Personal Development
Personal Development
Every registered professional player can work with a Personal Development Manager (PDM) to explore:
Education & Skills Development
Access information, advice and guidance on flexible learning options from your PDM. This includes introduction courses to degrees and beyond as well as vocational pursuits including coaching qualifications and life skills.
Career coaching & Guidance
Receive individualised future career planning to identify career areas and specific roles. Your PDM will help with identification, preparation and action and will advocate career activism and change readiness.
Wellbeing
Supporting individuals’ welfare and positive wellbeing through promotion of resources and signposting to PFA Wellbeing services.
Finance
Encouraging players to be more financially literate is important. The PFA believes the average length of a professional playing career is less than 8 years.
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Planning and Advice
How to Write a CV
Your CV should clearly highlight your skills, achievements and experience, and you should adapt it for each application to show your suitability for the role.
Contact the education team for CV templates, but every basic CV should include:
- contact details
- a personal statement
- achievements and skills
- education
- work experience
- hobbies and interests
Identifying Careers
You'll spend a significant amount of time at work. In order to enjoy your job, stay motivated and fulfil your potential, you should start looking into sectors you’re passionate about.
There are a few simple steps to help you identify a potential new career:
- evaluate your current skills and interests.
- research the jobs market in your chosen sector.
- work out which roles suit your needs.
Once you have decided what role you want to pursue, we can help you get the qualifications you might need to secure it.
LinkedIn is a great platform for networking and job searching, and can help you easily connect with the companies you’d like to work with.
Using LinkedIn correctly is an effective way to build a supportive, professional network. It can highlight career opportunities and recommend you for roles that you might not otherwise have come across. Creating a profile also shows your availability to thousands of recruiters within your professional network, increasing your chances of securing your dream job.
Free online courses
Short courses are a great way to discover new passions and can help reignite your love for learning if you haven’t studied for a long time.
There are thousands of short courses you can take, both on and offline. Here are some fantastic free resources we recommend:
- Google Digital Garage is great for learning new business skills
- Learning Curve offers free online taster courses for PFA members
- Property Hub is a useful resource for players with property goals
- Online Academies can help you learn new skills from your own home
- InsideSherpa is a great virtual work-experience programme
- Duolingo can help you pick up a new language easily
- Future Learn offer courses across a wide range of subjects
- OpenLearn offer a selection of free courses from the Open University
Work Experience
Work experience enables you to test out a career, build skills and discover more about an industry. Internships, work placements and volunteering are great ways to gain experience and helps impress potential future employers. Some work experience placements might even give you the opportunity to take on some really interesting and challenging responsibilities.
Where do I start?
Your own network is the best place to start. Be proactive and consider your long-term career plans and the industries you would like to explore. Make sure your CV is up-to-date and construct a brief letter of introduction telling them why you want to do work experience with their company. Do your own research and remember, most people, like to help others.
Who Should I Contact?
- Friends
- Family
- Club sponsors
- Previous teammates
- Agent
- Financial Advisor
- Accountant
- PFA Business Partners
Networking
Most jobs are never advertised, so building a professional network can be invaluable when you start looking for new opportunities.
Your personal network is the best place to start, and an introduction from a mutual contact is a great way to connect with a future employer. You can speak to people in your network, add them on LinkedIn and ask them for advice and recommendations. You should consider building your network with:
- friends and family
- sponsors at your current and former clubs
- previous teammates and colleagues
- your agents and business partners
- your financial advisors and accountants
- the PFA and our partners
FAQ'S
There are a range of distance-learning and online courses you can try, so you don’t necessarily have to make time to attend an academic institution. However, many of the courses we recommend are designed especially for professional sportspeople and take your playing commitments into account.
We help hundreds of current and former professionals with their education plans every year, and most are surprised at how much we can offer.