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- Oli Meager
Oli Meager’s route into recruitment differs more than most. A former tennis professional and coach, injury led to a career change. But, as he explains, professional sport and recruitment share transferable skills
One of the most striking things I’ve noticed about recruitment is the vast array of backgrounds that consultants hail from. From accounting to sales it seems there are no barriers to preventing determined and hard-working professionals from entering the industry, regardless of past experience. The one thing they usually have in common is experience of working in business-based roles. This is where I was different.
You could say I was almost born into the game – attending my first tennis match aged 10 days. I spent the majority of my early childhood with a racket in hand, trying to emulate the stars of my youth like Tim Henman, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Even the two fractured arms I suffered in separate incidents aged 11 couldn’t break my dedication to the game.
On leaving full time education I decided to turn professional. However, after a few years I was struck down by injury once again. This time, it forced me into an early retirement.
Wanting to continue working in the sport I loved, I became a professional coach helping to develop the next wave of British tennis talent. However, after a while I began to question whether this was something I really wanted to do in the long term. I’d found I’d already reached the glass ceiling when it came to pay and my development was stifled by the lack of any real path to the top.
It was by chance more than anything that I started my career in recruitment. An ex-girlfriend suggested the idea to me off the cuff and I thought I’d look into it further. The idea of working in a people-oriented business appealed to me and I thought the skills I’d developed as a coach should be transferable, in some ways at least.
In my first recruitment role I really hit the ground running and after a period of around four months I was headhunted by winner of ‘The Apprentice’ and Capita IT Resourcing MD, Lee McQueen, to work in the burgeoning ERP (Enterprise Resourcing Planning) team.
This was the challenge I’d been waiting for since finishing my tennis career. Since then, I’ve been honing my skills to become the very best I can be, something I’ve taken from my sporting days. In fact, I’ve found that a number of the competencies I valued as a sportsman are really useful in recruitment. Self-discipline and commitment are crucial in both fields, for example. My interaction with people from my time spent as a coach also benefitted me. I learnt that listening is crucial in order to be a successful coach, just as it is to be a success in recruitment. An effective consultant needs to be able to listen to the demands of both client and candidate and react accordingly.
My competitive nature also aided the transition into the recruiting world. After just a few weeks as a consultant I found I was enjoying the energy of the office and it took me back to my sporting days. I’ve always believed that the best sports stars are competitive, but within the rules of the game. Think Rafa Nadal rather than John McEnroe. And this is something I’ve taken with me into recruitment. I’ve always wanted to be the best in anything and everything I do, just as long as I’m doing it honestly.
Recruitment and tennis also share another similarity. While both may seem to be focused on the individual, I’ve found that being part of an effective team is critical to success in both fields. In tennis, the interaction with coaching staff, physios and everyone else around you is vital just as I’ve found it is with my colleagues at Capita IT Resourcing.
So while I feared breaching the unknown and moving away from tennis, I’ve actually found recruiting to be an apt replacement. I’m just glad I had a sporting background to prepare me for the wild ride.
Oli Meager (pictured) is principal business systems consultant at Capita IT Resourcing
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