One of the most common questions posed to those who work around the NFL -- especially during the ongoing college graduation season -- is how those in high-profile front-office and coaching positions got started in the business.

For Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane and assistant general manager Joe Schoen, their answers trace back to the Carolina Panthers' ticket and public relations offices almost 20 years ago.

Schoen, hired Sunday by Buffalo after nine seasons in the Miami Dolphins' scouting department, first joined the Panthers' ticket office as an intern in 2000 while he played college football at DePauw University in Indiana. Schoen, who was not yet available to be interviewed for this story, also assisted the Panthers' football operations for training camp before being hired full-time as a college scout upon his graduation in 2001.

Beane first got his foot in the Panthers' door as a public-relations intern in 1998.

"That was a four-week internship straight out of college," he told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on the "Know Them From Adam" podcast this week. "I was home for a couple weeks after that. It was basically just for training camp. I had told the powers-that-be that I was really interested in football operations, scouting, the whole thing. Lo and behold, a position came open about two weeks after camp. That was 1998. I was able to work that season, still as an intern, getting my feet wet. But I was able to touch a lot of departments. It really told me this was what I wanted to do, this was passion, and it worked out from there."

Though some NFL general managers -- Denver's John Elway and Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome, most notably -- have extensive backgrounds as players, some do not. Atlanta's Thomas Dimitroff, for instance, worked as a groundskeeper for the Browns in between scouting jobs before he started up the player personnel ranks.

Beane, now in charge of hiring several college scouts and interns for the Bills' gutted player personnel department, has advice for those wanting to find their path into the business.

"Well, I think it's obviously a competitive field," he told Schefter. "But anything you're passionate for, you got to go for it, you got to research it. You have to talk to people. Ask them how you get in, how you get experience. Be prepared when you get that opportunity and show them that you're ready. I think that's what I tried to do. You got to stay humble and you got to stay hungry. You got to love it. I tell every person that I interview, whether it's an intern or full-time: if you're doing this for the money, it's not going to work for you. You're not going to be happy. You got to love it."

Bills coach Sean McDermott, a safety at William and Mary, first broke into the business as a scouting administrative coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1998 before becoming coach Andy Reid's assistant when he was hired in 1999.

"The great thing about Sean is that he came from a similar past as me," Beane said. "He was an intern in Philly. Andy Reid's right-hand man. Sean's explained it to me, sometimes quasi like a gopher. That allowed him to be around Coach Reid, learn from him. Once Coach Reid saw him, what tasks he could handle, he upped it. Lo and behold, he's the defensive coordinator there. I have a lot of respect for that."