The First Hurdle

By Steve Ingham

THE FIRST HURDLE: A guide to searching, applying and interviewing for jobs in sports performance

Whatever you go on to achieve during your career, it will stem from the pivotal day you were appointed to do the job. If you're aiming for a successful innings in sports performance (and there are thousands entering via sports science, sports t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simply Said
• Release date: May 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780995464391

Steve Ingham

Dr Steve Ingham is one of world's leading applied sport scientists. A physiologist by trade he has track record of providing scientific support to over 1000 athletes, of which over 200 have gone on to achieve World or Olympic medal success. Ingham has coached athletics to World and Olympic levels. Ingham was the Sports Science Manager at the British Olympic Association and the Head of Physiology for the English Institute of Sport, where he is currently the Director of Science and Technical Development. Ingham holds a BSc from the University of Brighton and a PhD from the University of Surrey and is a fellow of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences.

Book preview

Acknowledgements

For every job appointment there is a person behind the decision: somebody who has given someone a chance, seen their potential, believed in them and backed them to take the next step in their career. For me, these people have been:

Clive Riggs

Howard Green

Ted Twaddle

Colin Clegg

Andy Miles

Michelle Hammond

Nick Fellows

Richard Godfrey

Matt Hammond

Ken van Someren

Nigel Walker

Rachel Ingham (my wife)

Thank you!

If you hold back in hurdles you are going to fall over!

Sally Pearson

Contents

Acknowledgements

Runners and hurdlers: Introduction

Why bother?

Runner or Hurdler?

One principle: You can’t be anybody else

You

Step up

Get out of your own head: What interviewers think about

What and Who?

Hope and Fear

The million-dollar question

Target practice: Finding the right job

Reputation

Getting to know you

Search

Volunteering

Looking good on paper: CVs and cover letters

Putting pen to paper

Dream candidate

Substance

CV first page

CV second page

Cover letter

The warm-up: Interview preparation

Homework

The call

Characters

What you say and how you say it

Ready

First contact: The start of the interview

Hello!

Opening questions

Presentations

Xs and Ys: The question that differentiates

A fork in the road

X or Y?

Clarity, clarity, clarity: Structuring your answers

Define

Define and explain

Expecting the unexpected

Team: Can you work with other people?

Others

Team dynamics

Judge a person

Who are you?: The importance of self-awareness

Weakness

Strength

Sprint finish: How to finish an interview

Your questions

Why

Eyeing the competition: Group interviews

Dynamics

Impossible

A live case

Lull

Show me: Practical tests

Do the job

Experience tested

Virtual reality: Video pitching and online interviews

Sifting

Quality control

Submitting videos

Video interviews

Climbing the ladder: Interviews for managers and leaders

The next level

Pool

The feedback loop: Getting advice; win, lose or draw

Advice

Response

A final word for interviewers and interviewees

Interviewees

Interviewers

Appendix 1: Unpaid internships

Appendix 2: An overview of career routes

Career options

Which are the most sought-after professions?

Routes

About the author

More from Steve

Runners and hurdlers: Introduction

A guiding philosophy

You can base your hope on having a good day by just doing your best… or you can invest in learning how to become the best even when you’re having a bad day!

WHY BOTHER?

If you type ‘job interview’ into Google it will return a google number of articles about principles or methods you could use to ace them. Despite this, my experience of conducting upwards of a thousand interviews, and reviewing tens of thousands of CVs and accompanying letters for jobs in sports performance, tells me that either:

a) Very few people read these articles;

b) Applicants read the articles but ignore them because they’re obviously written for prudes, and surely, in this age of freedom and authenticity, ad-libbing freestyle is far superior to preparation, organisation of thought and clarity of communication;

c) The prospective candidates didn’t really want the job anyway; they just really fancied a nine-hour round trip from the outer reaches of the land and felt that stuttering, fumbling and sighing through a somewhat predictable set of questions would be pleasurable. 

Inquisition-style interviews are not generally accepted as the best way to assess a candidate’s commitment and employability, as they tend to feel staged and stilted, with the to-and-fro question-and-answer sessions failing to reach far beyond the nervous veneer. Panel interviews work well for senior roles, but I personally think group interviews and tasks work especially well for many others because this quickly gets behind people’s masks (more on that later). Group interviews test the need for diplomacy, negotiation, tact, co-coaching, support, magnanimity and listening skills on an equal footing with knowledge, logic, discipline-specific understanding, explanatory powers and the ability to press a point, all of which are required in the actual job. Asking someone how they would do or have done these things as an interview question, on the other hand, yields an answer that is subject to the candidate’s own bias, interpretation and representation. In group interviews candidates don’t tell people what happened or what they did – they show it!

If delivered with due consideration, the classic interview can do a decent job of separating the good from the bad; the runners and the also-rans. But this book isn’t for those who prefer not to run. It’s for the runners who didn’t know there were obstacles in the way that they would need to hurdle. It’s for those who lacked guidance or should have known better; those who should have done their homework or sought more vocational advice at university. It’s for those who should have been bolder and asked a mentor figure honest, open questions, such as How should I prepare for and perform in an interview? or How can I do well in an interview?, and invested in some professional support.

The reality is, few people bother to do the research, preparation and due diligence for a moment that could potentially decide whether or not they’re appointed to their dream job. Isn’t that weird? Some applicants spend thousands of pounds on a technical course and hundreds on a nice interview outfit but don’t invest in professional support when it comes to applying for jobs. The fact you’ve bought this book is a good sign and suggests you have potential as a hurdler!

RUNNER OR HURDLER?

I should add that this book is also for the runners who have previously got stuck on the first hurdle because they weren’t expecting it to be there or to be so high. Hurdlers who got beaten by better hurdlers, this is also for you! Don’t give up, as you may still have what is needed to take the leap. I’ll show you how. Finally, this book is for hurdlers who are already up and running in their careers because you might also find it useful.

I’ve used these pages to describe what I consider to be the essential components when it comes to applying for a job in sports performance. It’s a personal view, and I sure ain’t perfect, no siree, but I’ve seen many fall at the first hurdle, and that saddens me. By the way, reading this book won’t get you the job all by itself. Even if you follow it step by step you’ll need the experience required to back it up (more on that later), but it might reduce the odds of you getting lost, failing to answer the questions or becoming instantly forgettable.

Oh, and another thing… Many companies differ in the way they interview, and in the policies they must adhere to. The methods and ideas I’ve shared here were formed out of my work at the English Sports Council (now Sport England), the British Olympic Association and the English Institute of Sport, and from interviewing as a technical assessor for numerous professional teams and country sports institutes and bodies around the world. The core concepts remain the same in many cultures, systems and teams, and are common among a range of industries. I have tried to prioritise these in the pages that follow.

The First Hurdle aims to focus your attention on the importance of being yourself (Chapter 2); understanding the interviewer’s thoughts (Chapter 3); how to find work (Chapter 4); how to improve your application paperwork (Chapter 5); what to expect and do before the interview, and how to recognise the characters that tend to appear in interview situations (Chapter 6); what to expect at the start of the interview (Chapter 7); tackling the question that will most likely differentiate you in a positive or negative way (Chapter 8); how to add structure to your interview answers (Chapter 9); how to address team-oriented questions (Chapter 10); the importance of finding the right balance to questions about yourself (Chapter 11); ensuring that you finish the interview well (Chapter 12); the way group interviews work and how to outperform the competition (Chapter 13); what to expect from practical tests and tasks (Chapter 14); guidance for the growing trend of virtual interviews (Chapter 15); specific advice aimed at those applying for senior roles, including management and leadership positions (Chapter 16); how to obtain feedback after the interview (Chapter 17); and