We worked with Chad Smith and his team at the Corporate Playbook for the first time this year in conjunction with the NC State Athletic Career Fair. It was an overwhelmingly positive experience. Chad and his team came to Raleigh, NC the morning of the Career Fair to meet with the Managing Partner, Managing Director and myself here at our office. We had a lot of success at the Fair, met a lot of students that could be a great fit for what we do here at Northwestern Mutual. I’ve since met with some of those students and expect a couple will either end up in our summer internship or our full-time process. We would absolutely attend another Fair in the future and recommend Chad and his team to other Northwestern Mutual offices throughout the country.

"I want to thank Corporate Playbook for giving ex-college athletes an opportunity to compete in corporate america. At times, many former athletes are faced with the reality that professional sports is not going to be an option for them. So The Corporate Playbook was here to assist me in competing in the coporate field the same way that I used to compete on the football field, basketball court, etc... The transition from college to corporate america at times can be rough, but ex-athletes need to know that there are avenues out their that will assist them in finding work during these tough economic times. I urge all former college athletes to use The Corporate Playbook as a vehicle in finding work once you are finished with the playing field. Once I personally created a profile with Corporate Playbook, a week and a half later I was signing my offer letter with Cintas. I will be working with Cintas in the capacity of sales and I am very joyful and can not wait to get started. Many companies are looking for former athletes, for we are competitive by nature, and The Corporate Playbook fulfills this niche by placing athletes in top corporate positions. Thank you Corporate playbook for providing this niche :)

Dear Playbook Team:

I have had so many GREAT candidates lately, I am really having a tough time deciding which ones to hire.  You have provided us with tons of great athletes to choose from, I love getting so many great candidates. My interview pool used to be sooo shallow and not near as great as the people you have been sending me!  Thanks so much for all you have done/are doing!  You have been awesome to work with!

"I am a volleyball player at the University of Louisville and I attended the Career Fair you held October 28th last month.  I just thought I would drop you a quick email telling you about the companies I have met with as a result of the Career Fair.  I have met with both Northwestern Mutual (Meredith Haney) and The Guardian (David Hammerstrom).  Both information sessions/interviews went very well and I am interested in a possible internship with either company for this coming summer.  I wanted to thank you for the opportunities you have provided me through the Career Fair you held.  I greatly appreciate it and hope that I will be getting job experience with one of these companies this upcoming summer.  Thanks again".

"The Corporate Playbook has allowed us to move from graduation rates to placement rates with our student-athletes. Get a degree and get a job is part of the road map we put in front of our student-athletes. The career fairs The Corporate Playbook has created are second to none for student-athletes in this country"

"To be involved with The Corporate Playbook in the creation of the Career Center and now seeing the fruit of our labor in successful career placement is extremely rewarding knowing we are equipping our student-athletes for the next 40 years of their life"

Dear Playbook:

We go to a lot of generic and occupational specific job fairs throughout the year and your student athlete career fair and event last Wednesday was one of the best ones we have attended!  I thought the student-athletes were very well prepared, presentable and were very specific with their interests. We were glad to be a part of it and look forward to attending more in the future.

Dear Playbook:

I had the opportunity to attend one of your recent athlete career fairs and as the representative for Floyd Memorial Hospital, I really enjoyed the event.  Everything seemed well organized and I was impressed by the quality and quantity of candidates that attended the career fair.  Overall, very good career fair, thank you for inviting us, and I look forward to attending more future fairs.

Good Afternoon!!

I just wanted to send you a little email letting you know how much I appreciate all the work you did on the career fair, and I cannot express how much help your program is, and is going to be, with helping NCAA athlete's be successful in starting their careers.  It was a great way for me to get experience with talking to employers and a perfect opportunity to network and get my resume out to many different hiring companies. I enjoyed meeting and getting to talk with each of you last night and really appreciate all the insight you gave me on getting myself out in the working world!  I would also like to thank you for letting me, an Auburn University gymnast, be a part of this event even though I am not part of the U of L athletic community.  The work that this program does will benefit many athletes to come all over the nation and that to me is so exciting (I can't wait to tell Auburn about yall :))  Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Dear Corporate Playbook Team:

I wanted to drop you a quick note and thank you for the invitation to the Corporate Playbook's Athlete  Career Fair this week.  I enjoyed meeting you all and more importantly, my daughter (Auburn Alumni Athlete) had the opportunity to meet 30 different employers, some of which were looking for people within her areas of interest.  It was a great venue and the opportunity for Claire to develop her interview skills was invaluable.  Thanks again for a great night!  Look forward to following your company's continued progress and success.

We were invited to attend the Yale University student athlete career fair by The Corporate Playbook and we definitely found it worth our time!  At least 10 people stopped by our booth that would be very competitive in our application process and it was a great venue to get the word out about Teach for America!  Thank you Corporate Playbook for your national partnership and supporting our non-profit efforts of bringing quality education to our youth!

Like anything in life there are always exceptions. However, I've observed that athletes have experienced success as a direct result of their effort. This experience has little to do with athletic ability, but everything to do with an athlete's perspective on work.

As an HR professional, I routinely look for someone who could understand team goals, goal setting, hard work, overcoming adversity, etc. I had a high school coach who after I graduated told me he'd like to some day own a company and hire former athletes to staff the company. I was thrilled with this idea and when I asked him what kind of business would we be involved in, he said..."it doesn't matter, we will be successful in whatever we try!"

Dear Corporate Playbook:

Thank you so much for your help with my new career at Yellow Book, USA!  Your process of working with me to help with my profile, resume and career search was so helpful!  I was able to find a great new position that is a perfect fit for my experience and interests and working with a company that understands the essence of athletic participation was so helpful every step of the way!  Christie was a great representative of your company and helped with all of my questions and I would definitely recommend your programs to any athlete seeking a unique resource for athletes!

"Many thanks for taking the time to visit with us and sharing The Corporate Playbook. It looks and sounds as if there are several exciting aspects of your program that will continue to benefit our student athletes and I look forward to seeing more in the future. Thanks again!"

Dear Chad:

"I wanted to thank-you and The Corporate Playbook for all your help.  We are in the process of hiring a young lady through your program  to fill our Monday Group Exercise Openings.  It was great to work with such a professional group and I am looking for more great candidates through your service to help find someone who is certified in Yoga or Yoga-Fit and who can commit a minimum for 8 weeks.  Thanks again for your help and hope to hear from you soon."

Dear Corporate Playbook:

Thanks so very much for the tools you supplied me with. You really have built an outstanding program and service.

After I watched some of the video clips you provided me with, I looked into more of what The Corporate Playbook had to offer and you really are doing an outstanding job.

I felt 200% better about my first job fair and I just wanted to shoot a thank you for your time. I hope to talk to you again, and I know where I can go now for help in my job hunt.

"In my experience, athletes make excellent employees. The Corporate Playbook's athletes are disciplined, confident, and teachable. Being teachable is crucial to success in business. Goal setting is ingrained in athletes. Also, athletes are loyal to good leadership. I emphasize quality leadership, because athletes can easily recognize leaders. Performance driven candidates require performance driven management. I recommend a mentorship program for athletes, to help with the transition from the competition floor to a business environment."

"I think that former athletes make great employees. They are team driven, focused and take direction well.  The Corporate Playbook is a great resource for growing comapnies seeking these type of employees"

"Without a doubt, high level, competitive athletes make very good employees and leaders in most cases. I would say individual sport competitors are the first choice because they have to get the job done on their own and in many cases without anyone else around to push them.

I am a former All-American in track from the University of Oklahoma and I doubt I could have even gotten a college degree without my athletics to push me and keep me focused on my goals."

"The biggest challenge many players have is looking ahead for the rest of their lives.  They have everything, in a sense.  In the NFL, they've achieved their dream of playing at the highest level.  They have a lot of money, but it comes to an end quicker than most of them can even imagine.  Thank you for helping with that transition."

"The Corporate Playbook is a great career networking tool for Marist student-athletes. The site and its contents will be used in an effort to enhance the career development portion of the Marist College CHAMPS/Life Skills program."

Dear Corporate Playbook: 

"The site is awesome!  Thanks for answering my questions and your help with student-athletes.  I was excited to learn about this new tool!"

Dear Corporate Playbook:

"I want you to know how much I appreciate your commitment to our student-athletes.  What an irony that our theme was focused on commitment to the University and the athletic department and we are blessed to have you come show true commitment in action!  I am grateful for your leadership and words to our athletes, thank you for making a difference!"

"What I like best about The Corporate Playbook's website is that it is simple, easy to use and fun to search for other athletes, something that is unique compared to most other job sites.  I just got a great new job from the network and I am definitely willing to share the site with my friends and teammates!"

Dear Playbook:

"Your athletes definitely make great employees, especially in the areas where competition and , of course, due recognition is involved. Sales, in particular, is where former athletes shine. Most customers like to talk sports and having the knowledge to do so is an ice breaker and a relationship builider.
I am in category managment, which requires internal, external selling and negotiating income. People ask how I can work a negotiation and all components including spreadsheets of a RFP day and night, for days on end.... it is because of the pain that I learned to endure as an athlete and wanting to get the absolute MOST incremental income for my company as possible!"

The Corporate Playbook has been great! After I was finished with college football, I sent out my resume to a lot of companies and posted it on numerous recruiting websites. I received few calls & felt like I wasn't making any solid connections. I felt like I was just a number & nothing helped me as an individual.  Once I got in contact with The Corporate Playbook, the network helped me land a job with a great company in Cintas within a week & the Locker Room section helped me with the preperation aspects too. It has been an incredible career development tool!

Dear Playbook Team–

I wanted to thank you again for continuing to grow the amount of people sharing their resumes on The Corporate Playbook, it has resulted in another hire for ADP!  Jillian Andresen was hired in our Telesales division located in Allentown, PA in the beginning of October.  Our telesales division is growing rapidly so any additional candidates that we can add to this amazing team, is a true find.  I love speaking to your athletes from your site, they tend to be a great fit for our culture.  Thanks again and keep up the good work!

"Dear Corporate Playbook:

I got alot of useful information at the meeting in the career center last Wednesday. I can tell the career center will be an amazing addition to our already supportive athletics department. Thanks so much for getting the center going and showing such enthusiasm in our futures. I am very excited to get started on the search for my internship!"

"Finally, a site that is Free! (smile) I feel at home, now. Thank you, for this opportunity to be apart of something new and innovative. Although we are athletes at heart, we can't play the game forever. Thanks again!"

"Great Work Playbook! I'm excited about seeing the opportunities that will be created for athletes who are not only talented on the field, but off the field as well..."

"Working as a Sales Recruiter for ADP, I love using The Corporate Playbook! It is so easy to use and we can find the best candidates - ATHLETES in one spot! I have recruited and hired numerous athletes already from using this site! THANK YOU!"

"This is a wonderful way for athletes at heart to take a step into the corporate world and continue their success. Thank you Corporate Playbook!"

"After playing football my entire life, making a career transition was tough.  I had no idea what I wanted to do.  I knew I had a passion for helping people and I enjoyed working with children.  My wife and I began to enter my resume onto different career websites, but still found no jobs that were of interest to me.

One late night, my wife came across a website called The Corporate Playbook which was geared strictly towards athletes.  I said, “Sign me up!”and shortly after registering, I began to receive emails and interviews from top companies in my area. 

A few weeks later, we learned we were expecting a baby.  I decided it was time to sit down with my Financial Advisor to discuss our future. After meeting with my Financial Advisor, he directed me to look into different life insurance policies pending the arrival of our new addition.  Arriving home from my meeting, my wife informed me that I needed a job as soon as possible!

I had begun my internet search for life insurance policies when I received an email from The Corporate Playbook.  It was for a career opportunity with Guardian Life Insurance.  I viewed “The Living Balance Sheet”, a great tool offered by the company to assess financial needs, and felt it could really be a valuable tool for myself as well as others.  At that point, I decided I wanted to be apart of this organization.  Guardian Life Insurance referred me to Consolidated Planning, Inc. and the rest is history! 

I am now a Financial Specialist with Consolidated Planning, Inc. and I am fulfilling my passion for helping people as well as having the flexibility to continue coaching high school football.  I refer all of my friends to The Corporate Playbook.  It helped me and there’s no doubt it can help you also.  If have a need for financial advise or interested in a career with Guardian, please look me up on the network!"

  "ADP is always searching for new and creative ways to find top talent. We were given a free trial period with full access to your site in July, 2007. We had full posting rights and access to search resumes. ADP had tremendous success right off the bat in finding great candidates! These athletes were found only on The Corporate Playbook database. Now, as a premier sponsor, ADP has shared continued success in finding the right talent for our career opportunities across the US in many business units.  Here are some of our most recent hires from The Playbook: 

• Dan Tumis/Dallas in our Major Account Sales division.
•  In our Small business services division we have had 7 hires: Kimberly Musgrave/Chicago, JC McDonald/Richmond, Colin Peters/Minnesota, Karla Webster/Phoenix, Jaclyn Ciconte/Maryland, Katie Liang/San Antonio, Michael Janauris/ Philadelphia.
• 2 Telesales hires, Mirvat Katib/New Jersey and Jim O’Malia/Allentown.

Thank you Corporate Playbook for your superior and ever-evolving recruiting site in finding top Athletes for hire!  We look forward to a successful partnership in the future."

Dear Corporate Playbook:

Dear Corporate Playbook:

I just wanted to drop you a letter, to thank you for your services. I recently accepted an offer from a top company on your website.  I was only enrolled on your site for a very short period of time, and I now have this new opportunity. I have been registered with many other job search web sites for quite some time, and nothing has panned out with them. The training is tough, but it is well worth it. I am very pleased with the opportunities which I have at Yellow Book, USA. Thank you again for putting me with such a great company! 

  “I want to thank the Corporate Playbook for helping me find my new career. I was able to find a great new opportunity with ADP and I am very satisfied with how things are going.”

"The Corporate Playbook was a very nice asset for me, in a rather interesting way. I had been contacted by ADP about a year ago for an opportunity (not from my resume on your site, but through an alumni), but was not interested at the time for various reasons.  However, I knew that if ADP called back in the future about their Major Accounts Sales Division, I might have an interest.
 
I then put my resume on your site, and the Major Accounts Sales Division called me after seeing me on your website and finding my profile.  After 5-6 interviews with ADP, I landed the job that I really wanted, and started with them this Monday.  Thanks for your help!"

"I would like to share my positive experience in finding a new career through The Corporate Playbook.  I was contacted directly by a top Fortune 300 company that found my resume on the site and after making contact, I was able to go through a series of interviews and find a great career as a Small Business Solutions Manager for ADP.  Playing football for Glenville and obtaining my Masters from West Virginia University prepared me for a life after sports and The Corporate Playbook helped me make the connection to a great organization!  I would highly recommend 'The Playbook' to any current or former athlete seeking a business networking group or new career opportunity!"

"The forum was great!  The most beneficial aspect was the intimacy and the small group size.  At larger events it is difficult to make connections on a personal or one-on-one level with company reps.  The size of an event such as this one also made it possible to network with others that have athletic backgrounds and openly exchange job-hunting ideas and experiences.   I have no negative feedback to offer.  You guys at The Corporate Playbook are doing an awesome job!  Many thanks."