Analyzing the State of Sports Hiring Report

The Work in Sports Podcast - Insider Advice for Sports Careers

Last week, WorkInSports.com released its inaugural State of Sports Hiring Report. Naturally, Brian Clapp leaned into the data it revealed in the latest episode of the Work In Sports Podcast to determine what the findings mean. One takeaway:

A Lot of Movement is About to Happen

Industries nationwide have been dreading a “Great Resignation” that is supposedly fast approaching, and the data in sports is bearing that out as nearly 60% (58.1%) of our State of Sports Hiring Report respondents were currently employed and either actively or passively searching for a new job. Additionally, only 5% of the respondents were employed and NOT seeking a new job.

One area that is having some difficulties within the sports realm is college athletics. There is a lot to unpack in that area as college athletics is a massive sports employer. If you look on our job board today, you can find roughly 5,000 jobs in college athletics, more than one-sixth of the over 29,000 sports jobs featured on WorkInSports.com. Downsizing hit them over this pandemic and some sources that we spoke with in our look at the current landscape of college athletics are struggling to build their staffs back up.

Sports are fun to watch and experience and additionally should be fun to be around at work. Yeah, the hours are long and non-traditional at points, but people who enter it generally do so because they enjoy that atmosphere. So when you hear that almost 60% of the people we surveyed are currently working in sports, but are at least considering leaving their post, that ties into the culture of the job they are at.