Sports scouts identify and recruit athletes. They're hired by professional
sports organizations, teams, and professional or collegiate scouting agencies.
Most sports scouts play or coach before becoming scouts. For some professional
sports, like football, agencies look for the best players. In collegiate sports
and other areas, coaches are often the ones who recruit new players.
Daniele Sauvageau, an assistant coach and scout for a women's national
hockey team, holds a full-time job in another field. She's volunteered her
time with the Olympic hockey team for no pay in order to get into coaching
and scouting.
"I started coaching for the love of the game, and the reason I stayed so
long was for the passion. This is the first year I've received a salary for
coaching and scouting. There's a strong possibility that in the near future,
I'll become a full-time coach and scout."
Sports scouts need good analytical, evaluative and communication skills.
They work long and irregular hours and travel considerably.
"We travel a lot with the team, and if we go to major events, we have to
spend a lot of time in rinks and make sure we see a lot of players," says
Sauvageau. "It's 80 hours a week, and there's no scheduled 9-to-5 kind of
thing. We work evenings and weekends -- long hours -- and it's very time-consuming."