Experience is what most companies ask for when putting a call out for jobs.
What about freshers, you ask?
And those looking to join the sports industry for the first time?
The way to look at experience is that:
- For junior positions, it is an added bonus
- For senior positions, it is often a necessity.
Experience to get a job in the sports industry can be classified in two ways:
- Industry-specific experience: This refers to experience in the Indian sports industry. This would be ideally experience with a company that is in the same business like the one you intend to apply to, or general experience within the Indian sports industry.
- Skill-specific experience: This refers to experience within the sector or the specific skill required at the job you intend to apply to. This usually includes skillsets such as digital media, finance, engineering, sales and marketing, operations, or other such skill sets that are common across industries.
For entry-level positions, Indian sports companies usually do not require experience. They focus on determining your passion, your personality and if you possess any skills required for the job you intend to have applied for.
However, college students for whom an entry-level position will be their first job should take initiative during their college days to take on or be part of a project that can teach them some real-world skills.
For example, if you want to get a job in digital media, it would be a bonus if you had a blog or your own, or ran a social media account with sports content that had an active engagement. Similarly, if you want a job in operations, it would be a bonus to have worked on a college sports fest, or a local sports tournament as an intern.
For non-entry level positions and senior-level positions, Indian sports companies would ideally prefer someone with a combination of industry-specific experience and skill-specific experience.
There are occasions where a sports company will give weightage to one over the other.
Take, for example, a passionate football fan who has 15 years of experience as an investment banker but no experience in the Indian sports industry may be considered for a top-level finance position with a football team because of his or her skill set.
Finding the right job role that is fit for your experience and skill set, and vice versa is the right way to approach looking for a job in the Indian sports industry.
To learn more about the Sporjo process, visit us at sporjo.com and begin your journey today.
