Rebranding Fantasy Football Skills For Your Resume

My significant other should be unequivocally turned on by everything I'm able to accomplish during the NFL season! My family should be unabashedly proud! But more than that, my coworkers should be downright impressed and intimidated.

Draft prep? Waivers? Trades? Lineup setting? Sh*t talking? I'm demonstrating elite levels of proficiency every single day!

AND YET my parents, my loved ones, my boss (not Matthew Berry, the desk job one) scoff at my ever-growing league count.

I'm absolutely sick of it.

Fantasy football needs better PR, dammit! So I'm getting my hands dirty.

Get in, babe. We're rebranding.

Fantasy Football Skills as Resume Builders

Skill: Presents weekly results to senior stakeholders, improving team alignment

Every single week, you review your league's standings. Every single week, you analyze your league's matchups. The results are constantly changing and you have to be ready for anything.

But you aren’t doing this alone.

You've discussed your wins, losses, and trade offers with your spouse (read: senior stakeholder) at the dinner table most nights. Keep putting in the hard work!

Skill: Provides crucial support in handling monetary transactions, upholding high ethical standards

This one is specific to commissioners (read: good commissioners).

Collecting league fees from 11 other members in a timely fashion each year isn’t easy.

Having 11 other people trust you with their money for a pay out that comes five months later … That’s even harder. Yet you manage to do it every single year. (And we appreciate you for it.)

Skill: Organizes data entry for audit and reporting purposes

Sure, your drafting software might do the brunt of the data-driven legwork each season, but advancements in technology don't negate the hand you play in keeping track of your league's information mentally.

Previous winners, past losers, punishment adherence, past trades, previous mistakes, keepers … This list goes on!

Reminding everyone about their losses in the group chat is a SKILL. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

Skill: Effectively manages fast-paced environments, consistently matching performance metrics with peers

The league group chat is a living, breathing warzone.

We all know that one guy who ghosts the chat for months on end (loser). But not you. You're frequently chiming in and contributing.

It's not easy keeping pace with the endless jabs being thrown at your leaguemates, trashing their trades and generally bust balls on a consistent basis. But you've managed to keep up. Good on you.

Skill: Ability to adjust processes and adapt to critical system changes, while meeting tight deadlines

Remember how you got sniped during your draft?

It could have thrown you off. You could have panicked and auto-drafted. But instead, you took the punch, quickly readjusted, and pivoted to the next best draft pick for your team. And you still had time left on the clock!

Not everyone can handle the heat.

Skill: Develops and employs effective recruitment strategies and processes

Long-standing leagues have member turnover. It's unfortunate, but it happens.

When one leaguemate leaves, you have to fill the spot to keep the league alive. And keep it alive, you did.

Whether you recruited old friends, significant others, or a new work buddy, you did what you needed to do to fill the league. On to another year!

Skills: Provides onboarding and orientation for personnel, ensuring smooth transitions into new roles

When a new leaguemate joins the fold, there's typically some soft-hazing and introductory work needed to get everyone acclimated in the group chat.

The importance of this integration and onboarding cannot be understated.

All of the leg work you engage in when trying to make a new leaguemate feel comfortable while warming up to the group doesn't go unnoticed. In fact, it’s why they decided to stick around for another year.

Skill: Establishes processes to increase cybersecurity

Do you have different passwords set for all of your fantasy football apps?

Is your FantasyLife+ password something stronger than "ILoveTylerShough"?

Do you think twice before clicking “accept” on a trade offer that could harm you and your team?

Sounds like you're pretty secure to me! Stay safe!

Skill: Extreme proficiency in multi-tasking and prioritization of tasks

Managing a singular lineup is multifaceted.

You have to balance Bye weeks, injuries and projections. You also have to participate in waivers each week and negotiate trades. And most of us are doing this across multiple (I'll never say how many) leagues!

Keeping your kids alive, holding down a day job and managing all these rosters is a skill worth congratulating. You’re a multi-tasking machine! Take a f*cking bow.

Skill: Provides exceptional administrative support, efficiently handling conflict resolution and mediation when needed

Another commissioner-focused rebrand: You handle a lot of extreme conflicts.

Remember all those times collusion was claimed to be afoot? Or maybe it was the trades that earned a "VETO!" in the group chat.

Good leagues hold votes, but you still have to face the waves of phone calls when sh*t hits the fan. And you have to put out the subsequent fires.

And you handle it every single time. (And we appreciate you for it.)