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HR Tech Outlook | Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Survey of 512 sports job seekers highlights employment trends including the Great Resignation, economic uncertainty, talent shortages, and new sports career paths
Frederick, Maryland – WorkInSports today released its 2022 State of Sports Hiring Report, providing a front-row seat to the trends impacting the sports employment arena. The second annual report is based on a survey of 512 sports job seekers and input from nearly 100 sports industry employers and experts in the talent management, HR, and recruitment marketing spaces. To download the report, visit https://go.ihire.com/ckgzy.
Top findings detailed in WorkInSports’ report include:
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1. The Great Resignation continues to sweep the nation – including the sports industry: 64.6% of survey respondents were employed but seeking a job either actively or passively (up from 51.8% in 2021). Moreover, 12.1% said they are hunting for work because they voluntarily resigned from a job, and 44.4% of sports industry employers expect turnover to affect their ability to hire in the coming year.
2. Ghosting haunts sports job seekers: Applying for jobs and not hearing back from employers was the No. 1 frustration among sports job seekers (57.4%), while 48.4% of respondents said they expect ghosting to deter their search in the next year.
3. There’s a gap between job requirements and candidate skills: 39.5% of sports job seekers are struggling to find jobs they’re qualified for, and 41.0% said they’ve recently applied for a job although they didn’t meet the requirements. Further, 61.7% of sports employers expect a talent shortage and a lack of qualified candidates to hinder their hiring efforts in the coming year.
4. Career changers have entered the sports arena: 32.8% of sports industry job seekers are looking for a new job because they’re changing careers or exploring a new industry, while 11.5% said they’ve changed careers completely or started a new career path since June of 2021.
5. New sports career paths are emerging: 53.0% of employers predicted that sports betting will have the highest staffing demand over the next five years, followed by data/analytics (48.1%) and name, image, and likeness (NIL)/athlete marketing (45.7%), creating additional career options.
6. Job boards are first-round picks: 63.7% of candidates said they’d go to a job board before any other online resource if they needed to find work immediately. Additionally, in the past year, 65.4% of candidates applied for a job through a job board, and 39.2% joined a job board.
7. Economic uncertainty looms: 41.2% of job seekers and 38.2% of employers expect economic uncertainty to impact their job search and hiring efforts, respectively, in the coming year.
“It’s an exciting time to work in sports, with emerging markets like sports betting, athlete sponsorships, and eSports driving new career opportunities,” said Brian Clapp, WorkInSports’ VP of Content and Engaged Learning. “Meanwhile, low unemployment, high employee turnover, and the widening skills gap are creating compelling stat lines for the labor market. Our second annual State of Sports Hiring Report offers an insightful look into these trends and what’s next for sports job seekers and employers.”
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