Cricket to Corporate

We invited three professional Cricketers to attend an employability skills workshop – giving an insight into life in the business world.

On the 8^th November, we invited three professional Cricket players, Daryl Mitchell, Steven Crook and Oliver Hannon-Dalby (in association with the Professional Cricketers Association), down to our head office to provide workshops in CV writing, networking, interview preparation and an insight talk into life in the corporate world following a career in Cricket.

We started the day with an introduction to Concilium Search – welcoming the Cricketers and giving them an understanding of our history and the industries we work in. Sam (Partner) and Emilia (EA to the CEO) then handed over to Senior Consultants Scott, Christina and Lea who gave an informative and insightful workshop into marketing yourself, writing a CV and networking. 

Marketing Yourself

Our Senior Consultants gave a talk into everything LinkedIn. They explained how best to choose a professional looking profile picture, as well as what type of content should be featured on a LinkedIn profile. Additionally, they spoke about how to utilise LinkedIn to successfully connect with the recruiters of relevant industries.

Writing a CV

The Cricketers were taught the ins and outs of correctly formatting a CV and the best styles of template to use. Our Consultants encouraged Daryl, Steven and Oliver to keep their CV’s concise, opting for bullet points over large blocks of text and keeping education history brief and to the point.

Networking

Our Consultants advised that attending industry-based events, conferences and exhibitions was a really great way to network with industry professionals. Additionally, Scott, Christina and Lea encouraged the Cricketers to utilise their LinkedIn accounts to network and build relationships with other professionals.

Following the success of the morning talks, Managing Partner Richard Walker-Taylor and Senior Partner Theo Laycock-van Spyk gave an interview talk, covering all aspects from preparation, through to how to properly close an interview. Daryl, Steven and Oliver were shown how to make the most out of the opportunities interviews present to demonstrate the level of value they can add to businesses and to present themselves in the best possible way to show they’re the right candidate for the job.

Preparation & Research 

It all starts with doing your home work! Make sure you are familiar with the company, the position and the key decision makers.

Look over the website, annual reports, press releases and industry news sites.

Motivations

Hiring managers will be looking for candidates who are genuinely interested in the company and the role. It is important that you clearly communicate why you want this opportunity and why you want to join the company in question.

Justifications

You are unlikely to be the only candidate for the role, so you will need to clearly communicate, and demonstrate, why you are the best person for the job – taking every opportunity to list strengths and achievements. 

Different Types of Interview

Ensuring you’re prepared for telephone, Skype and face-to-face interviews.

E.g. Ensuring strong phone signal/internet connection and displaying good body language to potential employers.

Asking Questions

Asking intelligent questions is a useful and important way to help you understand and visualise the opportunity.

Furthermore, it allows you to demonstrate that you are engaged and that you have done your homework. 

How to Close an Interview

Asking questions such as:

• Do you feel my skill set and personality is a good fit for the position?
• Are there any areas of concern that would stop me progressing in this process?

These types of questions allow an interviewee to hear the strengths/weaknesses they have portrayed in an interview and to address any concerns they have directly with the interviewer. 

In addition to interview prep, Partners Sam Deane and Oliver Harrison, along with Senior Consultant Herbie Butler, gave the Cricketers individual interviews.

Our Concilium team asked them interview style questions, such as:

• What transferable skills have you learnt through playing professional sport, and how can you apply them to a corporate environment?
• Please can you give an example of a time in which you have had to utilize your leadership skills outside of cricket?
• How do you think you will find the transition from professional sport in an office based environment?

The team found that Daryl, Steven and Oliver seemed confident in this challenge and gave some really interesting and compelling responses. Following the mock interviews, our team gave a feedback session to help the Cricketers learn about some of the pitfalls of the interview process and to allow them to ask questions about how they could improve in the future to enhance their interview skills. 

Lastly, our very own professional Cricketer-turned Concilium Consultant Thomas Moore, gave a presentation on the transition from Cricketing to Corporate life. Giving an insight into his own Cricket past and how he has adjusted to working life after Sport. Thomas enlightened Daryl, Steven and Oliver about the struggles he had, such as the change in lifestyle and mentality, as well as being able to adapt to a new challenge. Thomas provided the Cricketers with useful hints and tips to deal with such challenges and, in addition to this, what he learnt and found interesting from the transition from Sport to Business. He encouraged the Cricketers to challenge their competitive sporting streaks in new ways and to look forward to becoming the best versions of themselves in a new industry. 

We really enjoyed having Daryl, Steven and Oliver in and hope that they found the workshop insightful and useful for enhancing the skills needed to succeed in corporate life.

We hope to run more workshops like this in the future!