Career's for Officiating

[BEAREF]

work enough games and who needs another career

[btaylor64]

I guess since you are finishing up school (great accomplishment) you are real young, go after this if it is the dream job that you wish to have. Very few people have their dream job and love what they do for a living. Doing what you absolutely have a passion for means you really never have to "work" another day of your life. If this (officiating) is your passion then I say chase your dream till you can't chase it anymore. Really and truly though there are only a couple of ways to make officiating a true living. You either have to be in the top 5% of officials in America working at least 50 D1 games a year. The killer there, is the only way you get a pay increase is to get more games and even then you are going to flatline and make the same pay. The other option is to try and make it to the NBA. there you get an increase in pay every year of experience you get. You get benefits. If you make the playoffs, you get a big bump in pay in the playoffs, whereas you make less per game in the NCAA tournament than you would if you worked an ACC game. Those are your two options but if you are truly passionate about this profession then go attack it with all you got. Good luck.

[NCHSAA]

Originally Posted by btaylor64

I guess since you are finishing up school (great accomplishment) you are real young, go after this if it is the dream job that you wish to have. Very few people have their dream job and love what they do for a living. Doing what you absolutely have a passion for means you really never have to "work" another day of your life. If this (officiating) is your passion then I say chase your dream till you can't chase it anymore. Really and truly though there are only a couple of ways to make officiating a true living. You either have to be in the top 5% of officials in America working at least 50 D1 games a year. The killer there, is the only way you get a pay increase is to get more games and even then you are going to flatline and make the same pay. The other option is to try and make it to the NBA. there you get an increase in pay every year of experience you get. You get benefits. If you make the playoffs, you get a big bump in pay in the playoffs, whereas you make less per game in the NCAA tournament than you would if you worked an ACC game. Those are your two options but if you are truly passionate about this profession then go attack it with all you got. Good luck.

I would love to go either way. It is what I think about constantly, besides all of my school work.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by NCHSAA

I would love to go either way. It is what I think about constantly.....

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Tio]

I think it is great that you love to ref. I would advise you to think about the following. If you plan on getting married this could change your priorties. If you plan on having kids, this WILL change your priorities.

In either case, you will need a job to support a family other than officiating. Like previous posters mentioned, there are many qualified refs fighting to get in. It is extremely competititive....and often based on geography and other factors 100% out of your control.

Ok.. now that the disclaimer is out of the way, any job where you can set your own hours would be ideal. There are a lot of teachers who officiate, but this career can become problematic once you start travelling for games with the limited amount of time off you get while school is in session.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Tio

I think it is great that you love to ref. I would advise you to think about the following. If you plan on getting married this could change your priorties. If you plan on having kids, this WILL change your priorities.

In either case, you will need a job to support a family other than officiating. Like previous posters mentioned, there are many qualified refs fighting to get in. It is extremely competititive....and often based on geography and other factors 100% out of your control.

There are a lot of people that work games that have a family and they work more than I do and I am single with no children. So marriage and children do not have to do anything to their goals in officiating. I have worked 3 sports and I work less than most that have children and a wife/husband. I know officials that their spouse is every bit of supportive and helpful to their officiating goals.

Bottom line goals in life change and should change. But that does not mean they will drastically change. When you leave college there are a whole bunch of things that could happen that would and could change what someone will do in officiating. He could move to a completely different area that might make moving to the D1 level harder or easier. All I can add to this is when you find a job that is the first thing you will have to decide. The other things are not necessarily things that will happen in his life to change what he wants to do.

Peace

[Rich]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

There are a lot of people that work games that have a family and they work more than I do and I am single with no children. So marriage and children do not have to do anything to their goals in officiating. I have worked 3 sports and I work less than most that have children and a wife/husband. I know officials that their spouse is every bit of supportive and helpful to their officiating goals.
Peace

I am (somewhat) envied among my small group of officials for having such a supporting wife. I work about 60 HS/Juco basketball dates, 30 FB dates, and probably 60-80 baseball dates over the course of a calendar year. My wife supports me mainly by knowing that my officiating is simply something that I do and she understands that it's an important part of my life.

I do have a career that has helped (lately) more than hurt. While I have to travel occasionally and I turn games back when I do, when I'm home I work from a home office and essentially choose my own hours. I didn't get such flexibility until I was well into my career, though.

The best careers for officiating seem to be careers where you either own your own business (independent insurance agent seems to be popular) or are judged more by results than hours sitting in a chair (sales).

OP: A college student should know how to use apostrophes better, BTW. See greengrocer's apostrophe here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe

[jophyal]

Originally Posted by NCHSAA

I would love to go either way. It is what I think about constantly, besides all of my school work.

I teach and it allows me to do 3 sports.

You don't think about girls??? My thinking was; Girls, Sports, Girls, School, Girls...
Good Luck no matter what you choose. Just graduate.

[doubleringer]

Originally Posted by Welpe

One thing I will say, I'd be hesitant to pick a career soley to fit around officiating. Make no mistake, I enjoy officiating quite a bit and I understand your goal is to move up but there is no guarantee that you will (injury, etc). A career is something you'll have for decades, and is something you will spend a good part of your life doing. It should be something that you enjoy and that can put food on your table.

For me personally, I'm at the point where I'd rather have a career I enjoy but which limits my officiating.

The choice is ultimately yours, but it's something I encourage you to think about.

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Also, I make it a practice to be very upfront with employers about my commitments to officiating every season. I would do the same during an interview. It will help you out with some employers, but may hurt you with others, but to me, you're better off being honest and upfront about it.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by doubleringer

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Also, I make it a practice to be very upfront with employers about my commitments to officiating every season. I would do the same during an interview. It will help you out with some employers, but may hurt you with others, but to me, you're better off being honest and upfront about it.

Officiating doesn't pay the bills for most people. At some point, you'll have to worry about paying rent or a mortgage and I know my officiating income wouldn't come close to covering even this expense and doesn't pay anything near what my day job pays.

I'm not sure that an interview is a place, especially in this economy (I know I'm using a cliche here, but there is truth to it) where you give excuses to why you won't be able to work at certain times for a company. It's a matter of give and take. You'll be able to officiate with a job, but maybe not the same number of days a week you can while you're in school. When I thought about changing jobs 7 years ago, I did bring it up -- mainly because I wasn't sold on the idea of moving to a new job *and* because I already had a good job (albeit with some problems at the time).

The best jobs for officials (at the HS level) are ones where work starts early in the day and finishes early in the day. Teaching is a good example. I worked with a prison guard last week. Many white collar jobs, however, have higher expectations for employees and until you prove you're a valued (and hard-to-replace) employee, you'll probably have to be a lot more flexible than your employer.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Officiating doesn't pay the bills for most people. At some point, you'll have to worry about paying rent or a mortgage and I know my officiating income wouldn't come close to covering even this expense and doesn't pay anything near what my day job pays.

I'm not sure that an interview is a place, especially in this economy (I know I'm using a cliche here, but there is truth to it) where you give excuses to why you won't be able to work at certain times for a company. It's a matter of give and take. You'll be able to officiate with a job, but maybe not the same number of days a week you can while you're in school. When I thought about changing jobs 7 years ago, I did bring it up -- mainly because I wasn't sold on the idea of moving to a new job *and* because I already had a good job (albeit with some problems at the time).

You need to know as much about a job as possible. Maybe you do not bring up the situation directly with officiating, but I would want to know where I have to go everyday and what kind of travel. Around here the commute is a big thing so you may get a job but have to go an hour in traffic. I have even had jobs ask me did that bother me in the interview process. I think you need to know what a typical work week is like and what kind of responsibilities you have to do. This would be important if you had children and this should be the case if you have other responsibilities or commitments.

At the end of the day these things are personal. Someone just getting out of school is going to be in a completely different situation as someone that has been in a career or had a regular job for years. And certainly will have a different set of bills compared to someone that has a family. There are a lot of things to consider when interviewing and taking a job. Officiating is just one part of that. I think you should want a job where you are happy, not working a job where you are miserable. Officiating or not officiating might play a role in that for some people.

Peace

[Adam]

I've always brought it up in interviews, and mentioned the caveat "if my schedule allows." It normally comes up when discussing personal interests or life experiences.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

I've always brought it up in interviews, and mentioned the caveat "if my schedule allows." It normally comes up when discussing personal interests or life experiences.

I treat this as a business so it is on my applications/résumé and it tends to be a huge topic of conversation as the interviewers in my experience brings it up.

Peace

[Tio]

It comes down to your personal choices. The money in officiating isn't that good unless you make it to the top. I've seen a lot of peers put all their eggs in the officiating basket and end up unhappy with no career or quality relationships outside of the game.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I treat this as a business so it is on my applications/résumé and it tends to be a huge topic of conversation as the interviewers in my experience brings it up.

Peace

Same here. I usually discuss officiating during interviews asking about dealing with stressful situations or resolving conflict.