Life After Sport - No Athlete Left Behind

Meet the Kiwi Olympians on a mission to ensure all kiwi athletes are set up for 
life after sport.

Holistic development and athlete wellbeing are the core values behind a new business venture by Olympic Cyclists Sam Dakin and Callum Saunders.

Podium Recruit is being launched by the two Olympians with the backing of leading recruitment service agency, HainesAttract, and aims to connect New Zealand’s athlete community to employment opportunities that fit their needs and skill sets.

It is a free platform that New Zealand athletes from any sport, and at all stages of their careers can sign up for and use to help gain work experience or employment at the end of their careers or while still training towards their goals.

At a time when it is sharply evident that more emphasis needs to be put on supporting kiwi athletes outside of the sporting arena, we are now seeing the athletes themselves beginning to foster change.

For Dakin and Saunders, who competed in Tokyo last month, what comes after sport is something they have thought about a lot during their careers, with both athletes putting a lot of emphasis on ensuring they have a good sport/life balance. They’ve been acutely aware that there are not enough conversations in sporting circles about what athletes go on to do when they leave competition.

Their passion for ensuring other athletes are also thinking about life after sport prompted them to start the Athlete Community Link- a small platform assisting Waikato based athletes to find employment in 2020. This led them to a meeting with Jake Riggir, to the partnership with HainesAttract, a recruitment and attraction agency to get Podium up and running, with a wider national focus.

Since the initial set-up and soft launch, Co-founder Jake Riggir has been encouraged by the growing number of employers who are keen to advertise roles on the platform.

“We have had a lot of employer interest in the platform, which is a testament to how desirable the transferable skills of athletes are. At the moment, the number of opportunities on the platform outweighs the number of athletes we have signed up; this sends the signal to athletes that they are sought after, which is why we are encouraging them to sign up with Podium to explore those opportunities,” says Riggir.

One of the current athlete wellbeing concerns Dakin believes Podium will help to overcome, is assisting athletes in identifying as more than just an athlete.

“Being in a high-performance environment is like having tunnel vision; you have your eyes set on a goal, and everything you do is about working towards that one goal. When you’re living like that, it’s really easy to tie your identity to your sport; it’s not healthy and can be damaging if an athlete gets to the end of their career and doesn’t know who they are without their sport.

“Our goal with Podium is to help athletes build an identity away from sport that will help make that transition easier on them and make them believe they are more than just an athlete,” says Dakin.

Saunders also believes that Podium will be a crucial tool for supporting athletes that have been on the cusp of achieving greatness but aren’t getting the attention or support they deserve.

“So often we don’t hear or talk about the athletes coming fifth, seventh or tenth at the Olympics and Paralympics or who narrowly miss out on selection all together. It’s so easy to forget they’re there or that they’ve sacrificed the same amount as any of our medalists. This platform is for all athletes, but it’s especially for them because they are the ones that need our support, and I think often they haven’t been getting it,” says Saunders.

Often these athletes can fall outside of the parameters for high-performance support services, so Dakin and Saunders see it as a top priority to work with the National Sporting Organisations and get Podium in front of their athletes.

“We’ve had some good, supportive responses from NSOs and some not-so-great responses from others. At the end of the day, we just want to help other athletes - we know that’s what the NSOs want too, so for us, it’s a dream partnership, and we’d love to start working with more NSOs moving forward,” says Dakin.

Hamish Price from HainesAttract says it was easy to partner with Dakin and Saunders to bring Podium to life.

“It made complete sense for us to be involved (with Podium); there is a lot of demand at the moment for workers and gaps that need to be filled. Our business is all about innovation and generating creative solutions that will make a difference.

We have a lot of admiration for what Sam and Callum are aiming to do with this platform; there is so much potential to make a meaningful and positive difference for kiwi athletes by providing employment opportunities suited to their needs and making the most of their skills. From our perspective, Podium is precisely the type of innovative platform that’s needed in the current tight-employment climate to help meet the need of employers,” says Price.

The platform is designed to be flexible and meet the needs of athletes at all stages of their careers. It hosts a range of work experience, entry-level and experienced positions that include casual, part-time and full-time hours.

Over the coming months, Podium’s focus is growing its athlete database and attracting more employers to the platform to continue their mission of ensuring every athlete has the chance to prepare for their future.

To learn more about Podium Recruit, or if you’re an athlete that would like to sign up for the platform, head to https://podiumrecruit.com/.

ENDS.

For media enquiries and interview requests please contact:

Rebecca Dubber 
+64 21 030 2863

About Podium Recruit: An initiative built by athletes for athletes, Podium aims to support kiwi athletes by providing them with a free platform that connects them with flexible employment opportunities and supports where they are at in their sporting journey.

Co-founded by Sam Dakin, Callum Saunders and Jake Riggir, and supported by HainesAtrract, Podium was set up on the basis that there is a need to support the holistic growth and development of kiwi athletes - something Dakin and Saunders have experienced first hand as high-performance athletes, and a desire from employers to utilise the unique, transferable skills that athletes bring to the table.

When athletes sign up to the platform, they will sign the Podium Pledge, which acts as a promise from the athlete to bring the same level of commitment and attitude into the workplace that they apply to sport.

About Haines Attract: Taking an unconventional approach to talent attraction and recruitment, HainesAttract combines creativity and expertise to champion employers' stories to engage and hire talent. Supporting over 270 organisations across New Zealand, from government agencies, the tech sector, DHBs, primary industries, the construction and infrastructure sector and more.

HainesAttract has always been at the forefront of solving market challenges - from developing New Zealand’s first job board (nzjobs.co.nz) through to the LookSee/Workhere programme in 2017 that attracted global construction and tech professionals to New Zealand through a collaborative country-led approach. HainesAttract is able to provide a wide range of services and solutions with a team of experienced recruiters, client service consultants, candidate managers, developers, and creatives that work across New Zealand.

Being focused on solving both client and sector’s challenges, it made sense to partner with Podium. With a wide client community and mix of resources, HainesAttract can back Podium and develop its story and solution to take to market. Like the rest of the world, New Zealand is enduring crippling skill shortages. By bringing an Athlete community together, Podium not only gives our sportspeople the support they need, it gives New Zealand employers access to talent and skills in a market that is searching for them.
 

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