Alice Collins
Swimming at an elite level throughout her time at school, Alice Collins reflects on how her early years in sport equipped her with the skills that have seen her embark on her new career as a recruitment consultant.
It is an elite athlete’s transferable skills and their characteristics that they have developed through high performance sport, that can really make them stand out and excel in many environments away from sport.
Faced with the difficult choice of continuing to juggle her multiple commitments or make her career transition, Alice spoke about these transferrable skills, which she believes has given her the edge she needed to be successful in her career change.
“I did competitive swimming, and I did it at a regional level all the way through to national level. I was training right the way through my time at school, and it wasn’t until I got to my A levels until I started to reassess things. I found it was becoming increasingly difficult to balance school, social and sporting life. That said I don’t have any regrets about the years I put into swimming, I really enjoyed it and learnt so many amazing skills that I use in my current job in recruitment, such as self-organisation and self-discipline.”
“After school I went on to do an undergrad in geography where, I got a first. I was really happy with that, although I still wasn’t sure on what career path I wanted to follow. I knew I wanted to do something that was challenging, and would look good on my CV, so I decided to continue to study for a masters in Law. It was at this point actually, whilst I was writing my dissertation and still unsure of what I wanted to do, that I found The Transition Phase. I got in contact with the team and that’s how I found my job”
Alice is currently working as a Recruitment Consultant within the software & technology solutions sector. She explained how TTPs support helped her throughout her job hunting journey.
“It was amazing. I actually had already been in contact with a recruiter, and had a few interviews in place before I spoke with TTP, so the team was aware where I was in the process, but still worked as hard as possible to get me interviews. That was really great because often when you have other opportunities people aren’t prepared to put the time in to help you. So I went ahead and did those interviews, but found that the companies weren’t really what I was looking for. TTP really focused on finding companies that would work well for me, and matched my personality with the values of the company. I think that’s what’s really great about what TTP does, they really listen and help find you the perfect match. I knew straight away that I wanted the role, the team found the perfect company and I love working here.”
We are delighted to hear how happy and settled Alice is at her new workplace. We were interested to hear why she opted to go into recruitment from her diverse background in Law and Humanities, here’s what she had to say.
“I must admit I had heard some horror stories about recruitment and people not liking it. However the more I researched it and spoke with TTP, I discovered how much interaction you get with people on a daily basis in a recruitment role. That’s probably my favourite thing about my job, talking to people and finding out about them and their interests. I wanted to have an impactful career too, something that could make a difference to people’s lives”
“Recruitment is motivating, I get a sense of excitement every time I speak to someone via LinkedIn or something, there’s always that excitement about finding them a place so I think what motivates me currently is finding the right people for the right jobs. It can be very rewarding”
Recruitment, due to the nature of the role and what helps create success, is often a great career option for athletes to go into. Recruitment consultants are responsible for attracting candidates for jobs and matching them to temporary or permanent positions with client companies. If you are competitive, enjoy building relationships and like to get financially rewarded for the work you put in, then recruitment could be a good career path for you too.
Alice’s career transition is a true TTP success story, and we are extremely proud of how well she is doing in her new role. We asked her to look back on her journey through sport and education, and leave us with one piece of advice to help other athletes take that step into the working world:
“Make sure you fully understand what job you’re applying for, and listen to what people say. If you just nod along when people tell you the negatives of the job, and you don’t really take it in, I think that you can have quite a big shock when you come to actually do the job. When I was told about recruitment, I was told it would be a lot of hard work and long hours. It was still a bit of a shock when I started even though I understood what was being asked of me for the role. I think if I hadn’t really listened when people told me it would be long hours, then I could’ve quite easily been put off. So, I would say make sure you really weigh up the pros and cons of the jobs you’re applying to”