Jeff Tucker is a University of Oregon alumnus. He graduated in 1993 with a psychology major and is now the Director of Sales for the San Francisco Giants. His career path began when he accepting a telecommunications position that had a commission based salary. He stuck with that for a while before moving to Santa Clara to accept a tech position.
After doing that for a year, he did some outside sales for three months. During this time, the baseball strike of ‘94 took place. The strike opened up positions, which Jeff soon took advantage of, and soon he found himself working in the San Francisco Giants ticket office.
After selling tickets, he was able to get a sales executive position, excelled and was soon promoted to Group Sales Manager. Tucker was partly responsible for the transition from Candlestick Park to Pac Bell Park and also had a hand in the creation of Giants Enterprises.
Some of the best advice that he gave us dealt with the attitude that you have to take into not only a job, but in life as well.
When we asked what was one thing that was learned after college that school did not teach him, he responded that he has learned to question everything and understand why things are done they way they are done.
“In school, he explained, the questioning nature was there, but it did not force you to question.” “In business”, he continued, “you can’t take anything for granted, and you should always question why a process follows certain steps.”
Another thing that was interesting to us was his advice to interns or people in a new position. Tucker was speaking from experience when he said, “that first of all you have to be enthusiastic about your job. Even if you are filing papers or getting coffee, you have to be enthusiastic. While interning, you should let people know who you are. Volunteering, being present, being around, associating yourself with a certain department, and volunteering with other departments will help you do so.”
Tucker’s advice to someone that wants to get into sports is to not be afraid of the word “no”. “The opportunities are out there, he said, “you just have to show passion and be persistent, and be willing to take that risk.”
