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I was on a flight a few days ago that was, fortunately, half empty. As I indulgently stretched out on the row I had all to myself, I thought, this will be a quiet, peaceful flight . That was until the gentlemen in the row in front of me decided to talk shop the entire flight. A few minutes into their fairly loud conversation I realised they were from an organisation within our industry and were discussing what was in store for them in 2013.

Whether small or large, all organisations want to hire the best person for any position from entry level right through to senior executive. The selection methods utilised vary to some degree between the position level and how big the organisation is but generally consist of some sort of screening process, such as a telephone interview followed by one or two rounds of face to face interviews and reference checks.

I'm always intrigued by the amount of speculation surrounding high level appointments in sport. While I understand the nature of water cooler discussions and the fact casual gossip in the workplace is commonplace; publicly naming candidates has the potential to harm or even ruin careers. And the sad thing is, based on my experiences at least, when a candidate group is leaked or announced through a reliable source, they are usually wrong.

Reference checking a candidate s experiences and credentials is regarded as a fundamental part of any job process. However the success of these checks depends entirely on the propensity of the referee to be honest in their assessment of the candidate and trust the recruiter or employer in keeping their responses confidential.

There has been a long held myth that unless you are working in a large commercialised sport the opportunities for succession planning are reasonably limited. While smaller resourced organisations certainly operate lean and reasonably flat, in isolation this should not eliminate opportunities for succession planning.

With the first batch of GenY fast approaching their 30th birthday, we are finally starting to see the influence of this generation on the workplace. The most famous GenY of all, Mark Zuckerberg, has already made a significant and lasting impression on the way people connect and share information. GenY have lived through the age of globalization, cable TV, environmentalism and the internet.

The AFL s announcement Gillon McLachlan has been appointed as Andrew Demetriou s replacement is a great example of succession planning in action. Only those within the AFL s inner sanctum will know how wide and how long the search for the AFL CEO was and who else was even considered for one of Australia s top sport jobs; however from the time of the public announcement of Demetriou s departure, McLachlan was widely tipped as the likely successor.

Culture within a sport organisation is not purely a set of boundaries that provide a picture of what is acceptable behavior for employees and what defines ideal behavior. It exists as those underlying channels by which organisational values are built from strategy, evolved out of debate and conflict, measured against failure and success and embraced with emotional meaning by all.

Sportspeople Recruitment was recently contacted by a job seeker interested in undertaking a University course in sports management. Specifically he was asking whether the University at which he completes the Degree will have any bearing on his job prospects. He went on to ask whether employers look at the Degree conferred and whether they might rank one University over another.

We are often asked by our clients during our recruitment briefing meetings what are our expectations regarding the likely number of applications for a particular role. The catalyst for this question is the misconception a high number of applications is a measure of a successful recruitment strategy. In our experience and mindful of the recruitment methodology we use, the number of applications is never a reliable measure of success.

With an oversupply of candidates and a relatively small supply of jobs, the sport, fitness and aquatic sector is a tough nut to crack. One of the best tracking sources for graduate destinations and salary trends is found at the Graduate Careers Council of Australia website. The Graduate Careers Council of Australia places sport, fitness and aquatics graduates into the Humanities category in its Graduate Destinations Survey and shows: 71.

In the past and as a representative of the sport sector I have attaended the UTS Business School review of its specialist Management programs, including the undergraduate and post-graduate programs. Enhancing employment potential was identified as a key driver in the design and content of all courses, ensuring UTS can continue to develop graduates who can meet the current and future needs of industry.

Over the past few weeks Sportspeople has attended a number of industry events where, among other things, we've had the opportunity to speak to many people either working in or seeking work in the sport, fitness and aquatic sector. One question we were asked relates to our Job Seeker database and the fact we do not provide an online CV bank or stored resume service for job seekers.

The unexpected resignation of Victorian Premier Steve Bracks received a fair bit of press over the last week. It is a timely reminder of the pressures of high office and the impact not only on the individual, but in particular the family unit. I recall writing an article on finding balance in your career way back in 1999. At the time I had just read Daniel Petre's Father Time (Macmillan, 1998) and the theme which struck home in the context of our sector.

For those of you who can actually find the time to sit back and read the newspapers, not just the Sports and Employment Section, you might have read Daniel's Petre's Father Time (Macmillan - 1998). Petre's theme is simple and one which rings true in the sport context. Take a successful senior male executive with all the trappings - status, power, money and control. He becomes a father and suddenly an aspect of his life becomes chaotic.

One of the great privileges of doing what we do at Sportspeople Recruitment is getting to know our candidates before we refer them for a role. Given the importance of work and career in the lives of these candidates, the screening and interview process allows them to openly share their experiences, talk about their personal circumstances, their strengths, weaknesses and aspirations.

The issue of how many candidates should be shortlisted for final interview is often raised early in our recruitment work. Many clients have a set idea that they want to meet say 4 or 5 candidates while others are open to simply meeting the candidate group that best meets the job profile and selection criteria. Surprisingly, one of the other very common requests we receive is to consider adding a candidate to the shortlist based on their association with the employer.

A recent worldwide survey by recruitment firm Robert Half Finance and Accounting shows that, rather than money, a good relationship with co-workers and bosses is the most important motivating factor in the office for middle managers. Four out of ten people who took part in the research rated good interpersonal relationships as their gateway to work happiness. It ranked above the kind of work they were doing, flexible hours and salary.

I m often asked whether there s any particular science behind the order of candidates when conducting shortlist interviews. Having participated in close to 600 shortlist interviews I m a firm believer other factors have a much greater bearing on the outcome. Firstly, an interview is just one of the selection tools generally available to the employer. Background investigation, reference checking and pre-employment testing (e.g.

In the last week news emerged of Virgin Boss, Richard Branson s plan to eliminate restrictions on the amount of holidays his employees in the US UK can take each year. Under this arrangement, employees will be allowed to take time off without prior warning so long as their work is kept up to date. The logic behind this initiative is to increase morale, creativity and productivity within his workplace.

We've all heard the term happy wife, happy life ... but what about the people you spend most of your day with? Having happy and engaged employees has a seriously positive impact on your bottom line. Higher productivity and profitability is generated through better customer service, more innovation, lower absenteeism and reduced staff turnover.

In our previous article in this employment series, the top ten interview questions were outlined along with some useful strategies in preparing for a job interview. C.P.R. of a different nature was suggested - Consolidate your documents; Prepare for the interview by researching the organisation and Rehearse for the interview by practicing commonly asked questions. The article concluded by suggesting candidates too often go into an interview thinking it s a one sided process.

I have to confess I haven t taken much notice of the roadside advertising billboards in past road trips to Queensland; but this year on our New Year sojourn they seemed to capture my attention more so than ever before. Not the photo-shopped fast-food advertisements or the frequent Road crashes affect more than just you. Don t rush. reminders by Dr. Brian Owler. Neurosurgeon. Westmead Hospital.; but the often profound and sometimes humorous messages scattered along the 1,000 kilometre trip.

In our previous installment, the importance of well-prepared resume was discussed and a few helpful tips in preparing an effective resume were offered. While not intending to understate its value, it is vital to remember a resume won t necessarily get you the job. An effective resume should aim to get you an interview. Now, let s assume you have submitted your resume and been called for an interview.

For me at least, Thursday 24 June, 2010 will be one of those where were you when... moments. While I did get up and watch the Socceroos' valiant effort as they attempted to claw back a spot in the World Cup knock out round, it was Julia Gillard's appointment as Prime Minister of Australia that marked the day as truly significant.

Sportspeople Recruitment recently attended the Health Fitness Expo as a guest of Fitness Australia in their Business Advisory Centre, providing advice to business owners and people working or seeking work in the fitness sector. The three day event also provided the opportunity for us to catch up, put a face to a name and to thank a many of our clients who were in attendance.

While it is true some 60% of jobs in the sport industry are filled without advertising, the challenge of preparing a resume will be faced by most of us at some stage during our career. While not intending to understate the value of a resume, it is vital to remember a resume won t necessarily get you the job. An effective resume should aim to get you an interview. Despite an abundance of information to the contrary, a resume should not be viewed as a complex document.

The strength of the Australian sport management talent pool has been widely recognised for many years, with the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games a notable catalyst establishing the profession as world leaders. Over the past 20 years there has also been an exodus of this talent overseas, pursuing coaching, high performance and management roles with national sport organisations, global sport brands and franchises.

Many years ago I recall attending a function where The Hon. George Souris was announced as NSW Minister for Finance and Assistant Treasurer. George had been the NSW Minister for Sport and I d had the pleasure of working very closely with him, his staff and the Premier s Office over the period where NSW successfully bid, won and eventually hosted the MotoGP in Sydney.

Members of the Sportspeople Recruitment team are fortunate to be regular invitees to speak at conferences, seminars and career workshops. Some of these include Our Sporting Future 2015, Premier s Sporting Challenge, ACPE Careers Day and later this month, Money in Sport. One of the common questions, particularly when speaking with an undergraduate group, is our take on the where the jobs will be in the future.

So, there I was reading Helen Razer s piece, Species of Stupidity in the latest copy of The Big Issue (No 470 24 Oct-6 Nov, 2014) in which she proposed that in the context of the mental health debate at least, awareness and talk alone was cheap ; when it struck me the premise was equally relevant to the issue of female representation in sport leadership roles.

Wanting to be liked is a basic human trait and conversely, we usually don t enjoy the experience of rejection. At Sportspeople Recruitment we understand the emotional investment every candidate makes when they decide to apply for a role and how important the job will be to their future. That s why we spend a lot of our time screening candidates against the job brief before making recommendations to the employer.

Over the Christmas- New Year break my wife and I had the opportunity to spend two wonderful weeks with our children and grandchildren. Included in this cohort was our daughter, her husband and four young children (newborn, 14 month old twins and 3 year old). A fun time was had by all (I have the photos to prove it), but to call it a holiday is probably a stretch. Maybe an exercise in logistics or Course 101 in Human Management would be better.

Since 1999 Sportspeople has provided a free listing service for Volunteer and Internships, with these roles sitting alongside professional employment opportunities. Each year over 2,000 Volunteer and Internship roles are advertised at Sportspeople providing a meaningful service to organisations and job seekers.

The last four months has been the busiest ever for Sportspeople and Sportspeople Recruitment. More jobs placed at the Sportspeople Jobs Market along with more recruitment assignments commissioned, started and successfully completed through Sportspeople Recruitment. Pretty much, more of everything. So much so, there have been times when all of us have been running at capacity including throughout the day, evenings and weekends.

Recruitment delays can be disappointing and costly. We recently heard from a candidate involved in an interview process lamenting the lack of response following a recent interview. They had applied for a job, been selected and attended a shortlist interview, provided their referee details and then... silence. After three weeks of following up with the employer the candidate decided to accept another job offer that was on the table.

Having written about this topic before, I was not surprised when an employer recently told us about a potential candidate who looks great on paper but has made a lot of negative posts on twitter about their previous employer . Needless to say, that candidate did not proceed to interview. So, have you checked your online footprint recently? It may sound a bit egocentric, however searching for yourself online can be a wise career move.

More than a quarter of employers use social media to check out potential new hires, and Facebook is the site of choice, according to new survey findings from Telstra. The poll of 1,255 employers found that one in four respondents screened candidates' profiles on social networking sites. The most popular tool for background-checking candidates was Facebook (41%), followed by LinkedIn (31%) and Twitter (14%).

As this is our final e-news for 2016 and as it also wraps up Sportspeople Recruitment s 20th anniversary year, we thought we d ask Founder and Director, Robert McMurtrie to provide a few notable highlights of what has been a remarkable journey for the business since first launching in 1996.

So the Games of the XXXI Olympiad have come and gone, my circadian rhythm is still out of whack and I m suffering TV advertisement withdrawal. Was it only me or did anyone else feel they watched 2 weeks of TV ads with some sport thrown in? Everyone is an expert when it comes to the Olympic Games and if you had the ability to voice an opinion on the Australian team performance in Rio you probably did.

Job seekers often ask Sportspeople for tips on finding work when relocating to Australia or New Zealand. When posting a role with Sportspeople the employer has the option of selecting the ... legally entitled to work in Australia / New Zealand footnote. This is open for some interpretation as a person with a Work Visa (e.g. a UK citizen visiting Australia with a Visa) is of course, legally entitled to work in Australia or New Zealand.

A long, long time ago when I was just 29 years old, I was appointed as National Executive Director of Netball Australia. In 1985 we didn t have the lofty title of Chief Executive Officer, but essentially that s what I did for 3 years and what I regard as one of the most enjoyable and rewarding periods of my professional life. I can still remember the application process for the role.

With more and more employers in our sector realising the benefits of pre-employment testing, many of our clients are implementing these tools as a standard part of their selection process. As a job seeker, trying to 'fake' a psychometric test is actually detrimental to you personally.

The amount of editorial given to Jason Collins, the NBA player who recently announced he was gay, demonstrates to me at least not how far we have come in accepting an individual s sexuality, but how far we really have to go in this regard. In Australia Ian Roberts (Rugby League), Matthew Mitcham (Diving) and Daniel Kowalski (Swimming) are a few of the prominent Australian sportspeople who, like Collins, have had the courage to declare their sexuality publicly.

My swim coach died last week. His funeral was a celebration of a life well lived. 92 years in fact. I promised my wife I wouldn t cry. I cried. Mr Vic. was my coach throughout what was a short, but successful swimming career. My father and Mr Vic. were the two men that most influenced my life in my teenage years. Between 1967 and 1973 I think it s fair to say I spent more time with Mr Vic. and my swimming comrades than anyone else.

Anyone that has worked with Sportspeople Recruitment will know if you can measure it, we usually do and have! This includes the number of jobs we recruit, the number of candidates we screen, the number of views for each job, the number of candidates we target and those converting to an application, where the candidates are geographically based and, well, virtually everything and anything that helps us understand trending in our business.

There has been solid online comment since the announcement of Kristina s appointment over the weekend. While Sportspeople was not involved in the recruitment process we were following the appointment with some interest as the Basketball Australia role was one of a number of key sport management roles on the market. While I can t comment specifically on the quality of the candidate group I know that if Kristina Keneally s CV came across my desk it would certainly have my attention.

The average salary for an Athletics Director at the National Collegiate Athletics Association s (NCAA) top tier schools is $450,000 with at least six making more than $1 million, according to a recent USA TODAY analysis. Since August 2010 at least 10 public schools have rewarded their Athletics Directors with pay raises above $75,000 or more.

Salaries in the Australian fitness sector remained steady over the last 12 months, decreasing less than 0.2%, compared with an decrease of 3.5% overall for the combined sport, fitness and aquatic sector and a 4.9% increase in the ABS national average weekly earnings data for the corresponding period. While salaries in the fitness sector overall has remained steady, the gender gap has widened significantly. In 2010 males in the fitness sector earned on average 10.

Sportspeople Recruitment is well established as the leading recruiter across the sport, leisure, fitness, events, coaching and aquatic sector in Australia and New Zealand. When you take a look at our client list you'll see it's the breadth of experience that really stands us apart from other recruitment agencies operating in the sector.

Compared to say a decade ago, it is pretty easy these days to pull a CV and a cover letter together and apply for a job. Spending time thinking about whether the job is the right opportunity for you and whether you are what the employer is looking for are two of the important considerations in a job application process, best done before you hit the Send button. In earlier Sportspeople Workplace Surveys we found that the majority (85.

Sportspeople has previously conducted research to look at the benefits of stating salary in job advertisements at the Sportspeople Jobs Market. In earlier surveys we found the number of views for advertisements where salary was stated was up to 40% more than those advertisements where salary was not stated. Recently I came across an article from the Employment Office Australia that stated 95% of Australian workers believe salary figures should not be inclusive of superannuation.

With more people now searching for jobs via the internet rather than any other method, employers need to find ways to maximise the impact of their advertisement. Traditionally, job seekers focus on three core elements of a job: Salary Job Title, and Location While all the other information in the job advertisement is important, nothing is more important to a job seeker than these three core elements.

Sportspeople regularly audits the Sportspeople Jobs Market measuring and testing features to improve the reach and overall effectiveness of job advertisements. What makes an advertisement appealing to candidates underpins our design and layout, including the content required for the searchable fields. Traditionally, job seekers focus on five core elements of a job: Salary Job Title Location Nature of the role Part-Time, Full-Time etc.

Want to know who got that job in sport, aquatics or fitness?