CareerAthletes.com - Careers for Athletes, Career Services

CAREER ATHLETES ACHIEVES MAJOR MILESTONE
ADDS MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY AS 100^th SCHOOL PARTNER!

Kansas City, Kan. (June 16, 2010) - Career Athletes recently partnered with its 100^th school partner, Michigan State University, providing exclusive career educational resources and networking opportunities to current and alumni athletes throughout the country. For the last 12 years, Career Athletes has attended more than 700 campuses, educating more than 260,000 student-athletes through on-campus seminars. Now, many of the nation's premier public universities and private colleges are leading the efforts toward career education as a priority in athletic departments by taking part in the online community at Careerathletes.com.

Chris Smith, President/CEO of Career Athletes stated, "Career Athletes is extremely excited to hit a major milestone in partnering with 100 universities across the country. There could not be a finer institution than Michigan State to represent our 100^th partner. More exciting than the growth of Career Athletes is the fact that athletic departments are really taking ownership of the future of their student-athletes well beyond their final playing days. Through the Career Athletes platform, our university partners are able to offer updated, athlete driven career education to their current athletes. Athletic departments can also communicate efficiently with their alumni athletes creating an interactive community in which all members have the ability to make important professional connections and have access to valuable information. It is awesome to see athletic departments investing so much in the success of their student-athletes beyond the playing field!"

As the 100^th school partner, Michigan State joins other national leaders in making career education and networking opportunities for student-athletes a priority. Former football player for Michigan State, LaVaile Richardson utilized Career Athletes to focus on the next step towards his ultimate career goals after graduation. "Career Athletes is a remarkable resource for any current or former collegiate athlete to get noticed for their unique abilities. It helped me to finally break into an industry that has been extremely hard to enter," Richardson explained. "With the help of Career Athletes, I was able to get an interview and I was offered a sales position with an industry leader." Free for all alumni and current student-athletes, Career Athletes provides members the ability to network with over 65,000 athletes from across the country. The online community also provides direct access to thousands of job opportunities with employers who value the traits collegiate athletes learn while competing at such a high level.

Career Athletes partners with a wide variety of institutions from larger Division I schools to small NAIA universities. A few of Career Athletes earlier school partners include Northwest Missouri State University, Kansas State University, University of Missouri and the University of Kansas. Now, with 100 school partners, Career Athletes has expanded past the Midwest to include institutions such as the University of Florida, University of Massachusetts, The Ohio State University, University of Oregon, and many more. Rew Woodruff, Life Skills and Career Counselor for the University of Florida Athletic Department states, "Career Athletes is a fantastic addition to the resources we provide here on campus and will be an invaluable tool to both current athletes as they transition into the working world AND to alumni as they change jobs/careers."

As the exclusive career education provider to the NAIA's 291 institutions and 45,000 student-athletes, Career Athletes brings value to smaller institutions as well. Theresa Yetmar, Associate Athletics Director at Baker University (Kan.), explained, "We are dedicated to providing our student-athletes resources that assist them with the transition into the workforce following graduation. We believe that athletics teaches lessons far beyond the win-loss column. Career Athletes is the perfect tool to allow our student-athletes to translate and leverage what they learn in athletics into tangible skills that are attractive to employers. In addition, we believe this partnership with Career Athletes functions as another way to involve our student-athletes more heavily with our own Career Development Center and engage our alumni. We are excited about the possibilities."

Career Athletes also provides university partners access to hundreds of business organizations nationwide. Kim Martin, Assistant Athletics Director of Life Skills at the University of Missouri states, "Our partnership with Career Athletes has been a phenomenal addition to our Life Skills and career development programming. The Career Athletes' staff has gone above and beyond expectations with their customer service and meeting our needs. We hosted our most successful career fair this past spring and could not have done it without their help recruiting companies to attend!" In working with hundreds of business organizations, Career Athletes is also able to provide an exclusive career board that includes opportunities from internship and entry level all the way to executive level. This online community puts these business organizations in front of the individual members of Career Athletes as well as university partners.

Not only does Career Athletes offer career educational and networking opportunities to individuals signed up in the network, but it allows for university athletic departments to earn additional revenue through the partnership. With the Revenue Share Program, Career Athletes school partners have the ability to refer potential business organizations to sponsor their online network and to utilize career athletes from the organizational standpoint. Michel Bourgeau, Development Officer for the Varsity B Club at Boise State University explains, "The Boise State Varsity B club is already experiencing the advantages of being partnered with Career Athletes. Less than a month into the partnership, we have received additional revenue through sponsorships via the Career Athletes Revenue Share Program. Through the support of various local businesses and our Bronco alumni, the Bronco community continues to place an emphasis on the career development of our current student-athletes, graduating student-athletes and our Bronco alumni. We look forward to fostering additional good working relationships with businesses and alumni to support the Boise State Career Athletes network."

As a member of Career Athletes, you will have access to over 65,000 former student-athletes and over 5,000 nationwide career opportunities. Be part of this exclusive online community, start making connections, and see the results. To create your free account, go to http://www.careerathletes.com/.