iWorkinSport, the first truly international job fair dedicated to careers in sport, celebrated its fifth anniversary with a long-awaited return to its in-person flagship event. After a two-year hiatus, in which the iWorkinSport Job Fair was held in a digital format, the event took place once again at the SwissTech Convention Center, in Lausanne. There, hundreds of candidates met and had job interviews with some of the most prestigious sports organisations in the world.
While international sports organisations based in Switzerland accounted for 40% of the recruiting companies, the other 60% came from abroad, with recruiters coming from countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, Hungary, Denmark, Spain, the United States, Brazil and Egypt.
The companies recruiting at the event this year were the following: Almeida, Dias & Associados, Automobilist, CAF – the African Football Confederation, DreamHack Sports Games, Endeavor (including IMG, One Sixty Ninety, UFC, and others), FIBA, FIFA, iSPORTiSTiCS, IDG, IOC – the International Olympic Committee, OneFootball, Puma, Servette FC 1890, San Fernando Club Deportivo, SportBusiness, SportsPro Media, SRI, Stats Perform, ThinkSport and UEFA. Overall, more than 100 positions were available for attendees to apply and interview for.
In addition to bringing together candidates and recruiters, the job fair also offered a top-quality conference programme, filled with company presentations and panels in which some of the professionals recruiting at the event shared their knowledge in order to help candidates achieve their goals. To close the conference in the best possible way, FIFA’s Honey Thaljieh gave a powerful and inspiring keynote speech.
9.30 – 10.00: Opening Speech - Joao Frigerio, iWorkinSport Founder
10.00 – 10.30: (PANEL) Industry Trends: what sports organisations are looking for
Panellists: Tim Palmer, Senior Vice President, Global Recruitment at Endeavor; Shruti Mishra, Teamhead-People Connection & Attraction at Puma; Patrick Albrecht, Managing Partner, Europe at SRI. Moderator: Luis Granato, Managing Director - DACH at Chaberton Professionals
10.30 – 11.00: (PANEL) How to get a job in sports
Panellists: Didier Rossi, Global Head of Human Resources at FIBA; Hyacinth Terry, Director of Global Talent Acquisition at Stats Perform; Louis Kinziger, President at San Fernando Club Deportivo.
Moderator: Dr. Kevin Tallec Marston, PhD, Academic Project Manager at CIES.
11.15 – 11.30: Company presentation: FIBA
11.30 – 11.45: Company presentation: Stats Perform
11.45 – 12.00: Company presentation: Servette FC 1890
12.00 – 12.30: SportWorks Talks: "Mindfulness: Building a healthy relationship with stress" - by Jacqui Edmiston
12.30 – 13.40: LUNCH BREAK
14.00 – 14.15: Company presentation: Almeida, Dias & Associados
14.30 – 15.00: Company presentation: Puma
15.00 – 15.15: Company presentation: CAF
15.45 – 16.00: Company presentation: Automobilist
16.00 – 16.15: Company presentation: SportsPro Media
16.15 – 16.30: Company presentation: Football for All Leadership Programme
16.30 – 17.00: Keynote speech by Honey Thaljieh, FIFA
For the recruiters and academic partners, the event actually started the evening before, with a workshop in which HR and Talent Acquisition professionals discussed challenges and opportunities in a time of “bounce-back from covid-19”. That was followed by a VIP dinner and the 1st edition of The Most Attractive Employers in Sport Awards. The evening was held at the Olympic Museum, with a beautiful view over the Lake Geneva. iWorkinSport founder, Joao Frigerio, commented: “It was so good to be able to celebrate our fifth anniversary back at a physical event. Many things made this edition of the iWorkinSport Job Fair special, but the biggest novelty was, without a doubt, our first awards ceremony. We felt a great energy in the room, and the feedback has been extremely positive. Surely, that was the first of many to come.”
This year’s Academic Partners of the job fair were: AISTS, Johan Cruyff Institute, FIFA Master, University of Liverpool, ESBS, the Football Business Academy, Escuela Universitária Real Madrid – Universidad Europea, Columbia SPS, London Business School, Sheffield Hallam University and ESEI.
The iWorkinSport Job Fair is organised by the Swiss-based events company ENGAGE Sports & Entertainment SA, with the support of the International Centre for Sport Studies – CIES (Gold Partner) and ThinkSport.