How to Be Successful with Football Job Interviews

The football job market is oversubscribed.

On average, there will be around 100 applicants per advertised job role online.

To make the initial interview shortlist these days is an achievement in itself.

But its all for nothing if you don’t secure the role at the end of the process.

Too many practitioners are focused on making their CV look great but forget to do their homework when it comes to football job interview preparation.

For most fitness coach roles in football now, there will be a two-stage process for job interviews.

Stage 1 is an initial screening of the candidates to establish their personality and tick boxes when it comes to qualifications and experience.

Stage 2 is a more comprehensive assessment of the candidate which increasingly involves a practical element to showcase their skill set in a real-world scenario.

Many practitioners will fall down at stage 1. Then comes the challenge of stage 2.

How can fitness coaches navigate the interview process successfully?

Let’s dive in.

Interview Stage 1 – Initial Screening

Typically, this stage is all about getting to know the candidate and is often done remotely through an online or phone call.

It helps the employers establish which candidates match up in terms of what they are like as a person versus what is on their CV and cover letter.

Sometimes a candidate can have an outstanding CV but within a few minutes of speaking to them, you get a sense that they won’t be a good fit for the role.

Therefore, candidates should take this stage serious if they want to make it through to the last round.

Example questions during this stage include:

- What is your approach/philosophy to football fitness?

- How would you describe your personality?

- Can you give examples of how you’ve made impact in your previous roles?

There will be variations in the questions, but essentially, they will act as a tick box for employers to filter through the initial screening of candidates.

In addition, the calls are often brief (~15 minutes) because its likely they will need to make calls with a number of people, so they are relatively short.

Prepare answers for the above stock questions, particularly having key examples of impact in your back pocket.

Interview Stage 2 – Real World Scenario

Congrats you’ve made it to round 2! Now the real work starts.

In recent times, employers now ask candidates to perform a real-world task to see them ‘in action’ before deciding on their final candidate for the job.

For football fitness coaches, this may be out on the grass, in the gym or giving a presentation using a case study scenario.

Recent examples I’ve come across given to my mentees include:

- Design a return to play session for a player nearing the end of his rehab who had a previous grade 2 hamstring tear.

- Share a case study around some of your work that demonstrates some of your passion.

- Outline a 12 week in season gym programme, including periodisation details, for a 25 year-old player. Include how you would adapt for a mid-week game and also include details of testing protocols to measure impact.

For interviews that require an in person practical delivery, this is a true test of your skill set under pressure.

Often these types of interview will be with small groups (e.g. 4 young academy players) and deliver either on grass or within the gym (or both).

Key advice is to prepare like you would for any session. Come with a session plan printed to give to the interview assessors. Ask about available equipment beforehand so you can minimise surprises on the day itself.

The case studies may be delivered in person through presentation or online.

Presenting online brings its own challenges, such as getting your point across clearly and ability to ‘read the room’ which is naturally easier when you are actually in a room with people!

The first key step is to ensure you are answering the question posed properly.

In the above example around designing a 12-week gym programme, the candidate was asked to provide example microcycles within the programme but only had 15 minutes to present.

If they were to present every single week within their proposed programme, they would need an hour to do it properly.

The key aspects from this task were to show example key microcycles, how you would adapt to a mid-week fixture and using testing data to measure impact.

Three key things. This is what the 15 minutes should focus on.

One major mistake candidates make is seeing this as a chance to show off their knowledge, but end up waffling on without focusing on the task presented to them.

Bonus Tip

This all sounds like a lot of work just to get a job!

In addition to this, employers may also ask around to find out more about you.

Essentially this will be through a call or Whatsapp with someone who is connected with the candidate and has more experience.

Simple questions like “what is he/she like?” will have a major impact on whether you will be selected or not.

This is why networking is so crucial to get a job in football. Not only to get to the interview stage, but to also ensure you have a good reputation which will hold up when questioned by potential employers.

Take Home Messages

Within a highly saturated job market, its important that fitness coaches don’t miss out on jobs just through poor interview preparation.

Below are some key guidelines for getting through the various stages of interviews in football:

- Come prepared with stock answers to generic questions (e.g. your philosophy, examples of impact from previous jobs).

- Understand the question or case study asked of you. Don’t waffle and stick to the task.

- Do your background work and come prepared, understand who is at the interview and what resources are available on the day.

- Ensure you have a strong network and reputation in the game, it goes a long way!

If you want further help with interview preparation and help with progressing your career in football, check out my football fitness mentorship community here.

That’s all for this week. See you next time!