Riverfront key in $2.5B downtown developments<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWhen it ends, you\u2019re not sure quite what the next steps looks like,\u201d Ayodele told Justice, adding that the internship is meant to show athletes they already have the traits businesses need. \u201cYou already have the skills\u2026 you\u2019re resilient, you\u2019re problem solvers by nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayodele described the internship as an inside look at real corporate work\u2014sitting in on leadership meetings, learning how client service teams operate, and building presentations that mimic the pressures of high-level business communication.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey get real lived experience of\u2026 \u2018What\u2019s a real experience to really walk and have a sales pitch and build a deck?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Justice compared that \u201ctranslation\u201d to what many military veterans face when moving into civilian careers\u2014knowing they have skills, but not always knowing how employers will value them. Ayodele agreed the key is exposure, mentorship, and taking initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that we all do is analysis by paralysis\u2026 we overthink the next process,\u201d he said. His advice: accelerate learning through grad school or online courses, and use professional networking intentionally. \u201cLinkedIn has been a great resource\u2026 people are really ready and available to network with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayodele also had a message for employers: don\u2019t get stuck looking only for the \u201cperfect\u201d r\u00e9sum\u00e9.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf employees just start there\u2014resiliency\u2026 competitiveness\u2026 the grind mentality\u2014that\u2019s where I would recommend [they] start,\u201d he said, noting sales is often a natural first stop for former athletes.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A new partnership between Gallagher and the Jacksonville Jaguars is giving pro athletes a clearer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7364,116,118,117,7363],"class_list":["post-262006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-business-edition","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-this-week-in-jacksonville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}