Several students crowded the Union on Tuesday in hopes of landing a job with their dream sports team.

The Sports Management Alliance organization hosted its second annual Sports Management Alliance Fair on Tuesday in the Union. More than 16 professional sports teams and organizations attended for students to meet.

The fair offered students the ability to meet potential employers and obtain interviews. This provided them with opportunities to search for potential internships and practicum requirements from teams such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, Toledo Mud Hens, Cleveland Indians and Cleveland State University’s Department of Athletics.

Adam Kuffner, Sports Management Alliance president, said he hopes the annual fair will help students network and fulfill the major requirement to have internship and practicum experience.

The Sports Management Alliance hosts the job fair to allow students to use leadership skills to network with leaders in the sports management field. It was directed by the students in the organization.

The fair consisted of two parts; the first session allowed students to meet with the sports organizations and the second session was a follow-up interview.

Junior Kelsey Kolhman, a sports management major, said the interview portion of the fair went well, due to the impressions students were able to make on the organizations and how the organizations interacted with them.

Sport management majors are competing to find work experience in an extremely competitive market, said Bonnie Tiell, a representative from Tiffin University’s Department of Athletics.

“If you are looking for big name companies, your path to getting a job is narrow,” she said.

More athletes and sports fans are looking into the sports management career field as a way to incorporate their interest and a paying job, Tiell said. The expanding career field could impact how easy it is for students to obtain a career.

If a student is open to the market and not just the big name companies, more opportunities are available for sports management jobs, Tiell said.

Sandy White, a representative from the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic, said she looks for students with experience, volunteer work, and knowledge of golf when networking. The Jamie Farr Toledo Classic is an annual golf event that requires more than 1,200 quality volunteers to coordinate.

Although Tuesday was White’s first time at the job fair, she said she is currently working with multiple University students as interns.

Students in a sports management field should be flexible and available for any event to arise, White said. The students should also expect long hours and working weekends and evenings.

“In sports management [interns, I look for] good personality, very organized, quick thinkers, intuitive and good decision makers,” she said.