(April 27, 2012) For the last six years Texas native Jimmy Chavez has been calling Kansas home, and as far as he knew that wasn’t going to change any time soon. That expectation was shattered in the span of one weekend. Chavez, an STAA client, has been hired as a sports flash anchor, reporter, and fill-in host at Yahoo! Sports Radio Network.
Formerly Sporting News Radio Network, Yahoo! Sports Radio (YSR) is a based in Houston. Chavez begins work on May 7th.
The entire hiring process took less than 72 hours, and it began when YSR Program Director Craig Larson called STAA CEO Jon Chelesnik on a Friday evening to find out if STAA had any clients who would fit the job description. Chelesnik referred Chavez.
“Jimmy fit the job description, plus he’s from San Antonio and was wanting to move back to his home state,” says Chelesnik.
By Sunday, Larson had interviewed Chavez. On Monday, Chavez had a job offer.
It just so happened that when Chavez and Larson talked, Chavez was just back from a visit with his family in San Antonio, which is less than three hours from Houston by car.
“He (Larson) got a hold of me about three hours after I had just got back from Texas. A lot of people (at his current job) thought that is why I had been down there. I got off the plane less than 24 hours after telling my family ‘I’ll see you at the end of the year,’ then I’m calling to tell them we’re moving to Texas,” Chavez grins.
Larson says that for him, the real selling point was Chavez’ personality and passion.
“I hear clearly in our discussions his passion, his energy level, and just his willingness to want to be in this business. It just came bleeding through. He has an incredible motor. That can be really infectious. There is one thing with his abilities and how I can utilize them, but there is another with how he’ll fit with the other teammates. We have a lot of guys here who are like him. I think he’ll fit in just great.”
Chavez has worked at several radio and TV stations around Kansas, most recently as a play-by-play announcer and sports talk host at the Mid-America Network in Wichita.
While Chavez is looking forward to moving home, he is particularly excited to have a new job that meets some of the career goals he recently set for himself.
“Jon Chelesnik and I have talked about this a lot recently, about where I need to be and what I need to be doing. That is exactly what this job does. This is the perfect job to help me grow as a professional. The sky is the limit.”
“I can’t even comprehend all the things that are about to happen. They are all positive.”
Chavez is quick to give credit to STAA. “This came about because Yahoo! Sports solicited STAA in finding candidates. STAA has helped them in the past. I can say with all certainty, if it weren’t for STAA we wouldn’t be having this conversation today.
“It doesn’t get much better than this. The beauty of this business is sometimes jobs will find you and when they do, you are lucky.”
(Visit Jimmy’s STAA Talent Page).