Becky Wing was 16 when she competed in the Beijing Olympics as part of the British artistic gymnastics team. She describes the experience as “a dream come true”.
“It was one of those moments when you feel like all your hard work has led to that one competition,” Wing says. “It was absolutely incredible to be there and represent my country in Beijing.”
But that was to be her one and only appearance at an Olympic games. At the age of 22 – when most people are starting their professional careers – Wing finished her sporting career and retired from gymnastics.
Although she had always planned to retire once she graduated from university, Wing still found the transition difficult. “Since the age of five, the two constants in my life were gymnastics and education. To stop both of those at the same time changed my life routine completely,” she explains. “I had always had a coach or a teacher guiding me every step of the way, I’d never really had to be in the driver’s seat before, so deciding what I wanted to do next felt terrifying.”
A number of companies now recognise the unique skills many former professional athletes possess and have established programmes to help with this transition into the workplace. One such company is Deloitte, where Wing now works as a project manager as part of its global partnership team. A total of 15 Deloitte employees competed in the Paris Olympic and Paralympic games this year.
Deloitte is not alone in this endeavour, Visa, EY and Allianz are among a growing group of multinational businesses attempting to persuade both current and former athletes to work for them.
Applying athletic skills to the world of work
The main reason companies are competing for this talent is because many of the qualities that make a professional athlete successful can also be applied to the workplace. Wing notes that some of the soft skills that helped her become an Olympian, such as being able to overcome adversity, working well in a team and applying discipline were equally valuable in a professional setting.
“Those were skills that I had built up more so than some of my peers who hadn’t done sport to that level,” Wing says. “There’s a lot of importance placed on technical skills and work experience but they’re quite easy to learn on the job in most cases. It’s difficult to teach someone to be resilient or how to work well in a team.”
When people watch the Olympics, many don’t realise most of these athletes are working full time
These qualities are particularly valuable to businesses. For Kelly Kayser, senior director of talent acquisition at data centre provider Equinix, this group represents a rich and relatively untapped talent pool for organisations.
“A lot of people don’t think about the benefits of recruiting athletes from a corporate perspective,” she says. “But if you look at the backgrounds of athletes, they know how to deal with adversity, they’re great networkers, have good communication skills and they tend to progress through our organisation at a faster pace than others.”
While Equinix’s athlete recruitment programme originally focused on transitioning sportspeople into sales roles, it now has 25 current and former athletes working in marketing, HR, legal and technical positions.
Kayser encourages other companies to broaden their outlook when looking to fill skills gaps. “We have a talent shortage within the data centre space but we don’t have a talent shortage in general,” she says. “Breaking the traditional thought process around what a hire should look like will open organisations up to bringing in people from different backgrounds.”
How companies can support working athletes
However, adapting to life after sport can be a difficult process. “Athletes do struggle when they retire, because, although they may be at an age where their body no longer allows them to do what they want to, they may not be mentally prepared to retire,” Kayser says.
To help with the adjustment, Equinix works with specialist psychologists to act as mentors for its athlete hires. Training and development programmes are also customised to each individual’s needs.
Wing was one of many athletes who suffered with imposter syndrome when starting in a new role. “I’d never had a job growing up because I was training 30 hours a week doing gymnastics,” she says. “So, coming out of university, I very much felt like I was starting behind my peers who had done internships and had work experience.”
Similarly, while success in sport is quite clearly defined, good performance in the workplace can be much more subjective. Wing encourages managers to try to “understand the journey athletes have been on” to help with the adjustment process.
German financial services firm Allianz employs 37 athletes and runs mentoring and career coaching through its Allianz Athlete Programme. Georg Kreiter, a former para athlete and current consultant at Allianz One says the company has supported him to “make full use of my skills here”.
Be flexible
Offering flexibility is also important for any business looking to attract sportspeople to their organisation. If they are a current professional, their working hours might have to flex to fit around training schedules and additional time off or remote work may be required while they’re competing in events.
“We have conversations upfront about how much travel is going to be required and the amount of training they do,” Kayser says. “It doesn’t require too much adjustment until the build up to a major competition when they’re often required to be in other countries to train. If you’re hiring an athlete that’s currently competing, you have to make sure it’s going to work with your current setup.”
There are many benefits to recruiting athletes from a corporate perspective
Offering sponsorship can be another way for companies to support their athlete hires. Equinix, for example, sponsors the US rowing team that its employee Meghan Musnicki competes with.
Kayser says: “When people watch the Olympics, many don’t realise most of these athletes are working full time to make their dreams come true.”
Even former athletes may need adjustments to be made. “An athlete always thinks they’ve retired but sometimes will discover that they still have more gas in the system,” Kayser adds. “We’ve been quite flexible with these athletes in terms of allowing for their training schedules to fit alongside their day-to-day work.”
For companies that are seeking to recruit athletes, Kayser recommends working with agencies, such as Athlete Career Transition, which help connect employers and athletes. She has also found the sporting community to be very good at sharing opportunities with others.
It’s also worth remembering that organisations don’t have to target Olympians to have the same level of success, she adds. Every athlete has the potential to bring new skills and ambition to the role.
