# Athlete quick start

Get up and running on ProductiveRecruit in five steps: build your profile, connect your email, find colleges, and send your first message to a coach.

This guide takes you from a brand-new account to your first coach email in about 20 minutes. Work through it in order, since each step builds on the last.

## 1. Build your profile

Coaches decide in seconds, so lead with substance. Add your grad year, position, height, and contact info, then your academics and athletic stats. A complete profile is the single biggest driver of coach interest.

Your dashboard shows a **profile-strength meter** with the exact items left to finish. Full walkthrough: [Building your profile](/docs/profile/building-your-profile).

## 2. Add your highlight video

One strong highlight video matters more than anything else on your profile. Paste a link from YouTube, Hudl, Balltime, or Vimeo and set it as your featured video. See [Adding & featuring videos](/docs/profile/videos).

## 3. Connect your email

ProductiveRecruit sends from **your own Gmail**, so replies land in your inbox and your outreach looks personal, not like a mass blast. Connecting takes one click. See [Connecting your Gmail account](/docs/email/connect-gmail).

## 4. Find colleges and build your target list

Search the college database by division, conference, location, size, and major, then save schools to your **target list**. Create your own custom tags to organize it however you think about your list — "Reach," "Safety," "Dream School," "Academic Fit," whatever helps you prioritize. See [College search & filters](/docs/colleges/college-search), [Building your target list](/docs/colleges/target-list), and [Tags & prioritization](/docs/colleges/tags-and-prioritization).

## 5. Send your first email

Find a coach on one of your target schools and open the composer from their program page. Pick a [template](/docs/email/templates-and-variables) (or generate one with AI) and it fills in the coach, the college, and your details automatically. Hit send and watch your [activity feed](/docs/tracking/activity-feed) for opens, clicks, and profile views.

See [Sending a single email](/docs/email/send-a-single-email), then scale up with [campaigns](/docs/email/campaigns).

## What's next

- Set up [tasks and reminders](/docs/tracking/tasks-and-reminders) so follow-ups never slip.
- Learn what coach engagement actually means in [Opens, clicks & views explained](/docs/tracking/opens-clicks-views).
- Going Pro unlocks unlimited emails, schools, and templates — see [Choosing a plan](/docs/getting-started/choosing-a-plan).

Source: https://productiverecruit.com/docs/getting-started/athlete-quick-start