By John Ingoldsby
Engagement Insider
WASHINGTON, DC – When you play in the NFL, you learn a lot more than just football.
Most players coming out of college are truly on their own for the first time so they have to figure out where to live, which for some rookies can mean corporate housing.
Such was the case for Ade Jimoh graduating from Utah State to play for the Washington Redskins, who has now come full circle by creating a career in corporate housing.
The former cornerback has returned to his roots in DC, where he has worked for the past year at National Corporate Housing, a multinational corporation with offices in 30 states.
“I work with companies ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to mom and pop operations, creating programs that meet their corporate housing needs from one week to 30 days, and beyond,” said the affable Jimoh, who also spent time with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots during his five-year NFL experience.
With such a varied corporate client base, Jimoh has an equally wide variety of workers with unique needs.
“I create customized programs for housing transition services to fill specific needs, which for millennials might mean finding an apartment in the city close to mass transit or for an older demographic, such as an executive with children, finding a house in a suburban residential community,” the California native noted. “I like it since it allows me to do a lot of different things with a lot of different people.”
Not surprisingly, given his strong sports background and the need for short-term housing in this industry, he is establishing a presence there.
“I was at the Major League Baseball winter meetings in San Diego in December, where we learned about their seasonal housing needs, particularly with spring training and the like,” recalled Jimoh, adding that there may be opportunities developing with NFL players as well.
At any given time, he may be working with 20 or so clients on projects big and small, far and wide.
“For this summer, I am working with one company to find housing for more than 1,000 interns,” stated Jimoh, adding, “and we also work both domestically and internationally, so I have been operating recently in the Caribbean.”
But he’s glad to be back in Washington.
“DC was my home when I transitioned from college to professional football, and for me just to be back in this fantastic city, nothing compares, especially with this busy work environment,” he exclaimed.
Clearly, a city he was meant to be in, and also an industry that fits him as well.
“After football, I went to Westminster College and got my MBA, spent time in Cambodia, and worked in sales and tech software strategy, before moving back to DC and working in low-income house for a few years,” he outlined.
In all his experience both past and present, Jimoh believes you have to prove you have substance behind it, and he has seen how football has been an asset in his career.
“I see several areas of football crossover, starting with leadership and how when you play on a team, you see what leadership is like in the locker room and from coaches, so you truly recognize what it is,” he observed.
But that’s not all that translates from the gridiron into business, according to Jimoh.
“You also recognize who you are in a team environment and learn how to get along with other personalities,” he emphasized, while adding that you learn to adapt to all situations in a constantly changing environment.”
But most importantly, Jimoh learned how to perform under pressure.
“Imagine being in a playoff game on TV nationwide in front of millions, and the cornerback goes down, and you come in to replace him, and you and everyone else watching knows that the quarterback is coming after you,” he stated. “That’s a lesson you can’t learn anywhere else.”