14 
Taylor Grey Meyer, a 31-year-old resident of Coronado, Calif., who is a published writer, a licensed pilot, and has completed a master’s degree in sports commerce wanted to work for the San Diego Padres. So much in fact that she applied over 30 times by her own estimates.
In March she even tried for entry level into the organization – a minimum-wage job selling tickets at Petco Park. This was the response she got back the team:
We want to thank you for your interest in the above mentioned position. We had many fine applicants for the position, including you. However, we have filled the position with someone whose background and credentials we feel best meet our needs at this time. We welcome you to apply for any future positions we have available that match your skills and experience.
Sincerely,
The Hiring Manager for the “Ticket Seller – San Diego Padres (San Diego, CA)” MLB Baseball Jobs
By that point she had given up on the dream and never expected to hear from them again. But last week an e-mail from team arrived:
On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 10:09 AM, <[Redacted]@padres.com> wrote
Hi Taylor,
I wanted to reach out to you as you had previously applied for a position here with the Padres to join our Inside Sales Program. While it may not have been a fit at the time, we appreciate your interest in the position and encourage you to pursue your dream of working in professional sports.
With that being said, I wanted to make sure you are aware of an opportunity to get your start and to pursue a career in sports. Dr. Bill Sutton, author of Sports Marketing, has asked our organization to host the Sports Sales Combine here at Petco Park on September 14-15. It will be the first ever West Coast Combine! As a Combine attendee you would have the opportunity to spend quality time with the hiring managers for multiple teams from different leagues across the country.
Job seekers like you have found this to be the most authentic training and networking experience available. The sales managers who join us claim the Combine is the best recruiting tool for them. Having been to multiple combines myself, and hired numerous people from the events, I could think of NO better way to get a start in the sport industry. This event could change your whole career. I know it changed the lives of some of my staff.
Please note that this is NOT a job fair where participants spend a few minutes speaking with prospective employers. Over the two-day event, participants receive high-quality, one-on-one training from attending sales coaches and several unique opportunities to demonstrate their skills in addition to the hours spent with attending managers. You will have a chance to showcase your sales leadership skills as well.
We anticipate attending sales managers will be looking to fill 50+ jobs at the Combine. Teams from the MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, MLS and college athletics all use the combine as a key source to find talent for their organizations. This is your chance to make an impression on ALL of them in one weekend. Also, what better place to network and learn for a weekend than San Diego, CA?
Taylor, as we look for the best young talent from across the country we wanted to make sure you were aware of the opportunity. You can find the combine application at Teamwork Online through the link below. I’ve also included a link to the Sports Sales Combine website.
http://www.sportsalescombine.com/
Combine Description and Application
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me should you have any questions about this special event.
All the Best, [Redacted]
The offer is exactly what it sounds like – a $495 admission to a job fair where she would get a few miuntes in front of a low level HR person affiliated a major league team. The same exact opportunity as several hundred (thousand?) other starving applicants willing to shell out the cash.
Sometimes, things just push you over the edge. Here’s what Meyer wrote back:
On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 11:56 AM, Taylor Grey Meyer <[Redacted]@gmail.com> wrote
Hi [Redacted],
I wanted to thank you for reaching out to me when thinking of ways to meet your quota for the Sports Sales Combine.
After careful review I must decline. I realize I may be burning a bridge here, but in the spirit of reciprocity, I would like to extend you a counter-offer to suck my dick. Clearly, I don’t have one of these, so my offer makes about as much sense as yours. But for the price you’re charging to attend the event, I’m sure I would have no problem borrowing one.
Managers like you have found this to be the most authentic training available. Real, hands-on experience getting you on your way to perfecting the techniques you will need to climb the corporate ladder. In these tough economic times, it’s always good to widen your skill set.
Let’s talk about why I wasn’t a good fit with your organization. Was it my extensive education that made me less of a fit, that now paying $500 will allow me to overcome? My graduate work in sports commerce? Being a law student, working toward becoming an agent? Was it my past experience overseeing the execution of national and international events? Wait, I know, maybe it was my previous internship with Major League Soccer, and that I actually got my “start” in professional sports at the age of 15 when I volunteered at a minor league ballpark in my hometown. And given all that, I chose to apply with the Padres, at least 30 times since moving to San Diego. Persevering through countless anonymous email rejections, I continued to submit my resume despite never even being granted the courtesy of a face-to-face interview. All for the joy of making $30K a year. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m not the best fit for your company. But here’s a nice fit, my foot in your ass.
All the best,
Taylor
Someone in the Padres office forwarded her response and four days later, Meyer’s letter has been shared in sales offices across pro sports. Her letter to the Padres has already gone viral (though she says she hasn’t gotten any job offers as a result). According to Deadspin, her letter has been forwarded to the sales divisions at the following professional sports teams: the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Lake Erie Monsters, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the New York Yankees, the Houston Astros, the Houston Dynamo, the Miami Marlins, the Miami Dolphins, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the New York Mets, FC Dallas, the Washington Nationals, the Baltimore Orioles, the Minnesota Vikings, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Cleveland Gladiators, the Dayton Dragons and the Kansas City Chiefs .
Meyer says she has been out of work for 10 months, and dropped out of law school in July because the loans simply weren’t enough to live on. She’s been sleeping on a friend’s couch since then, and applied to fast food restaurants and chain stores, only to be told she’s overqualified.
Meyer’s rejection is being appreciated by some members of the Padres organization. One employee found Meyer’s response downright amusing.
“Taylor’s letter was too incredible for anyone to get offended,” said the Padres worker, who didn’t want to be named. “I’m more impressed than angry.”
14 Responses to “Here’s my Counter Offer; “Suck My Dick” – One Girls Story of trying to work in Professional Sports”
Sur Platonic Plateau Du Tecnocrats, B.R.A., D.J.D. upon Rookness.
The Padres?
Perhaps if her last name was a little different, such as (Soto)Mayor.
This applicant probably just wasn’t “wise” enough.
It does require “richness of experience” for such organizations.
kcscott
After submitting applications 30 times without even a phone screen, she’d need to be named Kroc or Jenna Jameson to get an interview
ultramarine
Sounds like she over-reacted, and also took the wrong approach for getting the job she wanted with the team.
Instead she should have tried networking or socializing with others who know important people that work for the organization.
Getting into an organization like the Padres, in some significant role, is going to require someone to know about you already before the application and interview process.
I can understand her frustration, but in a social field like sports it’s going to take more work to get ahead than just being persistent at submitting your resume.
kcscott
The networking idea is a good thought, but in real life application how can that work?
If she researches and friends Padres staff on FB or LNKD does that mean they’ll give her resume a 2nd look?
If she invites them out for drinks or socialize doesn’t that either look way too obvious, or stalker like or get her the wrong kind of “interview”
ultramarine
Well, with networking the approach has to be indirect. You have to get involved with people who know them and meet in social settings, either gatherings at someone’s place (parties, BBQing, etc.) or charity events.
LNKD is not a bad way to track 2nd or 3rd level connections. Perhaps target those and get to know them better on a social basis, then perhaps you can meet the 2nd to first level connections during social outings (if the opportunity arises).
Or, see what sports marketing or media companies that the Padres do business with and try to get a job with that partner company. From after working a while there you will have opportunity to meet people at the Padre’s organization directly.
Those type of companies should be simple to find on the internet of they list the Padres as one of their clients.
ultramarine
Obviously, if you manage to meet some of the Padre’s staff, one doesn’t start hitting them up for a job immediately. Try to keep the meeting professional and social, so you become a familiar face if you meet them again at future social activities. Once they know you and are comfortable then the discussions can lead to career and opportunities at their organization, see if the conversation can lead to a serious job opportunity.
ChrisBrown
ultramarine knows what he’s talking about. The Padre’s as an organization is a high-level target and much be approached as such. Indirect approach’s and finding a ‘side door’ are the only effective ways of breaking into the field. I have several high value friends and they were ALL approached indirectly.
It’s game theory. Good words ultra
Arctic Gambino
If she’s willing to come to Canada I’d hire her as an assistant. Pay would be more than anything she’d get at a fast food restaurant, but not too much. Gambino doesn’t like to share.
kunal00
come on anant. we all know indian people are way to cheap for that. i would know!
winescale
Intriguing. While I would have never put a letter like that in print, we all have been there at one point of another.
kunal00
This chick rules. What a sad state of affairs that in this country we get educated, young, persistent people and they are looking for fast food jobs
MX2101
Perhaps they are looking for an employee with more personality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewt3UngxgZw&feature=relmfu
rhino
You ain’t getting a job on a major league team without knowing or sucking someone. Fact.
flyaway18
In general, it’s tough breaking into most sports-related fields, man or woman, and “knowing someone” or, in my case, being in the right place at the right time, is always helpful.
Back in the early 1980s, after I graduated college with a BA degree in journalism, I worked small jobs as a sports writer for several small daily papers and even weeklies in the Boston area. Starting pay, $35 a story as I was termed a stringer. My dream had always been to write for the Boston Globe, the hometown paper I’d grown up reading. I sent my resume to then sports eidtor Vince Doria. I never heard from him, but a few months later, a man named Jim Hodges called me, from The New London Day Newspaper in CT. He was a friend of Vince’s and he was looking for a sportwriter and Vince had given him my name and resume. I was hired and that was the start of an almost 20-year writing career that included covering professional and college sports.