that helped make me better on the day to day. And I would attribute a majority of my success to that, being able to do that. 

And then the other piece is just the work itself. Make the best of every work opportunity. You could look at it at a surface level and say, I'm just selling tickets for D.C. United, but what is at the core of what you're actually doing on a day to day? And then continuing to challenge yourself to do more, take on more experiences, more responsibility to make an impact. 

My approach is focused on putting in a solid day - if I can put together a solid day, that then turns into a solid week, solid month, and solid year. And then it's really just like one foot in front of the other. ‘Cause I think sometimes, and I can be guilty of this, as well, people can get lost if they’re trying to think of where they’re going to be in 10 years, they’re going to miss out on the opportunity they have today. And if you can continue to build on successful days, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised where you land in the end, while not missing out on being in the present.

PATHWAY: Talk a little bit about the transition from being a part of the team to leading the team. I'm sure when that first promotion happened for you, when you went from being part of the sales group to leading the sales group, there were probably a few days that really challenged you as a leader, a manager, and a communicator - could you talk about what you learned from that transition?

JAMES ARMOLD: Yeah, it's definitely interesting because of my trajectory at D.C. United - every promotion or role that I've taken on has expanded my purview within our department. I've had to then go into a direct supervisory and leadership role of people that the day before I was working alongside of. So, I think the one thing that I struggled with, out of the gate, is just confidence in myself and my ability; just knowing I can do a good job. 

As for leadership style, and I think the part that is really, really fun over time is finding your voice and how you want to be as a leader. And mine has evolved and shaped over time. 

One part of it is the soft skills - who you are as a person, your upbringing, and things like that - another piece is the type of investment you make in people and the value of being consistent - being consistent in how you show up on the day to day with your voice and being true and genuine to yourself.

And then the other piece is just the conceptual, the actual ticket strategy. And I think that's grown over time. But if you were to tell me what the most important thing in my role is, it's the investment in the people - the environment you create, how are you coaching and growing them, and how are you putting them in a position to grow personally and professionally, that's always gonna be 1A; and 1B is the tactical stuff of how we're gonna get there. I think if you create that environment and create a good learning environment for your staff, all the X's and O's really just take care of themselves.

PATHWAY: What is an organization’s strategy or responsibility for retaining talent? How do you build and retain the highest level team in the club year after year?

JAMES ARMOLD: I think we're all looking for that answer. But I would say if I have to look at the track record of D.C. United, I'd say we've been very, very successful in that. And I'll speak specifically to our ticketing department - retention is about creating an environment where people feel safe to come in, take risks, do the work, but also support others at the same time. Do they have the tools to be successful? Do they have an open sounding board to us as a back and forth to help nurture and grow them on the day to day? And then at the core, that's just building trust over time.

‘Cause I firmly believe our department and organization is a living and breathing thing. So, the hardest thing we have as leadership is continuing to understand the state of it all and try to get out in front of where we're going - if you just stay stagnant and say, “okay, this is our approach” and it stays as your approach year over year, you're just going to turn people away cause you're not evolving with the group that you have. Our environment is shaped by the people that are sitting in the seats. It's not shaped by us.

PATHWAY: Think about the highest performer within the sales team. What separates them? What are they doing that nobody else is doing?

JAMES ARMOLD: There are two things that come to mind. In general, it's being inquisitive and having intellectual curiosity - take it one step further, always ask that critical, challenging question, not just to a fan to better understand them, but of our business practices. Why are we doing what we're doing? How can we approach things better? 

And then the other one is just being solution-orientated - seeking to solve problems on your own rather than seeking it from others. Obviously, there will be certain things where you will need a second person or need advice, but we value people who are actively trying to work through things on their own. 

PATHWAY: As you think about an entry-level position within the club and you're reviewing a pool of candidates, what are the top qualities that you assess and look for? 

JAMES ARMOLD: The interview process is challenging, but the things that we try to bring out are their curiosity for the role or their ability to do the job at a high level.  Being solutions-oriented is really important to us. We ask a good amount of scenario-based questions. We want individuals who are able to reflect. That quality gives us a sound baseline.

We want them to question what we're doing. We want them to challenge us. This perspective has shifted over the last few years for me because it's becoming a lot more of an expectation - anyone we bring in, we want them to come in and push us to be better. I want you to come in and help make us a better team. Cause everybody that we bring in, that's the expectation is you to raise the collective ceiling of our group on the day to day. And that's what we ask and the rest takes care of itself.

PATHWAY: Final question. What's your favorite thing about working in soccer?

JAMES ARMOLD: I'm always continually refreshed at just the amount of good people working in the space. Not just with the fans that come out, but industry professionals. Part of my job now is to help secure the international opponents who come in and play us on a yearly basis. And there's just a level of gratitude even from likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, and Bayern Munichs of the world - there is respect regardless of what level you're in - it's just really, really cool that we're all in it together looking to grow it in whatever capacity. So I'd say that's my favorite thing is there's just a lot of good people working in it. And in my day to day, I just continue to be reminded of that, which always makes it fun.

Ed. Note: You can connect with James on LinkedIn.

PATHWAY MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITY: 1-ON-1 WITH JAMES ARMOLD

James has generously offered to conduct two (2) 1-on-1 mentorship sessions in the coming weeks. If you’re interested in speaking with James directly, click below to raise your hand for the opportunity. 🙋

• PATHWAY MENTORSHIP APPLICATION: James Armold, D.C. United

SOCCER JOBS: THE MOST INTERESTING NEW JOBS IN SOCCER

New soccer jobs get posted every week and we like to highlight a few of the roles that stand out to us. We’ll do that… now. ⬇️

• Account Executive - AV Alta FC

• Coordinator, Competition & Team Services (Leagues Cup) - MLS

• Manager, Youth National Teams - US Soccer

• Goalkeeper Coach - Dallas Trinity FC

• Manager, Game Day Operations - NJ/NY Gotham

• Assistant Coach - DC Power FC

DO THIS NOW: NAIL THE FIRST 90 SECONDS OF YOUR NEXT INTERVIEW

At Pathway, we’ve recently conducted a series of first and second-round virtual interviews through our hiring collaborations, allowing us to observe a wide range of candidates making first impressions.

One common theme has emerged in our reflections on these conversations - The initial moments of an interview are pivotal to establishing a first impression that can carry through the entire decision-making process. 

Why the first 90 seconds matter

The first 90 seconds of an interview set the stage for the rest of the conversation. This brief window is your opportunity to make a lasting impression, establish rapport, and communicate key themes about yourself succinctly. This is when the interviewer will form an initial opinion of you, which can influence their perception throughout the rest of the interview. 

Be ready to tell your story

Most first-round conversations will be conducted by a team member before moving on to interviews with senior leadership. With that in mind, your goal in the initial phase of an interview is to convey a compelling narrative about yourself that the interviewer can easily share with other decision-makers. This story should capture your professional background, key achievements, and why you’re an ideal fit for the role. 

To help you out, we’ve created a checklist to help ensure you are well-prepared and make the most of those first 90 seconds.

• PATHWAY RESOURCE: Virtual Interview Preparation Checklist

We hope this list will serve as a resource to help you prepare and crush your upcoming interviews.

Let us know what you think - If there are other things we should consider, send us a recommendation: [email protected]

-John Bello, Founder & COO

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. You can subscribe to our Pathway Jobs Newsletter, which hits inboxes every Friday and lists as many new soccer jobs in North America as we can find (usually 80+ per issue!).

3. 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.

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^{See you next week, soccer friends!} 

• John Bello

• Kyle Sheldon

• Nolan Sheldon