Personalise by telling your story
Tell how your story relates to your desire to get this job within sports. Show the employer what your unique experience in sports is or in which aspect of sport you are an authority. It is possible that you started your sports career at college playing, coaching or organising sporting events or you may also have participated in hundreds of running events as a volunteer for example. All of these experience should be part of your story.

Personal Brand
Recruiters within the sports industry look at social media platforms to understand how good you interact with other decision makers in the Sport Industry. How many connections do you have on LinkedIn? How many decision makers within sport do you follow on Twitter? Have you published any articles in online magazines or have you got your own sports-related blog? Do you have a professional or non-professional profile? Consider all of these aspects when writing your covering letter.

Passionate at work
Show what your passion can achieve within the sports industry, tell the employer how you increased ticket sales by 50% in your last job or how you engaged with followers via social media; don’t just tell them you are passionate about sport but passionate about working in sports!

Summarise your relevant experience
Provide specific sport-related qualifications and achievements relevant to the role and organisation that you are applying for. Job descriptions tend to be quite lengthy and detailed; therefore, you should summarise briefly in the covering letter your skills, experiences and aptitudes relevant to this organisation. 

Keep it short and follow-up
HR departments in most of the sporting organisations are understaffed and overwhelmed with hundreds of applications. Keep your covering letter simple and to the point. Do not forget to follow-up with a telephone call to make sure they have received your job application.

Highlight Connections
It is all about the credibility you have within the sports industry. You should mention in the covering letter the reliability demonstrated for your previous employer. When applying for a specific sport organisation, you should leverage your contacts to find out if they know your target organisation and any of their employees. Within the sports industry everyone tends to know each other and it is worth mentioning who you know.

 

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