Raj Sheth: Creating connections and the pursuit of a dream job
CORRECTION 7/31/2017: This article has been updated to read that Sheth was a student worker for the Student Life Office.
Raj Sheth is a Fall 2016 communication graduate from the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) who is living out his dream.
By making connections with students, faculty and participating in internships, Sheth was empowered to enter the real world with experiences that would land him his dream job working in Houston sports.
“I learned how to build relationships and make the right connections,” Sheth said. “I also learned to be a leader while I was a student leader on campus, and that’s important when trying to land a job.”
In his post-grad life, Sheth found a job working for Game Day Communications for the Houston Texans. On a typical work day, you can find him in the NRG press box directing the media to seats, passing out statistics, and conducting post game interviews and transcripts.
Earlier this year, Sheth volunteered for the Houston 2017 Super Bowl, where he utilized his photography and social media skills.
“I volunteered in the NFL Experience and took pictures of people posing with the Super Bowl trophy, and of people getting drafted into the NFL at a booth,” Sheth said. “The second thing I did was kind of exclusive, I worked with the Super Bowl Host Committee’s social media command center. I helped them monitor the Super Bowl’s social media and helped with whatever questions people had.”
Although he works for the Texans and helped out at the NFL experience, basketball is Sheth’s first love. He proclaims himself to be the biggest Houston Rockets fan anyone will ever meet; it is near impossible to find him dressed without any Rockets gear on.
Sheth said that his favorite color is red, and even in his casual look he’ll have some sort of Rockets attire on: his Rockets watch, hat, wristband or just wearing the team colors.
Since he began working at NRG, his wardrobe has expanded to include more Houston Texans gear.
His love for the Rockets is best explained by his article “The story behind my love for the Houston Rockets.” While working for The Signal, he wrote an article which details his childhood and how the Make-A-Wish Foundation helped foster his love for the Rockets by allowing him to meet the team.
While attending UHCL, Sheth took the communication capstone course Media Production in which he worked as a staff reporter. After he completed the course, he moved up to the editorial staff and worked as an Assistant Editor.
As an editor, Sheth began his own blog “Sports Talk with Raj Da Dodge.”
“My first on-campus job was with The Signal,” Sheth said. “That’s where I got my blogging experience started because Taleen, Liz and everyone [The Signal staff] got me to start my own blog. I got to blog about sports, including the Rockets, the Texans and the Dynamo, and we did a sports talk show.”
Along with The Signal, Sheth was actively involved with the Student Life Office and the student organization, Communication and Digital Media Association (CDMA).
As a student worker for the Student Life Office, Sheth managed the social media platforms and established strong social media skills while making numerous student connections. His job entailed promoting, attending and documenting all Student Life events.
“[Raj] worked with our design and social media team,” said Andrew Reitberger, director of student life. “He specialized in social media and I believe also photography. As many people know, Raj is a big sports fan and some of his favorite teams feature more of a red based color scheme. I am proud to say at one point we were able to get [him] to wear blue and green on Wednesdays.”
While in CMDA, Sheth served as the vice president, public relations officer and event coordinator. Working as an officer further encouraged connections and pushed Sheth into a leadership position.
“Be sure to work hard,” said Sheth. “Work you ass off and people will see that and results will show.”
On his off days, Sheth dedicates time to intern for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“I felt like I had to give back, those kids mean everything to me,” Sheth said.
Looking back at his time at UHCL, Sheth detailed some words of wisdom for current students.
“Do what you love, and do what you’re really passionate about,” Sheth said. “If you really want to make a difference or something, just go out and do it because you’re not going to get a second chance; go for your dreams. Work hard here [UHCL]; make connections because you never know who in the real world you’re going to run into that you met here. Make connections, do what you love.”
Also published on Medium.
