July Interview: Buffy the Headhunter Interview conducted: June 21, 2001 I first heard about "Buffy the Headhunter" about 5 years ago from a friend in sports who had just worked with her to find his new job.  He is among hundred of people in sports who can thank Buffy Filippell for helping them find their dream job.

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Recently Buffy and her company TeamWork Consulting have also designed new software that helps teams weed through hundred of prospective employees to find the best applicants.  

Buffy talks about the job market, job hunting on-line, and how Indiana University has the best school in sports administration program (it just happens to be her alma mater.) in the July Gameops.com Interview.

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Gameops.com:  Thanks for your time.  Can you explain what you do and what your site has been built to do.

Buffy Filippell:  We have two businesses:  TeamWork Consulting, Inc. and TeamWork Online LLC. 

TeamWork Consulting, Inc. is our executive search firm which has been serving the sports and live event industry for 15 years now (www.teamworkconsulting.com).  We most recently started a new business... TeamWork Online (www.teamworkonline.com).  Allow me to talk about that.

TeamWork Online is the leading internet address for sports jobs, based upon Top9.com.  With 120,000 unique visitors monthly to its various websites, TeamWork Online powers the interactive job boards of sports leagues and teams including the NBA, WNBA, NBDL Teams, NHL League and its member clubs, Major League Soccer and its teams, STAPLES Center/Anschutz Entertainment Group of Companies, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Lightning and TeamWork Consulting (Executive Search Firm for Sports/Live Events).  TeamWork Online is an Application Service Provider (ASP) that provides this integrated Job Board and Applicant Tracking System directly online through a URL site. There are no special software requirements and it can be accessed through an internet browser program.

TeamWork Online provides individuals the opportunity to gain direct access to the hiring managers of professional sports teams.  As with many sophisticated Job Boards, applicants can create an online record and be automatically notified of jobs (Personal Search Agent) that may match their skills and apply for positions as soon as they are posted.  Applicants records are confidential and only seen by the hiring manager when they apply for a specific job.  Each job board has a separate database.  The program is strictly permission-based where applicants can edit, modify and even delete their own records at any time.

Gameops.com:   How did you get started in this?

Buffy Filippell: When the Houston Texans hired us to recruit their leading executives for their front office, I flew down to Houston four days after the announcement. There were over 300 resumes stacked up and 100 coming in per day.  There were too many voice mails trying to follow up their resumes.  I asked the website developers whether we could put something online and designed the program for them.  Two weeks later, the Houston Texans had the first interactive online Job Board for a sports team with about 1000 resumes coming in monthly.  That exceeded many of the sports job boards' databases. 

When the XFL asked us to help them hire 40 executives of the 112 they were hiring for 8 teams in 4 months, we insisted they use our online job board software on their website.  The XFL had over 56,000 candidates apply for positions throughout the league over only a course of months.  They could not have handled such a volume using traditional means.  The NBA and NHL have had similar results and the processing has become so much easier.

Gameops.com:  What is the current sports job market look like, has the recent problems in the XFL, CBA and various minor league teams caused this to be a bit of a buyers (team) market?

Buffy Filippell: I think that the dot-com craze took out an enormous amount of talented people from the sports business and they are the ones trying to get back in.

Clearly we have a moment in time where there seems to be very strong candidates on the market, but I think that won't last long.  We are almost needing to reshuffle some people.  With the NBDL starting up and always new businesses going up, the industry always needs the best and brightest. 

Gameops.com:   For people starting out in sports what's the best advice you can offer them?

Buffy Filippell: We are entrepreneurs.  People who are the most successful typically are those who can sell.  Try to develop your sales skills.  I was an event manager, detail-oriented, and not great at selling until I had to sell myself.  Then I loved it.  Or, be the best at what you do.  Both ought to get you noticed.


Gameops.com:  For experienced sports executives, what advice do you have for them?

Buffy Filippell: Be a marketer.  Create a need for yourself.  Be the best at what you do and find a way that makes you necessary to help build someone else's business or life.  This exercise is all about relationships - supporting, guiding, learning, teaching, knowing when to step back. 

Gameops.com:    Outside of TeamWork Consulting or TeamWork Online what are the best ways to find sports jobs or jobs with corporations with ties to sports (sponsorship, et al.)?

Buffy Filippell: I'm a big believer we will continue to grow the use of the online interactive job board.  Teams and leagues are conducting Job Fairs which seem to be valuable in getting entry level jobs.  Conferences and seminars where you can meet people help in learning about new opportunities.  Nevertheless, maintaining good relationships is a must.  Word of mouth. Keep in touch with friends.  Make sure you care about them so when you need help, they will care about you. 

Gameops.com:  What skills are most important in today's sports market?  How about the same question for people in the sports operations and entertainment field? 

Buffy Filippell: The most important skill is generating revenue.  In sports operations - creating a unique experience that is somehow measurable that makes people want to be engaged in/involved in your team.  It's an exercise that is constantly needing to get better and better as technology advances us to quicker stimuli. 

Gameops.com:  What are the best college majors for the sports market?  What schools are the strongest for sports marketing programs?

Buffy Filippell: Someone with a business background is generally a good choice; however, those people with liberal arts backgrounds might not know the risks and actually be better.  About schools, well, I'm biased towards my own Alma Mater, Indiana University.  The better known sports administration colleges are strong as well as good schools for their business degrees.

Gameops.com:  Are there some good tools (books, programs, classes, periodicals) that you would recommend to sports executives?

Buffy Filippell: I have always enjoyed sports marketing textbooks from Drs. Bernie Mullin and Bill Sutton.  And I'm a huge fan of Jon Spoelstra's books.  I tend to read more spiritual books about building better relationships and understanding why we are living.

Gameops.com: Any final thoughts?

Buffy Filippell: May we all remember we are in a wonderful position to positively affect a human being's life by providing the good and the bad of athletic competition - the need for teammates - and the dichotomy when the "bad guy wins."  We compensate executives very competitively and often can see immediate results from our efforts. It is truly a blessing to serve this industry.  My twenty-five years seem to have gone by far too quickly.  May the next generation tend to our field, care about it, feed it, nurture it, and grow it for all the good it can provide.

Buffy Gordon Filippell Bio

Buffy G. Filippell founded TeamWork Consulting, Inc., an executive search firm for the sports and event management industry in September of 1987. The firm's more than 100 clients have included, among others, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, almost all the major leagues - NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS - three NFL teams, six NHL teams, six NBA teams, six MLB teams, CART, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, International Speedway Corporation, Major League Soccer, Olympic Governing Bodies, Disney and others. In 1999, she also developed the first online employment recruiting software for sports teams and leagues - TeamWork Online - licensed by the Houston Texans, XFL, STAPLES Center/LA Kings/LA Galaxy, MLS and NBA/WNBA/NBDL Teams.

Filippell served in executive positions in both sporting goods and sports marketing. Early positions as Manager, Racquet Sports and Golf Promotions--London based--and National Tennis Promotions Assistant at Wilson Sporting Goods led to an account executive post at Mark McCormack's International Management Group (IMG) in Cleveland. Filippell represented professional athletes such as Andrea Jaeger and Ken Rosewall and promoted IMG's Tennis Legends, Charlton Heston's Pro Celebrity Tennis Tour and the Women's Professional Racquetball Tour.

After returning from a year in Turin, Italy, by January 1985, Filippell joined Korn/Ferry International, a worldwide executive recruiting firm. Although she worked on searches for senior executives in banking, manufacturing, insurance and industrial products, Filippell brought in and conducted searches for the Women's Tennis Association, LPGA, U.S. Cycling Federation, Sporting Goods Manufacturer's Association, Prince and the Women's International Pro Tennis Council.

Filippell currently serves as a Senior Advisory Board Member for Indiana University's Kelley School of Business Sports and Entertaiment Academy. In 1987, she founded the Ohio Games (earlier called the Ohio Sports Festival), a state-wide amateur Olympic-type contest for athletes of all ages in the state of Ohio. She served on the Executive Committee of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission until 1999. She was formerly a Trustee on the Board of the Women's Sports Foundation. She also co-published the first Directory of Women in Sports Business with Richard Lipsey.

Filippell was graduated from Indiana University; Bloomington, Indiana, with a Bachelor of Science degree and a varsity letter in tennis in 1976. She and her husband, Mark, have an 11-year-old son, Davis.  [Source:  Teamworkconsulting.com]

Thanks to Buffy Filippell for a very insightful interview that will surely be helpful to a lot of people.  I had heard about Buffy for the last several years as the best resource for finding suitable employment in sports.  It was a pleasure to get her insight. 

Also, I apologize for the lame Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference...I couldn't resist.

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