Cammy Keith, senior business manager at TMM Recruitment, discusses the lessons he learned on the pitch as a semi-professional footballer, and how they have shaped his career in recruitment.
MY time as a semi-pro footballer has been at the forefront of my mind lately. I briefly emerged from retirement last month for a charity match in aid of Keith Cancer Link and have been closely following the 40th anniversary celebrations of Aberdeen’s Gothenburg Greats. I am also looking forward to the upcoming Soccer Aid for UNICEF charity match, which will see a host of famous faces step onto the pitch at Old Trafford.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Why? Free to subscribe, no paywall, daily business news digest.
I found my time in football, both as a semi-pro in Scotland and across the pond where I played NCAA Division 1 level football, to be a formative experience. I set out to make the most of the opportunities in front of me and that has shaped how I approach my role as a manager and a recruiter.
I began playing for Keith FC as a fresh faced 17-year-old and retired from the sport at the age of 34. I retired as the club’s all-time top goal scorer, a fact I am immensely proud of. Leaving was a huge decision for me, but it felt like the right time. I had achieved everything I’d set out to, both from a team perspective and individually. I knew that the experience I had gained through football would be invaluable for the rest of my life.
Looking back at my time in football, there are certainly skills I developed that have transferred into how I perform in my professional life as a recruiter, including, as clichéd as it sounds, teamwork. Playing as part of a squad involves the management of multiple different personality types – the loud ones, the quiet ones and all those in between. You must be able to work effectively with all of them if you are to collectively succeed. Turning ‘me’ into ‘us’ is the first step on the road to success, be that scoring goals, recruiting candidates or anything else you put your mind to.
Saying that, not everything is achievable on the first try. Starting out in my career in football I received my fair share of knockbacks, teaching me the value of resilience. At 19, I was rejected by Nottingham Forest, following a trial, and then I tore my ankle ligaments within the opening minutes of my first game playing in the States. I was supposed to be the striker that the club had brought in to score goals, but within five minutes of gametime I was out of action. Football seasons in the US are very short, and I was out injured for three weeks. This incident made me question whether I should throw in the towel before I had even got started. But I persevered and came back stronger.
The highs and lows in football, which usually accompany the wins and losses, taught me to never rest on my laurels. I learned that you can always improve, but more importantly that you can always come back from a loss.
It’s funny, looking back now, I can draw a lot of parallels between my time as a young footballer and the early stages of my recruitment career. And then again from my time as captain of Keith FC and becoming a manager at TMM Recruitment. I didn’t realise I was learning at the time. You pick up so much without realising it; people skills, teamworking, strength of character, the list goes on. They are all built into the experience, whether that is assisting a teammate or being shouted at by an old school football manager, everything is a learning opportunity.
I have worked under a variety of different managers in my time, all with very differing managerial styles. I have taken something from all of them. Blending methods together to see what fits best for me and my way of working, both on the pitch and behind a desk. In my experience, the key is to tailor your style to the individual you are managing.
I would regularly receive feedback from my coaches, sometimes from personable managers and sometimes from ones who would give us the ‘hairdryer treatment’, ranting and raving at us in the locker room. Feedback is an essential step on the journey to personal growth, you just need to consider the person you are speaking to and how best to connect with them.
Working in a close-knit environment, be that a football team or an office, inspires a sense of team-spirit and loyalty. I forged lifelong bonds with the people I played football with, in fact my best pal from the States was one of my best men at my wedding alongside my brothers. We didn’t just work together, we shared our wins and losses together, we socialised together, we developed a culture together.
The value in building that culture, in developing a camaraderie with the people in the trenches with you, cannot be overstated. Playing alongside different characters in football gave me the ability to speak to anyone – be that candidates, clients or colleagues. I am professional, but friendly and down-to-earth, instead of acting too corporate.
My employers have always been great advocates for my time in football. This was really important to me. I firmly believe that the beginning of a young adult’s career should not necessarily mean the end of their sporting one, no matter the level they are playing at. You can certainly have the best of both worlds. And it’s okay not to have it all planned ahead of time. My career in recruitment started when my mum spotted a small newspaper advert. You might not have it figured out right away, but trust me, it all falls into place.
It’s rare that things come together exactly how we expect they will, and if something doesn’t work out, there is an entire world of opportunity out there. So many skills are now transferable. Between jobs, between sectors, and between industries. I see that every day with the candidates I work with. I place people into jobs in the energy industry, and more often now than ever before, candidates are moving from oil and gas jobs to renewables and vice versa. I’m also helping people enter the energy industry who have worked in other sectors all their career and are worried about not having the right skills. They shouldn’t be. Knowledge and skills can traverse sectors, but the first step is having the attitude to try something new.
Contact Cammy to discuss how TMM Recruitment can support your renewable focused recruitment on T 01224 327 000 and [email protected].
