Its own data shows that 50 per cent of candidates it has placed into jobs in the sports industry are likely to be women, compared with just 22 per cent a year ago. The jobs range from senior marketing roles with rights holders to business development positions, account directors and sales executives in the agency sector.
One of the reasons for the growth in the number of women getting into sport is thought to be the increasing commercialisation of the industry in recent years.
Says Chris King, managing director of The Sports Recruitment Company: “Sport used to be a bit of a closed shop with vacancies being filled by people who had always been around the club or venue, perhaps as a volunteer or working up from a very junior role.
“But as sport has become increasingly commercialised, employers have become more and more open to bringing in talent from outside and utilising skills from other disciplines. This is particularly true in the area of marketing where candidates who, for example, have cut their teeth marketing consumer goods can bring their skills to marketing sport.
“At the same time, we’ve seen more and more women enjoy sports as consumers, particularly in football, cricket and rugby. It is possible these two factors combined have driven the rise of women entering the sports jobs markets, but the change in the last year has been surprisingly quick.”
