Sital Ruparelia

Do you sometimes dream about making a career change into a role which combines your passions and interests with your talents and skills?

Well, if you have a strong analytical and report writing background and love football, there’s a great job I have just seen advertised on the Sky website – a Football Statistician!

Looking at the title, you would think that Sky Sports are looking for a ‘statistician’ and so individuals in quantitative teams within banks or insurance firms would be the best fit.

But if you take a close look at the advert and what they are looking for, that’s not the case:

Skills – Numerate, analytical, writing skills. Plus the ability to communicate and interact with variety of other teams (production teams, presenters, commentators)

Traits – Accuracy and attention to detail.  Flexibility (to work across different sports where required)

Experience – Journalistic experience – i.e. writing reports and packs to tight deadlines

Qualification – Whilst the title is ‘football statistician,’ there is no reference to requiring a maths / stats degree or a strong quantitative bent. So provided you have a numerate background and meet the other criteria you should be well placed.

Knowledge – In-depth knowledge of football and general interest in other sports.

So if you’re an analyst working in the front office research team of an investment bank, many of your skills are transferable.  Writing daily, weekly, monthly reports to tight deadlines whilst interacting with traders, sales teams and clients is very relevant.

If your sector is related to sports, leisure or media then you probably have a real edge on other applicants.  You will also frequently cover other sectors for colleagues and so have demonstrated the ability to be flexible.

Equally, if you’re an investment writer within an asset management firm or investment management consultancy, your background is also relevant.  Liaising with fund managers and marketing teams, analysing performance reports and creating weekly, monthly, quarterly report packs both for clients and publications again seems very relevant.

Sound interesting?

This is a one-off role, so if you are vaguely interested then just apply!

At worst, you don’t get selected for interview – but you’ll have a good story to tell your friends. At best, you could find yourself getting paid to do what you do best – analyse, write and watch sport.

Let me know how you get on

If you do apply, feel free to let me know in the comments box below – would love to hear how things go. Who knows, once you get the job, you may even be able to get me a role as a football pundit alongside Andy Gray!