FIFA Master students meet employers from world class sports organisations at the 2018 iWorkinSport job fair

On Friday 18 May, over 300 students and alumni of some of the world’s leading postgraduate courses in sports management – including the FIFA Master - International MA in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport – travelled to Lausanne, Switzerland, to meet with recruiters from a wide selection of household names in global sport.

Being the first academic course to sign up as an official Gold Partner of the iWorkinSport Job Fair, the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), who provides overall co-ordination for the FIFA Master in partnership with De Montfort University (Leicester, UK), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Milan, Italy) and University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), confirmed the importance it gives to not only the education it provides to its students, but also to the development of their careers after graduation.

iWorkinSport Job Fair creator and director Joao Frigerio said, “Last year, at least six FIFA Master students and alumni found jobs mainly thanks to their participation in the first edition of the job fair. Hopefully the recruitment results will be even better this year. CIES was the first institution to come on board, and they have continued to be a major supporter of the event. I am extremely grateful to CIES for their support, as this event would not have been possible without them”.

The line-up of recruiters was made up of some of the biggest organisations in world sport. They included adidas, CAA Eleven, City Football Group/Manchester City FC, FIBA, FIFA, Freeride World Tour, Genius Sports, IMG, Infront, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), mycujoo, Nielsen Sports, Penceo Sport, Soccerex, TEAM Marketing and UEFA.  All of them came to look for future talent at the event.

Parallel to the exhibition where the interaction with prospective employers took place, a special conference was held with highly relevant panel discussions and company presentations.

mycujoo, a thriving and exciting sports technology start-up based in Amsterdam - and which is led and co-founded by FIFA Master 9th edition graduate, Pedro Presa, - hired four people as a result of the last edition of the event. For 2018, they decided to return to the iWorkinSport Job Fair – and this time also as a sponsor. They were the first company to present their work and received significant interest among students and alumni.

ThinkSport, the Lausanne-based sports innovation network, next spoke about the opportunities offered by the region, as a result of the incredible sports-related ‘eco-system’ located in the area. They were followed by CAA Eleven, the exclusive agency for UEFA’s national team competitions. It was the first appearance for CAA Eleven at the jobs fair and part of their presentation included an overview of the new UEFA Nations League™, which will debut in September 2018.

The final presentation was a keynote speech by Caroline Anderson, who works in Human Resources at FIFA, and is a graduate from the 5th edition of the FIFA Master course. Her keynote was entitled “The Five People You Meet in Sport” – and was a truly inspiring reflection on the lessons learnt throughout her 16-year career in sport. Click here to see the keynote speech.

These unique presentations were supported by a number of engaging panel sessions. The first covered various industry trends and outlined what recruiters look for in a potential candidate; the second offered practical advice on getting hired, with guidance on how to make your CV stand out and what to do and not to do at interview as just a few examples. The final panel of a busy day then discussed the true value of education to the sports industry.

About iWorkinSport:

iWorkinSport Job Fair is co-organised by ENGAGE Sport & Entertainment, a Swiss-based events company, and the sports innovation network ThinkSport. The 2018 edition of the event had the support of the International Centre for Sports Studies – CIES (Gold Partner), mycujoo (sponsor), WORKS Ltd (Design Partner), Wiz-Team (Event Registration Partner), Japan Sport Council, Penceo Sport (supporters), Sportcal (Media Partner), Outdooria (Recruitment Partner) and of the local hosts, City of Lausanne and the State of Vaud.