My experience and observations closely mirror Jay R's. I have had a very positive experience working for just one or two assigners who assign lots of schools and leagues. But, if that's the system you're working under, you need to be smart about managing your relationship with that assigner. (Who was it that said, "Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket."?)
Here are some observations and advice from my experience with such assigners.
* Observation: Building a schedule is more complex than it appears. Advice: Talk with a few veterans in your area and ask them about the ins and outs of exactly how things work.
* Observation: Assigners, like most folks, prefer people they know and trust. Advice: Meet the assigner ASAP. He needs to put a face with the name. Make a good first impression.
* Observation: Assigners believe the evil you know is better than the evil you don't. Advice: Get seen ASAP. There will be a small number of "right people" who need to see you in order for you to work and move up. One of those will be the assigner. Find out how you can work in front of him, so he can make an informed assessment of your abilities. Assume your first few partners will have been asked to give feedback on you to the assigner. The officials on games following yours may also provide the assigner feedback on you. Don't let that get in your head, but be aware of it.
* Observation: All assigners have their likes and dislikes, and preferred ways of working. Advice: Find out how your assigner likes to work. Does he prefer to communicate via phone calls, emails, IMs, text messages? When is the best time to call if you need to? What are his pet peeves and hot buttons? What does he like?
* Observation: Assigners want to accomplish the greatest amount of work (i.e., covering games) with the least amount of work (i.e., phone calls). They hate doing work twice. Advice: If he's using the Arbiter, get your block calendar filled in early and keep it up to date. You want every experience your assigner has with you to be a positive one for him. Declining or turning back games because of conflicts you knew existed, can only hurt you.
* Observation: An unavailable official is useless to an assigner. Advice: Be available as much as possible. Be most available when your assigner needs help the most.
* Observation: You cannot control the assignments, only your response to them. Advice: Accept that your assigned schedule, as a newbie, will be fairly light. Normally the bulk of a rookie's schedule will comes from "turn backs". But in these challenging times, don't expect many of those either. After all your hard work, enthusiasm and anticipation, that can be very disappointing. But remember you are in this for the long haul. Be grateful for what you get and maintain a positive attitude. Work to improve your schedule every year.
* Observation: The less notice your assigner has, the harder it is to fill an assignment. Advice: Your assigner has an ordered list of the officials most likely to solve his problem on short notice. You want to be on that list. Keep your bag packed and in your car at all times. Let your assigner know that you will go any where, any time, at a moment's notice. Each time you "solve his problem," you inch closer to the top of that list. And a good assigner rewards the guys who save his butt.
*Observation: Assigners don't like "phone calls". Advice: Under other assigning schemes, a bad experience at a school here and there may only cost you games at those schools. Not so in this world: all bad news flows directly to him. Be a problem solver, not a mess maker.
* Observation: Brown stuff is inevitable; surprises are not. Advice: Your assigner is hard pressed to defend you to an irate coach or AD if he gets blindsided and doesn't know your side of the story. Make sure he hears about it from you first.
* Observation: Seasons change, voices carry, and officials have long memories. Advice: If you cannot say something nice about somebody, say nothing and exit the conversation quickly. This is a competitive environment filled with super-sized egos. You don't always know who is listening, who is buddies with whom, or sometimes even who is related to whom. You don't know how many times the hilarious, but unflattering story you are telling right now will be retold, nor to whom. You don't know when your current assigner will take a job out of state and be replaced by ...
Anyway, most of that is just common sense. Good luck with your first season, and with the many to follow.
