I often get e-mails from readers who are interested in working in an MLB front office. Well, here’s your chance to break in. Farhan Zaidi, an economist who works in the Oakland A’s front office e-mails me this exciting opportunity.

We just posted an internship listing on our website for someone to help us during draft season (April to June). I think it’s an excellent opportunity. I’m emailing a few bloggers and site administrators about the listing, hoping they can put it in a quick plug for it and encourage people to apply. The link and full listing are below. Any mention you could make of it on your site would be helpful.

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/mlb/help/jobs.jsp?c_id=oak#job_05

Baseball Operations Intern: 1 position
April - June
The Baseball Operations department is seeking an intern for the Spring 2007 season. The Intern will report to the Assistant General Manager and Baseball Operations Analyst. Primary duties will include but are not limited to the following:

- Assisting with data collection and analysis projects
- Research and report on all potential player personnel decisions, including Amateur Draft
- Game-charting and report generation from game-charting programs
- Prepare staff for organizational meetings
- Complete specialized projects as assigned

Requirements:
- Qualified applicants must be motivated, well organized, detail-oriented, and be able to work independently and on a deadline.

- Candidates must be proficient in all Microsoft Office programs (especially Excel).
- Proficiency in statistical packages, such as Stata, SAS, and SPSS is a plus.
- Knowledge of scripting languages (Perl, Python) for screen-scraping programming is a major plus.
- Background in math and statistics is preferred.
- Candidates must be within commutable distance of our offices in Oakland for the duration of the internship.

Interested applicants should send a cover letter and resume to Intern Coordinator, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland CA 94621, or via fax 510-563-2397, or email baseballjob@oaklandathletics.com* by March 1, 2007. Please clearly detail your technical and programming skills in your resume. No phone calls, please.

I think “excellent opportunity” is an understatement. Even if this job isn’t a good fit for you now, please take a close look at the qualifications: Excel, Stata, SAS, SPSS, Perl, Python, math, and statistics. That should speak volumes about what you need to get a leg up on the competition if you want to work in MLB.