As I write this post the Olympics are taking part in London and, watching it, it’s clear that the number of people involved alongside the athletes, on both a paid and voluntary basis, is quite extraordinary. I gained an insight to this when I had the chance to visit the offices of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOGOC) in February to hear them talk about the job opportunities at the Games.

At that time LOGOC had 2,500 staff working for them and were bringing on board a further 100 staff per week in the run up to the Games, with the expectation that they would have 7,000 staff by the Games. This is in addition to the 100,000 staff needed for short term contract work and the 60,000-70,000 volunteers helping out during the Games. Astounding numbers.

So if the Olympics have got you thinking about a career that involves sport in some way what options do you have? Most organisations will have the regular functional roles (e.g. marketing, HR, operations, etc) so if you know what your skill set is then it’s about focusing on the organisations available to you.

Look for organisations who provide hospitality at the premier sporting events, such as Jet Set Sports or sports marketing agencies, such as Sportsmark, or even sports promotional companies. In addition to these there will be opportunities stakeholders of major sporting events, such as:
• Sponsors, such as Cadbury, McDonalds, Coca Cola, Adidas and Sainsbury’s
• Specialised event agencies, such as iLUKA who provide strategies, planning and operational fulfilment for sponsors and other stakeholders at global events
• International federations, e.g. FINA – the swimming international federation
• Country specific bodies, such as UK Sport and British Athletics

Anyone interested working in these areas? Please comment below.

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