March Madness is upon us. The Women’s and Men’s NCAA Final Four begins this weekend. Eight different schools are competing for the right to be called the best men’s or women’s college basketball team. But which school produces the most sports-obsessed job seekers? We looked at which graduates are seeking out to work as fitness trainers, referees, golf pros, coaches, sports writers, and other jobs in the sports world.
At Indeed, we have tens of millions of resumes from US job seekers. We looked at how often graduates of the schools in the Final Four click on sport-related job postings. The winner: the University of Louisville. The Cardinals have a great women’s basketball team, but their graduates also click on sports jobs a lot—over 5,900 clicks per 1 million total clicks from graduates. Among the teams on the men’s side, the University of Kansas’ graduates clicks on sports jobs the most, at about 5,500 clicks per million.
Overall on Indeed, clicks to sports-related jobs represent about 2,871 clicks per 1 million total, or nearly 0.3%. All but one of the eight schools in the Final Four have graduates who are more interested in sports jobs. Only Villanova graduates are less likely to click on sports jobs than the average job seeker.
What are the top sports-related jobs exactly? “Fitness trainer” is, by far, the top job; it totals about 31% of all sports-related job postings. Other fitness-related jobs, like “yoga instructor,” are in the top 25, too.
But there are plenty of coaching opportunities for sports enthusiasts hoping to make it a career. “Coach” is the No.2 most prolific sports job, with nearly 500 postings per 1 million. Many other coaching positions round out the top 10. If you’d prefer to judge sports, rather than play, then referee at No.18 is for you. “Golf professional” at No.21 is the most common sports job that is categorized by the BLS as being an actual athlete.
If you’re watching the Final Four games this weekend, and curious about jobs in sports, go exploring on Indeed.
Methodology
We used the following BLS occupational groupings to narrow down the top sports-related jobs: Athletes and Sports Competitors; Coaches and Scouts; Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials; Fitness Trainers and Aerobics Instructors; and Athletic Trainers.