Will Lloyd, CEO of GlobalSportsJobs.com, talks about the impact of digital in recruiting the best talent in the sports sector.
Digital is having a profound effect on the international talent market and the transparency it offers is positively disrupting the traditional approach of the sports industry.
Historically, leading organisations within the industry have relied heavily on sourcing talent from their ‘industry network’. Senior management and C-level roles were rarely advertised and salary benchmarking was an opaque process.
Acquiring talent in this unstructured way often resulted in poor decisions and not learning from mistakes that could be costly both financially or in lost time.
The advancement of digital has turned this on its head, creating new opportunities for everybody to understand and communicate with the industry.
Online job listings have made the application process more accessible, both to professionals working in sport and talent from outside the industry. Access to industry insights helps potential candidates understand the transferability of their skills, allowing them to make more informed decisions about their future careers in sport.
With more competition in the marketplace, there is a greater need to ensure one’s skills are continually improving and this doesn’t just hold true for candidates. Organisations are also having to be more professional in managing their recruitment brand as they look to attract the best talent.
We are now seeing specialist platforms overtaking generalist platforms as candidates look to make more informed decisions before submitting their application, providing a rich source of quality talent.
The rise of mobile and handheld devices is having a major effect on how people consume information. 43% of people now access jobs through mobile devices so it is increasingly important to attract candidates with first impressions rather than long, drawn-out campaigns.
One thing we know for certain is that technology will continue to develop and play a critical role in attracting and managing talent in the future so if I can offer one piece of advice to employers, it would be to invest in a digital strategy.
GlobalSportsJobs is the leading specialist digital talent platform for the international sports industry, providing an innovative technology-driven solution to help sports organisations source a greater quality and diversity of talent. It is helping further professionalise and educate the wider sports industry by publishing original and engaging market insights. Click here to register today.
