Do I have to be sportive to apply for a sport job?

Sport jobs are currently high on demand: The fitness sector is booming and so new positions are frequently advertised. But a sport job, even when called this way, does not necessarily have to be physically demanding. Most of the offers at Sportyjob, for example, are actually in administative or creative departments.

So there’s the question popping up: Do I have to be athletic to work in sports? A classic yes-but-no-situation.

Your own interests in sports decide how you do your work

Careers in online marketing, sponsoring management, sportswear designer or brand manager (…) are mainly office-based sport jobs. Truth be told: There’s a lot of sitting involved – so you probably even like your little workout at the end of the day. Nevertheless, being athletic is not necessarily important to get hired or to do a good job.
Here’s the big BUT – You should still bring along some sport-affinity. The named careers all have one thing in common: You need to know what your peer group wants and needs. This means you should be able to put yourself into the position of an athlete and have detailed knowledge about the discipline your sport job is all about. Of course, being a big fan of it without executing can still give you a lot of expert knowledge, but the little details – that’s something you figure out when you get active yourself.

You can choose to get active to do a better job

We learned that you don’t have to challenge yourself, as long as you do an intensive examination of the regarding discipline. Anyway, the time you spend reading (or watching) about it would also be a great chance to actually try it instead. Through this active preoccupation with your the field of your sport job, you will probably end up way more motivated, creative and authentic. A product designer for snowboards will achieve no credibility if he doesn’t know how to ride snowboards.

The sports industry wants experts in their fields

The industry has a similar opinion on this. Often, you will find former professional athletes in the office careers of Red Bull Media, adidas & co. As they bring a huge amount of sport-specific knowledge along, they are also perfect contributors for business development (Sales, Product Development, Marketing – every department).
Even though an event manager for sport competitions may not compete anymore, thanks to his experiences he will have the perfect concept for the event.

No need to run the New York Marathon next year, but if you go running every couple of days, developing a communication plan for the social media channels of runtastic gets a lot easier, don’t you think?

Calling passionate non-athletes: Please apply anyway

Don’t feel the pressure to become a professional athlete now. Sports companies are looking for the same hard and soft skills as any other companies. So if you are not an active person, this doesn’t mean you can’t apply for a sport job. If you are intested in the company, the job and bring knowledge, skills or hidden talents, there’s almost no employer who wouldn’t like to get to know you. What we tried to make clear in this post, is that the only thing really essential for a job in the sports industry is passion.

You see: the group of friends kicking a ball on the street, the boy playing a match every weekend with his amateur team, his family cheering on the side of the field, the soccer fan watching every single match of their favorite team live or on TV, Cristiano Ronaldo being a professional football player – they all have one thing in common. And that’s the passion for a sports. A sport job you have no affinity for, no connection to or at least a relation on a mental level won’t be an ideal career for you.