AltoPartners Spain and WFS Talent Form Partnership with Johan Cruyff Institute

October 27, 2020 – AltoPartners Spain, an international consultancy firm specializing in executive search, and WFS Talent, which provides human resources solutions for the sports industry, have formalized an agreement with the Johan Cruyff Institute to strengthen the institute’s career services offerings. Based in Barcelona, Spain, the Johan Cruyff Institute provides online and on-campus study programs in sport management, sport marketing, football business and coaching worldwide. The partnership will help facilitate employment opportunities in the sports industry for the institute’s students.

This service, which is available from this academic year, furthers the institute’s strategy to continue training new generations of sport management leaders and contributing to the professionalization of the sports industry. WFS Talent is the result of a partnership between World Football Summit, the platform that brings together the main leaders in the football industry, and AltoPartners.

A Strategic Alliance

Through this new agreement, Johan Cruyff Institute, which has been an academic partner of WFS since its creation, joins a strategic alliance that seeks to advance the process of professionalization of the sports industry.

“For an academic institution like ours, the development of our students’ professional careers is essential,” said Mariël Koerhuis, general manager of Johan Cruyff Institute. “We need to offer a springboard for our sports professionals to take a leap. This collaboration with WFS Talent, which benefits not only from the extensive experience and network of WFS but also from the expertise of the prestigious executive search firm AltoPartners, reinforces this purpose.”

“Sport has changed a lot over the last few decades,” said Marian Otamendi, director of the World Football Summit. “It is no longer enough to have champions on the pitch. To thrive in this complex and competitive industry, you need to have the best in every area—from the pitch to the very last office. WFS Talent was created with the aim of contributing to the necessary professionalization of the industry, which is the mission that inspired the creation of Johan Cruyff Institute.”

As a result of the agreement, the network of students and alumni of Johan Cruyff Institute will have preferential access to the job and internship offers on the WFS Talent portal, which will give them a competitive advantage over other potential candidates with a similar profile.

The service includes:

Career Services

• Introduction of the students’ CVs in the WFS Talent database at the beginning of the academic year, with CV templates and tips on how best to complete them available for use.
• Two-hour career counseling session (face-to-face or online) in the last month of the program on how to stand out in a job interview and the keys to negotiating your salary.
• At the end of their program, students will be able to update all the information on their employment objectives, desired position, availability, countries of preference and future projection to create a more detailed profile in the WFS Talent database.
• Preferential access to all offers on the WFS Talent portal. The students’ CVs will be included in the selection process of WFS Talent clients that are not published on the website during the following 18 months.
• During the first year after the end of their program, all those interested will have access to a face-to-face or online consultancy session with a human resources consultant who has a good knowledge of the sports industry.
• During the second year after the end of their program, those interested may apply for a “career advice session” with a consultant to discuss a specific topic, such as preparing for a job interview, advice on their LinkedIn profile, how to improve their CV or other advice.

Internships

During their program, students are offered different options for internships (in-person and online) in clubs, federations, sports institutions and companies, both in Spain and internationally. Both areas of the service are included in the master in football business in partnership with FC Barcelona, with an “executive” profile.

The Madrid office of AltoPartners Spain is headed by country manager Sara Bieger. Established in 2006, AltoPartners is a leading international alliance of retained executive search and leadership consulting firms. The alliance has 57 offices across 33 countries. Spanning the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, each member firm offers expert local knowledge and has the ability to provide access and insights to high quality leadership candidates in all of the major economies. Each member firm is owned and operated by its partners, operating under their local brand, so that clients and candidates benefit from the brand reputation and profile in their own markets.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media