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The Paris 2024 Olympic games have ended, but with a new group of athletes arriving at the Olympic Village to compete in the Paralympic Games, career development professionals have a unique opportunity to draw inspiration from elite athletes’ journeys. I promise this isn’t just another blog about work that uses a ton of sports analogies; it’s about how people who are at the height of their careers need to think about their career development – and where to go when opportunities seem to run out. Athletes’ experiences can help inform our approach to working with career changers.
Olympic athletes develop a range of skills that extend far beyond their athletic prowess. These include discipline, work ethic, goal setting, strategic planning, teamwork, leadership, performing under pressure, resilience and adaptability. These soft skills are in high demand today. As career professionals, recognizing and translating these skills is so important for guiding athletes – and indeed any professional – through career transitions.
Many Canadian Olympians have gone on to have successful careers outside of their sport, leveraging the skills they honed as an athlete. Penny Oleksiak, one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians at 24 years old, is already exploring opportunities in interior design and fashion design – even though she intends to compete at the 2028 Olympics. Simon Whitfield, gold medalist in triathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, successfully transitioned into entrepreneurship, technology and keynote speaking. He co-founded a tech startup, drawing on his goal-setting and strategic-planning skills honed through years of athletic training. Clara Hughes, a six-time Olympic medalist in cycling and speed skating, found her calling in mental health advocacy. Her transition showcases how personal experiences and challenges can shape a meaningful second career.
These examples highlight the importance of identifying transferable skills and aligning them with new career paths – and the benefit of having guidance during transition. Canadian Olympic athletes are fortunate because they have support for moving on to the next step in their career development journeys. The Game Plan program – a collaboration between the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC), Sport Canada and Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network (COPSIN) – provides athletes with career counselling, networking opportunities and skill development workshops.
Key takeaways from this program include:
- Early intervention, with career planning starting well before retirement from sport
- Holistic support addressing mental health and identity shifts alongside practical skills
- An emphasis on networking, leveraging the Olympic community for career opportunities
- Continuous learning, encouraging ongoing education and skill development
These are all foundations of a great career development program that anyone can benefit from.
Many Canadian Olympians who competed in the Paris 2024 games are already thinking ahead. Interviews with athletes show a growing awareness of the importance of parallel career development. Commentators are increasingly highlighting the achievements that happen off the field in work and education. I couldn’t imagine working though a post-secondary degree, while holding down a job and training to compete in a sport at the highest level. While that it understandably overwhelming, staying future focused will make their career transitions that much easier.
For Olympians, career transitions often involve a significant identity shift. This challenge isn’t unique to athletes; many people with careers that have a high level of specific skills strongly identify with their careers. Career development professionals need to be prepared, while being careful to stay within their scope, to address the psychological aspects of career changes, including coping with the loss of a long-held professional identity; maintaining motivation in a new, unfamiliar field; and translating the drive for excellence into new contexts. Clara Hughes’ transition into mental health advocacy shows how personal challenges can become professional strengths, a powerful lesson for all career transitioners.
Career development professionals encourage clients to identify and articulate their transferable skills, sometimes with the help of a skills assessment like the Career Ability Placement Survey, the Transferable Skills Scale or the Ability Explorer. In addition, promoting continuous learning and skills development (even at career peaks), fostering resilience and adaptability in the face of change, emphasizing the importance of networking and personal branding, and addressing the psychological aspects of career transitions proactively, career development professionals act as a coach in the next stage of athletes’ (and other clients’) lives. Ultimately, it’s the athlete doing the hard work; career development professionals are there to help them achieve their greatest.
The lessons learned from Olympic athletes’ career transitions are important to keep in mind for career development professionals. Their experiences in transitioning from sport to new careers highlight the universal challenges and opportunities in career development. By applying these insights, we can become champions of career resilience, helping clients navigate their professional journeys with the same determination and adaptability shown by Olympic athletes. The world of work may not award medals, but with the right guidance, every career transition can be a personal success.
