GRADUATE INTERNSHIP/ SANDWICH YEAR VACANCY: NATIONAL COMPETITIONS CO-ORDINATORS

GRADUATE INTERNSHIP/SANDWICH YEAR VACANCY

NATIONAL COMPETITIONS CO-ORDINATORS

The English Schools’ FA is the governing body for schools’ football in England. We are a membership charity and our key activities include:

Providing a national competitions programme each year: This year, over 40 competitions are being run and each culminates in a national final at a prestigious football venue;
Defining the regulations under which schools’ football is played;
Supporting our membership to increase opportunities to play football, particularly (currently) for girls and for players with a disability;
Providing opportunities for school pupils to play representative football at district, county and national level, the pinnacles of which are the Under 18 English schoolboys’ national team and the Under 15 English schoolgirls’ national team.

The ESFA has a small paid workforce but its activity is primarily run by volunteers. We are now offering a graduate internship in our Stafford headquarters. The opportunity is open to graduates from bachelors, honours or foundational degree programmes in a related subject. The ESFA also welcomes expressions of interest from those in the “sandwich” year of their degree.

The graduate internship vacancy is a voluntary post and as such is unpaid. It is offered in the first instance for the 2019/20 season (July 2019 – June 2020) on a four day/week basis. It is the ESFA’s intention to seek funding to convert this internship to a paid post at the end of the season, but this is not guaranteed. Those applying as a graduate (rather than a placement year student) should therefore give careful consideration to this factor when determining whether to apply: placement year students should note that their intention to return to their study after their year with the ESFA will in no way disadvantage them as applicants, given that future funding is unconfirmed.

Whilst undertaking the internship, the successful candidate will benefit from:

A full personal training programme to enable them to complete their internship successfully;
Any team development undertaken as part of the ESFA’s team training plan;
Reimbursement of approved and essential travel costs whilst on ESFA business;
Cost of overnight stays to support ESFA activity, where this is essential to ESFA business;
The opportunity to develop experience in and a good working knowledge of sports administration, including sports governance, event management, sports sponsorship and general administration in a small but busy office;
A reference and summary of achievements at the end of the tenure.

Interested candidates should read the attached role profile carefully, and prepare an expression of interest, evidencing ways in which they meet the person specification and demonstrating their interest in football.

Completed expressions of interest should be submitted to Andrea Chilton, CEO, at andrea.chilton@schoolsfa.com, on no more than two sides of A4, no later than 31 May 2019. In the meantime, further details about the ESFA can be found at www.schoolsfootball.org

ROLE PROFILE

Job title: National Competitions Co-ordinators

Salary & benefits: Voluntary internship/placement x 2

Responsible to: National Competitions Manager (NCM)

Responsible for: –

Primary purpose of role: Ensuring the effective operation of selected National Competitions and the competitions department and contributing where required to the general administration and co-ordination of all ESFA activity

Main responsibilities:

To contribute to the efficient administration of the National Competitions Department (NCD);
To be responsible for the circulation and processing of competition entry forms for selected competitions;
To ensure that teams participating in competitions are informed of the rules before and throughout the season;
To provide the teams with the necessary documentation for each round of competition;
To ensure that all draws and results files are update and communicated;
To ensure that all deadline dates are adhered to by competing teams and to chase up any missing results;
To maintain the national database for all National Competitions;
To implement the council policy for the staging of all National Competitions finals;
To arrange for match officials for appropriate stages of the National Competitions Finals;
To assist the NCM in the production of the National Competitions finals’ programmes;
To assist the NCM in the production of documentation and ticketing for National Competitions Finals;
To attend and support the National Competitions Finals;
To update the website regularly and support the relationships with partner sponsors;
To participate in training, development and appraisal processes necessary to fulfil the role;
To support the ESFA Council to fulfil its responsibilities;
To act with high standards of professionalism, business integrity and personal conduct at all times;
To act as an ambassador for the ESFA in the conduct of all business;
To comply with the requirements of the staff handbook;
To use best endeavours to support others in the achievement of their objectives;
To conduct any other duties as may reasonably be required by the employer.

Special considerations in this role:

This is a voluntary role offered on a 12 month fixed term basis from July 2019 – June 2020 (with room for negotiation on start dates) for a 4 day week, which may also be negotiable for an exceptional candidate. Travel expenses necessarily incurred in the course of ESFA business will be reimbursed in line with the policy set by Trustees.

Person specification

Graduate from a Bachelors or Foundation degree programme in a related sport or business discipline; or,
Current undergraduate seeking a year’s voluntary work placement as part of their degree programme;
A demonstrable commitment to voluntary work in a sport or educational environment;
A demonstrable interest in either event management or in sports administration;
An appreciation of the principles and concepts of working to support a membership organisation;
The ability to work occasional weekends and evenings;
IT literate and capable of using social media;
Highly focused on customer service;
An ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

Testimonials from Interns:

Working as one of the two National Competitions Intern has been a very rewarding experience. It has been the first time I have worked in an office based environment, therefore it has helped to develop both my social and practical skills.

Entering the internship I was unsure what to expect and what level of responsibility I would be given. But within a couple of days I had been given responsibility for all the U12 and U13 boys’ competitions. This provided me with a real purpose and if I encountered any problems I knew fellow staff could help me. The wide variety of tasks that came with the job meant that no days became monotonous.

Weekly tasks included replying to teachers to grant extensions and creating draws for competitions. Creating the draws was something I enjoyed a lot as it tested my geographical knowledge and now with the internship over, I now have a greater understanding of the distances teams travel to play games.

The internship also offered the chance to get out of the office various times over the year to watch football; a particular highlight was the Tie of the Round event where a Premier League footballer (Trent Alexander-Arnold, in my case) visited a local school.

The finals at the end of the year brought a great end to the internship and gave me an idea of what it is like to work in a stadium on match day.

I will always be thankful to the ESFA and their staff for letting me be part of their team and if the opportunity arises for me to work with them again, I would love to. Perhaps the biggest reason for why I am thankful is for allowing me to meet my idol, a footballer I had looked up to all my life – Shola Ameobi (holding a national final at Notts County’s ground meant that I ran into him).

My internship at the English Schools’ Football Association has been thoroughly enjoyable, and had given me the opportunity to gain real world practical experience within a football administration role, while providing me with an insight into the operations and management of a national governing body.

Throughout my time here I have felt an important and valued part of the organisation; within my role I was given plenty of responsibly, being placed in control of the governance for all U14s and U15s boy’s competitions. Further to this I was the main point of call for the Running IMP U12 Football fives competition, overseeing all stages of the tournament from the district round all the way to the National Finals. Working within a small office, enabled me to not only experience the administrative side of the organisation, but provided me with a chance to get involved and gain a greater understanding of the wider world of the football industry, Football Development to Marketing and PR/Communications.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this role is being able to attend our many National Finals, where I assisted in the set-up and organisation of the events. Being able to see the culmination of all the hard work myself and my colleagues had put in through the year was an incredible rewarding and satisfying experience. Getting to see our hard work pay off in the form of smiling happy faces enjoying their big day out is something I will not forget in a hurry.

On a personal note I would like mention what a fantastic group of colleagues I had the opportunity of working alongside. I was made to feel at home from day one and the guidance and support I received during my time was fantastic.

Overall all my experience at the ESFA was a great one and I encourage you to apply, as I have no doubt whoever is successful in gaining this position will enjoy their internship just as much as I did.

Good luck with your application!