As part of our Planning 10 course we are required to spend a day doing a job shadow. Last year in grade 9 we spent a day at our parents workplace, but the point of the job shadow is to try and get an opportunity in a workplace you are interested in pursuing. From an early age I have had a passion for sports, and after realizing I was unlikely to be good enough to play pro sports, I decided that working in the sports industry would be the next best option. I am hoping to study Sports Management after high school with a view to working for a major sports franchise after I graduate.

So for the job shadow I wanted to try and get an opportunity with one of the Vancouver sports teams. I started by listing all the teams and figuring out whether I had any connections that I could leverage as this would likely be more successful than just a cold call. My family have been season ticket holders with the Canucks since 2000, my grandparents have season tickets for the Vancouver Giants, and a friend of ours is quite well connected with the Vancouver Canadians baseball team. After making my list I decided to start with the Canucks as this seemed like the best connection and was the most appealing to me too. I looked up my parents account representative and sent her a direct email asking if a job shadow would be possible. To be honest I was not expecting much as I wasn’t sure a big organization like the Canucks would be open to this. In fact I received a very positive response the next day saying they would be very happy to have me spend a day with them. I exchanged a few more emails with them to set up the date and plan for the day.

Prior to the job shadow which was on May 15, I thought about the questions that I wanted to ask. I wanted to learn as much as possible about the different types of jobs available with the Canucks and what it would be like to work there.

On the day of the job shadow I arrived at Rogers Arena at 9am and met Vanessa who is my parents account representative. She brought me up to her office and showed me the basics of her job. She showed me the software they use to book tickets and manage season ticket holder accounts. She told that May is the quietest time of the year as it’s off season for hockey and too early to get really into the following season. However the arena is also used for concerts which run year round.

After spending some time with Vanessa, she then handed me over to Chris who is also an account representative. He gave me a full tour of the offices. I got to see Canucks President & VP of Hockey Operations Trevor Linden’s office, as well as the office of GM Jim Benning. Unfortunately I didn’t get to meet either of them as they were out of town at a scouting meeting.

The next thing was to be included in a sales team meeting. This included team updates on ticket sales and plans for upcoming sales drives.

After the meeting I was introduced to Haley who works in Benefits. She was sending out confirmation emails to season ticket holders that would be attending the Hot Stove event the following week. I then went out for lunch with some of the team.

My afternoon started with Cassia who is also an account rep. She was making sales calls to people who had had season tickets or ticket packages in previous seasons.

Then I went to the ticket centre to meet Landen and Donald who were working in the Will Call area. They didn’t have a whole lot of work to do, so instead we all ate Dino-sour gummies and talked sports. One of things I enjoyed so much about meeting the Canucks staff was discovering that they were all huge sports fans. There were TVs on in the offices showing the World Championship hockey games and I talked hockey and baseball (especially Blue Jays) with almost everyone I met.

A View of the Arena From Club 500

The last thing to round off the day was a full tour of the arena. The coolest part of this tour was getting to see the Club 500 suite. This is right under the roof and provides a great view for hockey and is very luxurious.

The day went by really quickly, and definitely reinforced my drive to work for a sports franchise. Over the course of the day I asked a huge number of questions (both the ones I had prepared and others that came up through the day). I was able to learn a lot about what the day to day tasks looked like and get more idea about the business side of a pro sport franchise. Everyone I spoke to was very friendly and encouraging and they all told me how much they love their jobs. I’m very happy that I got this experience as it was a very memorable day.

After the job shadow I sent a thank you letter to Vanessa. I received a really nice response where she said she would pass my thanks along to the entire group and she also sent me a link to the job opportunities with Canucks Sports & Entertainment. I am taking this as a sign that I made a good impression while I was there.