I am a die-hard football (soccer) fan. I love playing and following the English Premier League.
We are now halfway through the premier league transfer window in the UK, and I had to find a way to write about it.
What do football agents do?
Football agents manage transfers on behalf of their players. They negotiate contract renewals and handle any player marketing. They will often work with their players on multiple transfers throughout their careers.
What does a recruitment agent do?
A recruitment agent is not too dissimilar to a football agent. They will handle the marketing of your profile, organise opportunities, negotiate the best deal for you, and often work with you throughout your career.
Why do football players use agents?
Most football players start their careers at a young age, and their life is 100% committed to football. Football agents have different skill sets in marketing, negotiating, relationship building, and experience in closing deals. Using an agent allows football players to focus on their game and leave the agent to handle the pressures of managing potential contracts.
Agents will work with multiple players and, therefore, with many different football clubs to broker deals. This means an agent will have relationships with many potential employers for any player looking to make a change. This allows them to go straight to decisions makers and, in many cases, have an inside track on where there may be opportunities.
Why do people use recruitment agents?
For many people, working a full-time job can be full-on enough. Adding this to family life and everything else, searching for a job is just too hard. Its time consuming and can often feel unproductive. Writing countless cover letters, applying for jobs and not hearing back, or hearing back months later can be disheartening. Using a recruiter is essentially a way of passing that stress to somebody else so you can continue your everyday life. A recruiter specialises in marketing, and negotiating, is usually well connected within their market, and often knows where opportunities are even when not advertised. Having all your options through one person is convenient and, in most cases, more effective.
Fees
Most football players won’t pay agent fees as this would be something their new football club would negotiate separately. This is rarely a problem as the football club and the agent wants to strike a deal.
This is no different with recruitment agents. We don’t charge our candidates for our services. There is usually a fee for the business a candidate joins, making our expertise available to you for free.
The major difference between a football agent and a recruitment agent is the $ they charge.
Finding the right agent
Finding the right agent is essential in the football world and recruitment. A footballer is often contracted to a team; therefore, their agent would need to utilise discretion. Unless a player has become desperate to leave a club, floating the players ‘greatest bits video reel’ across all other football clubs would not be the way to go about business. An agent’s job would be to understand opportunities and make the player aware of their options. This is no different for recruitment agents. Unless somebody is unemployed, more care should be taken than sending a CV everywhere.
A football agent and a recruitment agent’s role is to find an appropriate home with the right opportunities, like-minded people, and fair remuneration.
The agent you choose must give you solid advice. In the football world, you could take Paul Pogba as an example. He was offered £300,000 weekly to sign a new contract at Manchester United. Pogba said Manchester United offered him “nothing” to keep him at Manchester United. He eventually moved away and Joined Juventus, where he now earns £129,000 (approximately) a week. That is nothing to complain about, but it is less than half the offer Manchester United made him. A good agent will tell you when you are looking at a good deal, even if you can’t see it yourself, and will provide solid market advice regarding salaries.
Now whilst I am part of a few social football teams across Christchurch and could probably hook you up with a team if that’s what you’re after, I’m certainly no football agent and would do that for free.
You can, however, call me the Jorge Mendes of recruitment.
If your in the market for an agent who has strong relationships within CA firms, looking for some salary information or career advice, feel free to reach out:
Ben Holloway | 03 244 0258 | bholloway@tylerwren.co.nz