March 2007 -- One of USPTA’s most important roles, without a doubt, is to help you succeed in your profession. Almost everything we do is geared in one way or another toward achieving this goal. By providing certification, education, insurance protection, free or discounted products, promotions and many more benefits, we work continuously to make your job easier and offer resources that will help you enhance your image and improve your livelihood.
One particular area of USPTA’s Web site strives to provide you with valuable information that will help you find and land the job you want, and then offers ideas for showcasing your talents to your employers and customers to ensure your continued success and, if you desire, a promotion to bigger and better positions.
The USPTA Career Center is one of many benefits in the members-only module of our site. If you’ve visited in the past, we encourage you to keep returning because we are adding new material more frequently, largely based on your requests. Once you log in with your last name and member number, you’ll see "USPTA Members Only" and "Career Center" in the menu bar just below the main heading. Click it to explore the various areas, including:
- Job search tools
- PR tools
- Teaching tools
- Personal Web sites
- Find-a-Job Web site
Job search toolsOver the years, the World Headquarters has received numerous requests for help with resume production and job-hunting resources. Although it would be impossible to help each member with his or her resume, this service allows us to provide you with the tools and tips to produce your own documents. Of course, once your resume is complete, you’ll need to find available positions and prepare for future interviews. This area provides all these resources - sample resumes, tips for preparing resumes, a sample cover letter, interview tips and a link to Find-a-Job (one component of our Find-a-Pro service and Web site). Look for interview "dos and don’ts" and more in the near future.
PR toolsOnce you land that job and even before, it’s important to promote yourself. If you promote your skills to potential or current employers, it increases your value as an employee, and you might also generate interest from potential students if you gain publicity through your local or regional media outlets. This area shows you how to use press releases, posters, calendar listings, media alerts, pitch letters and USPTA’s own personal Web site service to spotlight you, your programs and your facility. Much of the material listed here has already or will be included in
ADDvantage magazines through periodic PR features. The items include an article about a particular PR tool and provide a sample that can be modified for your personal use. Look for new PR ideas in the magazine and online.
Teaching toolsThis is a relatively new area in the Career Center. We’ve provided many of the tools in this menu for some time, but they were located in other areas of the Web site. Now, they’re in an area with other resources that may make your day-to-day job duties a little easier. It includes a draw sheet, court diagrams, round-robin formats, drills and a match chart. The drills are featured in
ADDvantage each month, and can be printed from the Web site and used on court with your students. If you have something you would like to contribute to this area, such as different draw sheets or tournament formats, please contact us at uspta@uspta.org.
Personal Web sitesClick on this link to learn about and create your own Web site. What was once a service mostly produced by USPTA staffers has been modified to give you most of the control over your own Web presence. Many members are inspired by their new freedom to personalize and update their sites - sometimes daily! Of course, if you aren’t ready to tackle this task, you can still fill out the forms and submit them to USPTA. We’ll be happy to construct your site, and notify you when it’s ready. To find your site and get started, go to www.usptafindapro.com, click on the "Find-a-Pro" button under "Players," and do a search for your last name. Click on the personal Web site link next to your name, and your site will appear with your name. Log in at the top left corner with your last name and member number. From here, you can learn how to add text and photos and update your site. The options in this area will be expanded to allow you to perform more functions with the help of your own site. Updates will be announced in
ADDvantage, through e-mail or on our main Web site. Stay tuned!
Find-a-Job Web siteUSPTA has the industry’s most extensive list of tennis professional jobs, and there’s a link to these jobs from the USPTA Career Center. Click on "Find-a-Job Web site," and then search for open positions by job title, location, key words and more. This is a valuable member benefit and is just a small portion of the overall Find-a-Pro site. Remember that potential customers and employers are able to search for pros using this site. So, it pays for you to complete that Web site as we discussed above.
I hope I’ve convinced you to visit the Career Center. We will continue to post new materials and we welcome your suggestions or contributions.
