Hiring in sport is a messy process

The sports industry is an interesting space when it comes to recruitment. Most employers are lacking the quality and quantity of candidates applying for jobs, and most people consider the world of sport off-limits due to the perception of a high barrier to entry and/or lack of available opportunities.

Our task with SportsWork was to show the demand from the employer side of the market to demonstrate to the candidate side of the market that there is a desire for candidates with an array of skills.

Candidate-Centric Design

Although we are balancing the needs of two interdependent sides of the market, we needed to ensure that candidates needs where met in terms of helping them find and filter relevant opportunities, apply to opportunities, and stay informed of future opportunities.

We are currently building the artificial intelligence platform which will do much of this filtering process for candidates by learning about their interests and showing opportunities relevant to their experience.

Helping Employers Stand Out

With over 85 million sporting jobs in the world and 1 million in the UK and Ireland alone, it made sense to ensure employers have a chance to stand out from the crowd as the platform scales.

Employers have the option to have custom landing pages with additional benefits giving candidates the ability to set alerts for new roles, as well as a host of customisation options for employers to send candidates here.

Playing the Long Game

It's easy to think that if we're doing our job right as a recruitment platform, a candidate shouldn't need us again after finding a job - i.e our mission is complete if they no longer need an account. That is partly true, however as a candidate - once you have a new job, you're simply in another phase of your career meaning that on SportsWork, our role towards an employed candidate changes. New content such as sharpening skills, personal development, career advancement opportunities from their current role all becomes relevant and gives this side of the market plenty of reasons to stay part of the community for the benefit of their career in sport.