The SportsGrad Podcast: The Ultimate Guide to Make it in the Sports Industry

Meet Jeff Dickinson-Fox, the Digital Engagement Manager at the Australian Olympic Committee. Jeff has been working with the AOC in the years leading up to Paris 2024 and recently returned from 16 days of jam-packed days sharing the stories and successes of Australia’s athletes.

Lots to look out for in this podcast including how Jeff directed his degree in Journalism towards Digital Media, what it means to be a Digital all-rounder and why it’s so valuable in 2024, creating your own experience to stand out in applications and much more.

Additional episodes you may enjoy:

#52: How the Brisbane Heat grew a massive following, Nic Laube

#170: How to be a social media producer at Cricket Australia with Emily Collin

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Want a weekly dose of career inspo? Get industry stories, upcoming events, and the latest sports jobs in your inbox each Friday.

👉 Subscribe to the SportsGrad Newsletter

The SportsGrad Community connects Members to peers, professionals, events, jobs, and development opportunities.

👉 Become a SportsGrad Member

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👉 Subscribe to SportsGrad Talent

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok!

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This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast. Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au

Thanks for listening! You’re all legends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Has Paris got you dreaming of working at a future Olympic & Paralympic Games? Well if Brisbane 2032 is on your radar, Nat Cook (5x Olympian and Sydney 2000 Gold Medalist) is here to inspire you to do just that. Nat is on the Board of the Brisbane 2032 Committee, and back in 2021 she came on to share all of Brisbane’s plans for the Ganes, plus her keys to success as an Gold Medallist.

I’m bringing that ep back to the forefront today because there’s so much Gold in this ep (literally gold medals appear).

For a look inside the initial plans of the Brisbane Organising Committee, and how you can prepare like an Olympian to realise your career dreams, tune into this treasure trove with Nat Cook!

We cover:

•How to plan to host an Olympic & Paralympic Games 10 years out

•What makes Natalie Cook great

•3 critical moments that shaped her today

•The unique power of sport and Olympians

•The importance of learning people’s names

•Why resilience is the most vital part of any job

•The importance of building you and having a dream

Additional episodes you may enjoy:

#273: Journey from Paralympian to Disability Sport Australia Manager with Elle Steele

#16: How to become a Sports Lawyer for the Olympic Games with Garth Towan

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Want a weekly dose of career inspo? Get industry stories, upcoming events, and the latest sports jobs in your inbox each Friday.

👉 Subscribe to the SportsGrad Newsletter

The SportsGrad Community connects Members to peers, professionals, events, jobs, and development opportunities. Join as a Rookie or Pro Member.

👉 Become a SportsGrad Member

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok!

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This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast. Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au

Thanks for listening! You’re all legends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello friends! I spent 17 days at the Paris Olympics, today I summarise it for you in an hour.

In this ep I share the 3 key things that shaped my experience, how I aimed to squeeze every bit out of it, plus all the stories from bts.

We hit everything from the impact of the host nation, to the vibe around town, to what it was like running the Olympic Marathon course without training (may have done some permanent damage).

If you're thinking of attending a major event in the future, tune in to get my pov on what it's actually like, and how Paris stacks up against other international events.

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Additional episodes you may enjoy:

#248: SportsGrad in Europe | Le Tour de France, IOC, UEFA and more

#245: SportsGrad in London - What Reuben's been up to in the UK

#226: What it's like to be at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar

#225: T20 World Cup tournament time jobs with Jack Lloyd & Harrison Orchard

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Want a weekly dose of career inspo? Get industry stories, upcoming events, and the latest sports jobs in your inbox each Friday.

👉 Subscribe to the SportsGrad Newsletter

The SportsGrad Community connects Members to peers, professionals, events, jobs, and development opportunities. Join as a Rookie or Pro Member.

👉 Become a SportsGrad Member

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok!

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This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast. Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au

Thanks for listening! You’re all legends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meet Tom Wilkins, the Head of Research at City Football Group for Manchester City FC. City Football Group are one of the biggest sporting bodies in the world, who own and operate Manchester City FC, Melbourne City FC, New York City FC, Mumbai City FC and 9 other clubs across 5 continents. 

Tom’s role as Head of Research involves helping the club understand fans to make better decisions across Fan Engagement, Strategy, Marketing and many more. Basically if a department has a research question they need solved, they turn to Tom and his team. 

In this podcast we cover why this role exists internally, key projects Tom has been involved in, asking good questions, setting research briefs, being a strong moderator and remaining objective. We also dive into Tom’s career journey and how this Man City fan landed in his dream job.

We cover:

(06:30) Welcome to the SportsGrad Podcast Tom!

(07:51) Quick-fire questions

(15:26) What does the ‘Head of Research’ at City Football Group do, and what does a day in the life look like?

(17:20) Why does this role exist?

(18:01) What are some of the key projects that Tom has been part of?

(21:05) How to ask good questions when conducting research interviews, to ensure that you receive the more relevant and in-depth results

(25:45) How do they create project briefs? 

(30:18) How does Tom remain objective when conducting new research? 

(34:10) What sort of learnings do you get out of Moderator Training?

(36:53) How does Tom learn from other industries and sports?

(40:27) How does Tom’s career transpire to make it to Manchester City?

(44:50) Does Tom act proactively in his career growth or has it happened naturally?

(46:32) What does Tom enjoy most about working at City Football Group?

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Additional episodes you may enjoy:

#85: NBA Vice President of Product Experience, Jay Lee (Part 1)

#87: NBA Vice President of Product Experience, Jay Lee (Part 2)

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Want a weekly dose of career inspo? Get industry stories, upcoming events, and the latest sports jobs in your inbox each Friday.

👉 Subscribe to the SportsGrad Newsletter

The SportsGrad Community connects Members to peers, professionals, events, jobs, and development opportunities. Join as a Rookie or Pro Member.

👉 Become a SportsGrad Member

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok!

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This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast. Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au

Thanks for listening! You’re all legends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did the Paris Olympics get you in the mood to work on LA 28 or Brisbane 32?

If you’d one day love an epic job at the Olympics, today’s podcast features several people who have been living the dream.

In this pod you’re going to get introduced to people working across Commercial Partnerships, Commercial development, Media rights, PR, Social Media and more.

You’ll find out what they’re doing on the ground, and how they got hold of their dream job.

You'll hear from:

(6:06) - Andrew Ryan - Managing Director of FIBA Media

(10:00) - Hayley Conway - Partnerships Consultant

(15:09) - Briony Carlyon - Media Official for International Golf Federation

(17:13) - Stella Barry - English Content Creator for Paris Olympic Committee

(20:04) - Tom Hickey - Director of Business Development for Brisbane 2032

(24:00) - Kiri Madhani - Senior Commercial Partnerships Manager at DAZN

(27:53) - Penelope Roth - Press Conference Supervisor (Tennis & Boxing)

Additional episodes you may enjoy:

#256: Meet the Sail GP staff on the ground in Saint-Tropez

#243: Tom Hickey (Brisbane 2032 Olympics) - Living the dream at the NFL, IOC & Brisbane 2032 Olympics

#148: Andrew Ryan (FIBA Media) - How to sell sports media rights

#171: David Pryles (Hockey Australia CEO)

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Want a weekly dose of career inspo? Get industry stories, upcoming events, and the latest sports jobs in your inbox each Friday.

👉 Subscribe to the SportsGrad Newsletter

The SportsGrad Community connects Members to peers, professionals, events, jobs, and development opportunities. Join as a Rookie or Pro Member.

👉 Become a SportsGrad Member

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok!

*

This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast. Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au

Thanks for listening! You’re all legends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meet Lyndall MacInnes, Project Manager at the Australian Olympic Committee. If you wish you were working on the Paris Olympics this week, well today you’re going to learn how Lyndall navigated career changes across 5+ industries before landing a dream job at the Australian Olympic Committee. Today we dive deep into what her job looks like in the lead up to Paris 2024, unexpected challenges that come with working on an Olympic Games, how she stood out to land this dream job, and much more.

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Additional episodes you may enjoy:

#285: Journey to Team Manager of a Super Netball Club with Leigh Southern

#254: How to work in SportsTravel with Guy Redhouse

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Want a weekly dose of career inspo? Get industry stories, upcoming events, and the latest sports jobs in your inbox each Friday.

👉 Subscribe to the SportsGrad Newsletter

The SportsGrad Community connects Members to peers, professionals, events, jobs, and development opportunities. Join as a Rookie or Pro Member.

👉 Become a SportsGrad Member

Want our recruitment insights? Hiring Managers, get the SportsGrad Talent newsletter

👉 Subscribe to SportsGrad Talent

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok!

This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast. Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au

Thanks for listening! You’re all legends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meet Lucy and Emma Race, sisters who are the co-founders of Making The Call.

If you haven’t heard of Making The Call, it’s an organisation that develops and delivers pathway programs for women and non binary people in sports media.

Additionally, they’re co-creators of the award winning The Outer Sanctum Podcast, and between them, they are public speakers, broadcasters, board members and producers - just all-round media weapons!

Today we dive deep into their cohort program, Making The Call, how it came to be, where they found the inspiration, how they developed the content, how it’s grown from strength to strength and how you can get involved.

If you’re keen to learn more on how to crack the media industry, make sure to give this episode a listen!

We cover:

(00:37) Who are Lucy and Emma Race from Making The Call?

(01:42) Hello and welcome to the SportsGrad Podcast!

(03:40) What’s going on inside the SportsGrad Community?

(06:45) Welcome to the SportsGrad Podcast Lucy and Emma Race!

(08:22) Quick-fire questions

(17:08) What is Making The Call, and how is it delivered?

(18:45) Their career journeys and how they aligned

(22:45) Where they found a love for broadcasting and how the Outer Sanctum came to be

(27:33) Experiences that have taught them invaluable lessons

(30:37) Lucy’s career journey so far

(32:53) How does Lucy’s background align with Making The Call?

(37:27) What does the curriculum at Making The Call look like, and how is it forever changing?

(48:41) How the media landscape and current cohort influences the Making The Call program

(50:45) How social media and content creation is changing traditional media

(55:40) How Making The Call stands out in comparison to other programs

(1:03:05) Who are some of the people who have been through the program?

(1:10:05) What is their top piece of advice they’ve learnt along the way?

(1:14:48) ASK SPORTSGRAD

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Additional episodes you may enjoy:

#238: Journey to Sports Diversity & Inclusion Consultant with Rana Hussain

#263: Journey to become a Sports Journalist with Sarah Burt

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Want a weekly dose of career inspo? Get industry stories, upcoming events, and the latest sports jobs in your inbox each Friday.

👉 Subscribe to the SportsGrad Newsletter

The SportsGrad Community connects Members to peers, professionals, events, jobs, and development opportunities. Join as a Rookie or Pro Member.

👉 Become a SportsGrad Member

Want our recruitment insights? Hiring Managers, get the SportsGrad Talent newsletter

👉 Subscribe to SportsGrad Talent

This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast. Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au

Thanks for listening! You’re all legends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to part 2 of our 2 part ‘Best of Ask SportsGrad’ episodes!

This is a collection of the most popular questions asked by you guys that have made it to Ask SportsGrad.

Today we’re going to dive into your top questions specifically around job hunting, networking and using LinkedIn. You’ll learn how to find experience when you can’t get any, how to job hunt if you’ve just moved to Australia, what to do if you’re not qualified but really want the job, how to network, and how to find mentors.

Then on the LinkedIn front we answer your questions on what should you be posting about, how to increase engagement if you are posting, plus how to craft your experience section properly.

If you struggling to crack the sports industry job market, put this on repeat.

Tune in and enjoy!

We cover:

(00:49) Welcome to SportsGrad! What is #ASKSPORTSGRAD?

(02:34) How can I best get involved in volunteering?

(05:47) How can I make myself a good candidate for jobs overseas?

(10:04) I’m not fully qualified, should I apply?

(12:05) How can I improve my networking in the sports industry?

(15:03) Where do I even begin when cracking the sports industry?

(17:15) How can I make the most of an internship opportunity?

(21:50) How should I address ‘cultural fit’ on a resume?

(26:03) Any advice on how to best seek a mentor?

(30:41) How do I increase my LinkedIn engagement?

(36:30) What content is suitable to post on LinkedIn?

(41:01) How should I layout the experience section on my LinkedIn?

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Additional episodes you may enjoy:

#196: 8 steps to set up your LinkedIn profile like a pro

#200: How to get a job in sport without getting lucky

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Want a weekly dose of career inspo? Get industry stories, upcoming events, and the latest sports jobs in your inbox each Friday.

👉 Subscribe to the SportsGrad Newsletter

The SportsGrad Community connects Members to peers, professionals, events, jobs, and development opportunities. Join as a Rookie or Pro Member.

👉 Become a SportsGrad Member

Want our recruitment insights? Hiring Managers, get the SportsGrad Talent newsletter

👉 Subscribe to SportsGrad Talent

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok!

This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast. Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au

Thanks for listening! You’re all legends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to part 1 of our 2 part ‘Best of Ask SportsGrad’ episodes!

This is a collection of the most popular questions asked by you guys that have made it to Ask SportsGrad.

Today we’re going to dive into your top questions specifically around cover letters and interviewing. You’ll learn how to stand out in a cover letter, how to make sure you get to the interview stage, and how to follow up after an application if you don’t hear back. Then on the interview front, we answer your questions on interview nerves, preparation you should do, questions you can bring in and more.

If you struggling to crack the sports industry job market, put this on repeat.

Enjoy!

We cover:

(00:45) Welcome to SportsGrad! What is ASK SPORTSGRAD?

(02:22) How should I structure my cover letter?

(04:58) What can I do to talk about transferrable skills in my cover letter?

(07:59) This is how a hiring manager wants you to respond to interview questions

(11:32) How can I beat the job interview nerves?

(14:14) How can I best prepare for an interview? Should I reach out to someone in a similar position?

(20:04) What’s the best way to follow up on an interview?

(24:27) How should you respond if a team asks if you have a favourite team you support?

(27:37) How to answer the inevitable interview question “so, do you have any questions for us?”

(31:13) What do I need to prepare for a phone interview?

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Additional episodes you may enjoy:

#128: Kimberlee Furness (Netball Australia) - How to sell yourself in a cover letter

#200: How to get a job in sport without getting lucky

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Want a weekly dose of career inspo? Get industry stories, upcoming events, and the latest sports jobs in your inbox each Friday.

👉 Subscribe to the SportsGrad Newsletter

The SportsGrad Community connects Members to peers, professionals, events, jobs, and development opportunities. Join as a Rookie or Pro Member.

👉 Become a SportsGrad Member

Want our recruitment insights? Hiring Managers, get the SportsGrad Talent newsletter

👉 Subscribe to SportsGrad Talent

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok!

This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast. Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au

Thanks for listening! You’re all legends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meet Mirinda Kidman, Manager of Delegation Services for the FISU World University Games 2025.

If you’ve never heard of FISU before, this episode is going to open your world to one of the largest employers in the sports industry - university sport. Based out of Germany in the Rhine-Ruhr region, the 2025 games will host over 10,000 athletes and officials from 170 countries across 12 days.

In this episode, we dive into the World Uni Games, the second largest multi-sport event in the world after the olympics, and you’ll learn how Mirinda crafted her career to this position, what she does, and how she became a stand out candidate. Plus, why she loves being part of the SportsGrad Community all the way over in Germany.

Enjoy the episode!

We cover:

(00:34) Who is Mirinda Kidman?

(01:40) Hello and welcome to the SportsGrad Podcast!

(03:31) What’s going on inside the SportsGrad Community?

(07:30) What’s it like working in Europe with all of the major events on at the moment?

(09:45) Quick-fire questions

(16:52) Who are FISU World University Games and what do they do?

(21:50) Why is the FISU so much larger than other university sports across the globe?

(25:41) What planning is required in the year prior to the Games?

(29:48) How many people work at FISU and will there be opportunities to work there in the future?

(31:49) What does Mirinda’s role involve as the Manager of Delegation Services?

(40:15) How did Mirinda get her role, and how did she get accepted?

(46:15) How did Mirinda stand out in her application for this role?

(49:10) Why did Mirinda join the SportsGrad Community?

(51:10) What other professionals should get involved in the SportsGrad Community?

(52:20) Mirinda’s advice for those applying for roles at major events

(55:15) ASK SPORTSGRAD

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Additional episodes you may enjoy:

#289: How to move from London to Australia and work in sport with George Ludlow

#283: How to get your first full-time job in sport with Hayley Gorman

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Want a weekly dose of career inspo? Get industry stories, upcoming events, and the latest sports jobs in your inbox each Friday.

👉 Subscribe to the SportsGrad Newsletter

The SportsGrad Community connects Members to peers, professionals, events, jobs, and development opportunities. Join as a Rookie or Pro Member.

👉 Become a SportsGrad Member

Want our recruitment insights? Hiring Managers, get the SportsGrad Talent newsletter

👉 Subscribe to SportsGrad Talent

Follow us on Instagram and TikTok!

This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast. Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au

Thanks for listening! You’re all legends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.