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Hey ,
I'm writing this on Thursday as I'm travelling up to Scotland for a weekend away, but I did a post last week I wanted to expand on more. It's about the hiring window in football.
It's is open right now.
Every summer the same thing plays out. People move on for new opportunities. Staff shift between clubs. New hires come in for the season ahead. The next eight weeks are when the bulk of European hiring happens. Analysts. Scouts. Recruitment staff. Performance roles.
And most of the people who want to break in will miss it.
Not because they aren’t good enough. Because they aren’t paying attention to how fast the movement is actually happening.
The Last Two Weeks Alone
In the last couple of weeks I’ve watched people I know personally change roles.
Sean Richardson moved to Hibernian in Scotland. A close friend of mine, a senior scout in the Championship, has just moved leagues. And that’s before you count the dozens of roles that have been posted at clubs I’d consider good opportunities.
If that’s happening to people I’m connected with, it’s happening everywhere. The market is live.
The people landing these roles aren’t the ones refreshing LinkedIn and waiting for the right job title to appear. They’re the ones already doing three specific things.
1. Their Work Is Already Out There
Scout reports. Analysis. Dashboards. Published publicly before the roles were posted.
When a head of recruitment or sporting director sees an applicant’s name, the first thing they do is search them on LinkedIn. If nothing comes up, you’re an unknown. If your best work is sitting there, you’ve done half the interview before the conversation starts.
You can’t build this in a week. That’s the point. Eight weeks from now you can’t suddenly produce a body of work that took someone else six months. But you can start now, so by the next window you’re not scrambling.
2. They Work Their Network Before Applying
When a club advertises a role, most people go straight to the application form.
The ones who get further do something different first. They message someone already inside the club - or someone who used to be - and ask what the role is actually like. What they’re looking for. Who’s involved in the hire.
That conversation shapes the application. It often gets the application seen by someone who matters. Sometimes it is the application.
3. They See Roles Before the Job Boards Do
Clubs don’t always post on the public job boards. Plenty of roles go up on club websites first. Or get shared quietly by staff on their own LinkedIn before any job boards picks them up.
If you’re only watching the big job sites, you’re seeing roles after the people already connected have had a head start.
Follow the analysts, scouts and heads of department at the clubs you’d want to work for. That’s where the first signal shows up.
Visibility Makes You Findable. Action Makes You Memorable.
There’s no secret here. These three things are what people who break into football consistently do. The issue isn’t knowing them. It’s doing them when there’s no immediate payoff.
The next eight weeks will decide a lot of careers. Not all of them, but a lot. The people who show up now won’t all land a role this summer. But they’ll be further along the ladder than the ones still planning their portfolio in June.
Start this week.
Liam
Doors close in 7 days.
On April 30th, we're closing The Recruitment Room to new members until July. If you want the portfolio work, mentorship from people inside clubs, and the community to help you land a role so you don't miss the next window, now is the time.
→ Join The Recruitment Room
Any questions, just reply. I read everything.