Rangers FC - Football Careers

Rangers FC International Soccer Academy

In 2007, Gary Gibson joined Rangers FC as a Community Coach. Since then, he has held various roles within the club, working as a Community Projects Manager, Soccer Schools Manager, and Youth Academy Coach.

Gary’s current role with Rangers FC as Head of Soccer Academies and International Relations has seen him take on a considerable amount of additional responsibilities, including the recruitment of coaches, administrative staff, managers, and other team members for international roles.

Rangers FC’s Soccer Academies are an integral part of the club, and former participants have gone on to play for the first team. The international branch offers football, educational, and cultural development programmes for overseas groups and organisations at home and abroad. In addition to this, its Coaching Clinics allow coaches around the world to work under the guidance of highly qualified staff at Rangers FC.

Knowing he needed the very best talent in the game to help the club’s soccer academies meet their goals and achieve their vision, Gary reached out to Football Careers for recruitment assistance.

Recruitment challenges in international markets

For football organisations and clubs abroad, finding the right people for roles can present certain challenges. In areas where the sport is still developing and growing, the talent pool may be small to begin with. If a high level of coaching qualification is needed for the job, the pool becomes smaller still. A number of other factors can affect and shape the hiring process, which is why we tailor our approach to suit each recruitment partner’s unique requirements and goals.

When Gary first began looking for suitable candidates to join the Soccer Academies team at Rangers FC, he struggled to connect with the right people. With a range of international positions available — from Northern Ireland to the United Arab Emirates — Gary needed to extend the reach of his job adverts and connect with qualified football professionals around the world. He commented:

“Football Careers is a very well-known company and has a stellar reputation for recruiting the right people for various positions within the football world. I wasn’t finding who I needed when it came to filling our roles, so I decided to get in touch with Football Careers to discuss beginning a recruitment partnership with them.”

Streamlining recruitment with CV filtering

Our team worked with Gary to optimise the content of his job adverts so they would attract candidates whose qualifications and experience were suited to the roles. Because the objective was to engage with candidates on a global scale, we included regular social media promotion as part of our bespoke recruitment package for Gary.

Football Careers has an international community of football professionals who visit our website and social media channels frequently to learn about job vacancies, industry news, and more. In connecting with this audience while seeking a coach for a role in Abu Dhabi, Gary found the right candidate for the position. Rangers FC’s International Soccer Academies consistently receive a positive response to adverts placed on our job board:

“Football Careers has been invaluable in helping me to recruit within international markets, and the candidates are always of an excellent calibre. When I’m given my list of filtered CVs from Football Careers, the applicants have the correct skill set and qualities for the roles we have advertised, which saves a lot of time and effort when it comes to deciding who to interview.”

Finding the right candidates with executive search

In addition to working with Gary to advertise international roles via our job board, Football Careers has also provided Rangers FC’s International Soccer Academies with executive search services for positions in China. When finding the right candidate is time-sensitive or a position is more challenging to fill for other reasons — such as the qualifications it requires — our team of recruitment experts recommends a highly focused approach.

We consulted with Gary to determine an ideal applicant profile for his role in China and set out to find candidates who had the experience and skills he was seeking. After reaching out to our community of industry professionals, we contacted appropriately qualified coaches on Gary’s behalf to discuss the opportunity with them.

At the interview stage, it became clear to Gary that he had found the right person for the job and a successful placement was made. The candidate remained with Gary’s team in Shanghai for two years, building Rangers FC’s International Soccer Academy programme there from the ground up. Gary said:

“Rest assured, the team at Football Careers will work closely with you every step of the way to look for and find the best individuals for your recruitment needs. Their network is unparalleled in the football world — they’re in touch with coaches at all levels and stages of the game, across a huge range of locations. Whether you’re in the UK or abroad, I would highly recommend working with Football Careers to find strong candidates for your team.”

Taking The Next Steps

If you would like to discuss our bespoke recruitment solutions, or if you have any questions about our services, please contact us and a member of our team will be happy to arrange a free consultation.

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