There are many similarities between the structured lives of athletes and service-members. Ian shares his experiences and provides guidance for those entering the workforce.
Ian Powell
From growing up on a small island called Guernsey in the English Channel, to earning a scholarship on Florida State’s swim team, to representing my country on the international stage, to finding my feet in the London workforce and finally moving back across the globe to further my career in the Bay Area, my journey to Shift and Tech Partnerships has been a unique one.
Over the past 5 months, I have been building relationships with ambitious organizations across America who want to increase their veteran headcount & enrollment numbers. It’s been wonderful to talk with leaders who understand the immense qualities of veterans and are committed to making a difference, even in today’s economic environment.
The transition of a veteran into the workforce is not an easy one and here at Shift, we are looking to empower our servicemembers and ease that transition as much as possible. Coming from a competitive swimming background into the workforce was also not an easy transition and because of this I am able to relate to some of the struggles our veterans are facing.
Much like the military, swimming gives people incredible foundations for a successful career. The regimented lifestyle, work ethic needed to succeed, performing under intense pressure and teamwork to name a few are all extremely valuable skillsets in the workforce as we all know. Retiring from swimming however was a scary time.
My life was planned out while swimming. August to August each year from the age of 12, I knew what I needed to do to hit my goals, who my coach and teammates would be and where I needed to be each day. Retiring from swimming and thrown into the real world was a daunting task, especially with little experience on my resume at the time.
Much like the veteran network, swimmers build lifelong relationships and my first step was to reach out and get advice from other swimmers who had made the jump. I learned I needed to play to my strengths and use the swimming skills I had gained such as resilience, work ethic, teamwork, and competitive spirt to focus on certain careers. Recruitment and Sales seemed like great choices and not only that I would be helping people which is a core motivation factor for me everyday.
In the final few months of my swimming career, I went door to door to recruitment companies in Manchester to see if any would take me on to do an internship so I could gain some experience. With little success I was fortunate to meet a swimmer’s dad on the train who knew someone at Michael Page (Global Recruiting Company) and they took me onboard to call candidates for 4 hours per day in-between swim practices. This internship was the breakthrough I needed and while I made little money, the experience gave my resume the boost it needed. For veterans, DoD SkillBridge is a similar model giving them the opportunity to work at a company the final three months of service. Shift helps facilitate this program and we have seen immense success for both veterans and companies involved.
After focusing my efforts to work in London, I applied to a couple of world class companies and followed up with phone calls to make sure they saw my resume. Robert Half (Global Recruiting Company) got back to me quickly with a former NFL Europe Running Back Sharif Omar managing the London West team. Relating to my background he saw the value of a former athlete and offered me the job. Having a former athlete as a manager was incredibly valuable to my development as he could relate to what I was going through in making this transition. This relationship and opportunity lead to a wonderful career at Robert Half ending with me living in San Francisco where I am today.
When reflecting on my transition, the following were key aspects that made it successful. The great news for our veterans is Shift can facilitate these key areas to make this a less daunting and more successful process.
Tips to the transition
It’s important to remember in tough times like today that being in the Military is the best possible foundation for any career. You have the tenacity and resilience to get the career you desire and we at Shift are here to assist anyway we can.
