I try to keep my e-mail inbox fairly neat and tidy – under 20 unactioned emails if I can.
Chasing that goal yesterday, I found 13 of the remaining 20 were requests for career advice. Some looking for a first role post education, others looking for what they hope will be a rewarding end to their career.
I do try my best to get back to everyone eventually if I can, in particular those straight out of education. If you care about building a better industry (and I do) then it’s important to help people who (like me) had to be creative to try to break in.
In truth there is little solid advice out there for people hoping to get started in sport. Ed Bower’s excellent Sports Career Podcast being one exception that proves the rule. I thought it might also help if I share my view.
Starting Out – Getting Your First Break
Show Your Desire to Learn: Showing a desire to learn the intricacies of the industry is important, but that isn’t too tricky. There are plenty of good online courses out there. Coursera, for example, offers on-demand free ones from quality US Universities. Here’s one from the excellent Northwestern University in the US. 13 hours of introduction to Sports Marketing, totally free, ready to go. What are you waiting for?
There are No Excuses for a Sport-Free CV: Sport is competitive, so it is a mistake to sit around waiting for your generic CV star to fall. If you think you might want to write the Manchester United digital programme one day, contribute to the Abingdon United one. Grass roots relies on volunteers – so get stuck in and learn as you go.
Picking the Right Business
If You Won’t Learn, Don’t Take the Job: There are stories in every sports business of someone who started as an intern and became a senior exec. But there are also plenty who found themselves stagnating for too long in a dead end first role, without the corporate culture to support and challenge them. If you don’t think you’ll learn from the first role in sport, bide your time, wait for the right one and increase the likelihood you’ll be offered it through your voluntary work in the grass roots.
Starting Outside Sport Can Help: Corporate businesses are often better at developing people than sport, in particular in the critical early career years. Starting outside the industry often does more good than harm. All that matters when choosing a first role – to my point above – is how much you’ll learn in the early years.
Moving On Up
Perils of Progression: Once you reach middle management, there is a vacuum of solid impartial advice (but far too much agenda-driven partial stuff!). Last week ‘Emerging Sports Professionals’ was launched to create a platform for learning, development and progress for those in early careers. It’s an excellent idea – look them up.
You Don’t Have to Move Business to Change Your Job: The best businesses in all industries realise their talent makes all the difference. They move high potential talent across their business to help them learn at pace. Nobody owes you that, however – if nobody taps you on the shoulder to make a bold move, then ask.
Whether You Are 25 or 52
Know Where You’re Going: I think it’s critical to have a sense of where you want to be in 10 years. Many years ago a lady called Kate Mahony who was coaching me at the time asked me to draw a picture of where I wanted to be in 10 years’ time. It was hugely important process for me (even though she rightly told me my future didn’t involve a career in art).
I told myself that I wouldn’t get there in one single jump, but that every career move should at least take me one step closer to my 10-year drawing. You’re never too old to do that exercise – I tend to re-draw my picture every 2 or 3 years.
And there we have it. The moral of the story – don’t wait for the tap on the shoulder. Volunteer, study, move sideways, draw bad pictures of your future….whatever it takes. You can make your own luck.
