Sporting Jobs, leaders in recruitment and executive search within the sports industry, recently welcomed Ciaran Durham to our team.

As he completes his first month with the company, we sat down with him to discuss his experiences so far and ask him some questions.

Q: Ciaran, welcome to Sporting Jobs! Firstly, introduce yourself to those who won’t know much about you!

Hello, I’m Ciaran, I am 23 years old, and I was raised in the best county in the world - Leicestershire. When I’m not working, I am probably non-stop talking about my first and only love Leicester City Football Club.

As the office is awash with both Aston Villa and Birmingham City fans, it’s nice to have brought some recent silverware to our wider group of staff.

Having spent the last 4.5 years in Manchester, where I studied Sports Marketing, it’s great to be back in the Midlands and a fun fact about me is that I am an identical twin. Me and my brother Rian were born with a serious blood syndrome called Twin to Twin transformation syndrome and have raised money and sponsorship to this cause in recent years.

Q: Working in sports recruitment is quite unique. Has there been any surprises or unexpected aspects you have found during your first month?

The Sports sector is extremely unique, and almost every business and role within a brand or club can be different to someone with a similar title in another brand or club.

My previous experience in recruitment saw me dealing in the 'recruitment to recruitment' industry, where I learned and honed my skills in shortlisting and identifying talent, which I now have the pleasure of taking into the Sports industry.

One thing that has surprised me the most is how warm and friendly the people in the Sports industry are, always willing to answer my many questions about all the weird and wonderful facets to a sports club or organisation.

Q: Can you share some projects or initiatives you've been working on since joining Sporting Jobs?

It’s been very exciting to be working with an EFL giant in the North of England for a CFO role, this was one of the first roles that I worked on and to make it such a special one was such a good feeling.

Between myself and our Recruitment Director Harry Lynch, we were able to submit a shortlist of candidates that matched the detailed brief that the club had given us, and by working closely with various people at the club, it was great to learn more about the culture and team there to enable the best possible candidates for the role.  More to come on this in the coming weeks!!

Q: How have you found the team and the wider group at Sporting Jobs?

The team that I work with have been brilliant so far and we have a great balance between work and a bit of banter. I didn’t realise how closely the businesses in our group worked with one another before I joined and I think it’s worth mentioning that away from recruitment, we have Sporting Group International – who deliver on sponsorships in Sport , like front of shirt deals and stadium naming rights and SGI Sports Management, who are a talent management agency working with players and athletes too!

It is also worth mentioning that we have recently developed our networks in India, Germany and Spain at Sporting Jobs and now have dedicated websites and teams working in these locations. 

Q: What is your focus for the coming 3 months?

In the coming months, I will be looking to build upon the work I have done so far split between speaking with candidates and learning about the different roles and teams within Sport and introducing myself to new and existing clients of Sporting Jobs.

We have targeted some specific sports like F1, Motorsport and Cricket for myself along with areas like Sports Tech that I will be looking to make my own specialism within the team.

Q: And finally, have you developed any nickname in the office yet?

Like I mentioned before, the team and other colleagues are brilliant and amongst the hard work, we have a great atmosphere and banter which has led to shouts of Ricky Gervais as a lookalike and the nickname ‘Brent!’.


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About Sporting Jobs: Sporting Jobs are leaders in recruitment and executive search specialising in the sports industry on a global scale. With a dedicated team of experts, Sporting Jobs connects talented professionals with exciting opportunities in the dynamic world of sports. For more information, visit our website: www.sportingjobs.co.uk