Resume Building

In most cases, the first step to landing one of those sweet racer  support deals is your resume. Even with social media as important as it is, a quality race resume is essential to have.

A race resume serves the same purpose as a work resume when applying for a normal job, it summarizes who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and what value you have to offer. Your resume should outline your racing experience and how that aligns with the brand and their goals. The average rider rep goes through 1000+ resumes so you want yours to be to the point and enjoyable to read. Try to avoid loud colored lettering or fonts and try to keep your resume on one page. The objective is to make an impression but your resume should be as concise as possible.

When building your resume, the best place to start is with your contact information (full name, home address, phone number, email) and a short bio (age, skill level, classes racing, etc.) Include a high quality action photo and any social media accounts you plan to promote with.

Once your contact info and a short bio are clearly visible near the top of the page, move on to accomplishments and results. Like in all aspects of life, honesty and integrity are important. You wouldn't believe the amount of fake race results that get slapped on resumes. When listing results, we don’t need to see every race from the last 5 years, highlights are sufficient. Be sure to list which classes the results are for. Accomplishments off the bike should be noted as well. If you’re an honor student, small business owner, multi-sport athlete, or something that separates you from the crowd, we want to know! We’ve always appreciated good riders with a good head on their shoulders off the bike. 

In a separate paragraph discuss the value you offer the brand. If you have 6 regular riding buddies and none of them run this product, that’s an opportunity for growth. If you have a decent social following or a YouTube channel with thousands of subscribers, that’s valuable! If you’re a friendly person that everyone at the track values, mention it! Make sure you're clear on how you fit with the brand and how you plan to promote their products in your region. 

Wrap up your resume with a list of references. If you have any references in the industry, list them, and make sure to include contact information. 

Once your resume is complete, spend time proofreading. Consider it the final touches. One of the most underrated characteristics of a quality resume is good grammar. It’s not very confidence inspiring to the brand if you won’t put in the effort to proofread your resume. It’s one of the small things that says a lot about you and your attention to detail. Your sponsors will take you more seriously if it’s well written.

To summarize, a quality race resume will at the very least include:

• Name - Full name, first and last. No nicknames. 
• Contact Info - Phone number, address, social media links. 
• About Me/Bio - Age, skill level, classes raced, etc.
• Accomplishments - Race results, athletics, and academics. Personal and professional.
• Value Added - What can you do to help the company reach their goals?
• References - 3+ references you have a professional relationship with. 
• 1 Action Photo - High quality, can be placed anywhere to work with your layout.

Now that your resume is complete, the big question, what brands do you send it to? This might be the most valuable topic we address so make sure to follow along. 

When it comes to sponsorship, it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. We understand the social media flex is to have a long list of sponsors in your Instagram posts, but no one looks at that list and it’s not helping those sponsors like you think it is. Instead of trying for 30 sponsors who you have almost no interaction with, try 5 or 7 sponsors that you have a legitimate opportunity to build a relationship with. Quality, not quantity. We’ll have much more on this in our next blog. 

Work towards building relationships with sponsors that you can have an impact on. Unless you’re Eli Tomac, Oakley probably won’t care if you’re “repping the brand.” They have global representation in a variety of mainstream sports, they’re not concerned with market share on a local or regional level and may not appreciate what you have to offer. But a smaller goggle brand that’s working to gain market share at the regional level will. Make a list of brands you want to build relationships with and try to understand the position each of those brands are in to see where you fit. You could be the rider that helps a small brand grow. 

Once you have a list of 5-7 brands you want to work with, do some research to see who manages their support program. If you want the best chance of getting a genuine response, send a personalized email to that person introducing yourself with your resume attached. That personalized approach will get a better response than a generic email sent to multiple brands at once. 

Now that the emails are sent, let's wait to see if you made the cut! 

Stay tuned for the next installment to hear our advice on how to make the most out of the partnership.

If you have any questions email us at ridersupport@fasstco.com and we’ll get back to you. We encourage questions so don’t hesitate to reach out!

-The Fasst Family