Last Friday, 19 May, it took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, the first edition of the iWorkinSport Job Fair, which was the first international career fair focused on the sport industry – where some of the most renowned organisations in the industry met, interviewed and recruited students and alumni from the most prestigious sport management courses in Europe.
It was many months in the making, and I couldn’t be happier with the result.
The concept is simple and it had a clear objective: every year, hundreds of graduates enter into the market with specialized training in sport management. As well as having their own qualities and profiles, they all share common traits: they have an international mentality, they are highly motivated and committed, they have invested a significant amount of time and money in their education, and they share a passion for sport. The best organisations in the sports industry are looking for employees with these characteristics… So, all we had to do was to find a way for them to meet in a useful and optimised way.
Here is how it worked:
- Recruiters announced, in advance, the positions for which they would be interviewing at the event. Graduates and alumni of the schools, which were Academic Partners of the fair, applied in advance for jobs via the event’s website.
- Recruiters selected the candidates they wanted to interview and invited them to meet at pre-scheduled time in the programme. Candidates and Employers then met each other at the event, for a 20-minute interview. Attendees who had not booked interviews in advance had the opportunity to book meetings on-site.
- Recruiters now will follow up with the candidates directly, without any intermediary. Some positions have already been offered at the event!
Adidas, FIFA, FISE (Extreme Sports International Federation), FIVB (International Volleyball Federation), IMG, Infront Sports & Media, Libra Law, mycujoo, the NBA, PwC, Soccerex, Sportcal, Sportradar and UEFA were the organisations who brought they HR Directors, managers and recruiters to the event and interviewed candidates from Masters in Sports Management.
In order to secure candidates of the highest quality, attendance at the job fair was restricted to students and alumni of some of the most renowned postgraduate courses in sports management. The event’s Academic Partners were: CIES’s the FIFA Master, AISTS, the Johan Cruyff Institute, the University of Liverpool’s Football MBA, and the EU Business School.
Around 250 people, from 30 countries attended the job fair. Candidates flew in from places like Canada, Mexico, Brazil, USA, India and Kazakhstan.
In addition to the job interviews, there was a programme of relevant panel discussions and company presentations (see the full programme below).
Being the first edition of such innovative type of event presents several challenges, but we are extremely pleased with this first step.
iWorkinSport Job Fair was co-organised by ENGAGE Sport & Entertainment, a Swiss-based events company, which I founded with two partners a few years ago, and the sports innovation network ThinkSport. This inaugural event had the support of the International Centre for Sports Studies – CIES (Gold Partner), WORKS Ltd (Design Partner), Wiz-Team (Event Registration Partner), and of the local hosts, City and Region of Lausanne and the State of Vaud.
The Job Fair, per se, took place at the SwissTech Convention Center; while a dinner for the recruiters, partners and guests was hosted at the Olympic Museum.
Now it is time to collect the feedback from everyone and start working to do it even better next year.
THE CONFERENCE: PROGRAMME
8.30 – 9.30: Welcome & Registration: Arrival, breakfast
9.30 – 10.00: Opening Speech – Joao Frigerio, Founder and Director at iWorkinSport and Engage Sport & Entertainment SA
10.00 – 10.30: (PANEL) Industry Trends: what sports organisations are looking for – Moderator: Will Lloyd, CEO, GlobalSportsJobs; Panellists: Sabine Graf, HR Director at Infront; Helen Hughes, HR Director at NBA; Robert Wispelweij, HR Business Partner at FIFA.
10.30 – 11.00: company presentation: mycujoo.tv
11.30 – 12.00: company presentation: Sportradar
12.00 – 13.30: LUNCH BREAK
13.30 – 14.00: company presentation: adidas
14.00 – 14.30: (PANEL) Get a Job! – Find the opportunity; make your CV stand out; what (not) to do at a job interview; and more… – Moderator: Will Lloyd, CEO, GlobalSportsJobs; Panellists: Leigh Hine, Global Talent Acquisition Manager at adidas Group; Tim Palmer, Executive Recruiter at IMG; Bianca Keel, HR Manager at Sportradar.
15.30 – 16.00: COFFEE BREAK
16.00 – 16.30: (PANEL) The Value of Education in the Sports Industry – Moderator: Dr. Kevin Tallec Marston, PhD, Academic Project Manager at CIES; Panellists: Anna Hellman, Director at ThinkSport, Mario Medeiros, Commercial Director at FIVB; David Dellea, Director at PwC Switzerland.