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How and X-Men can help tips and tools that will guide you you find a job in the sport through your job research. industry? X-Men strategy for the sport By: Vanessa Tribet industry? Professor of Sports Management The word “” usually suggests EU Business School, Switzerland science-fiction movies: people with September 2020 strong abilities and powers like in the ______X-men movies. But mutations are normal. They are the origin of the diversity of any living organism. We Introduction are all mutants. Mutation leads to changes in behaviour or physical Is your genetic code the source of traits. your career opportunities? The So, mutation = evolution. But biggest obstacle to evolution mutations are random. They are (personal, professional) is fear. Fear accidents. So “ mathematically,” - of change in particular. Would the accidents = evolution. Following global economic performance be Darwin’s theory, we base our blocked by a simple neurological analysis on the fact that any signal from our reptilian organism evolves by better adapting brain? Would the instinct of survival to its environment, that helps it to have inhibited the desire to leave survive. According to Darwin, these one’s comfort zone? Should we changes allow an organism to better wonder how to leave the comfort adapt to its environment, which will zone in order to evolve in our lives? help it to survive and have more In our careers? But how to perform progeny. Darwin is often victim of his without evolution? own research. With time, people Simply thanks to what you already translated his theory by “The natural are: mutants! selection is the “selection” of the “strongest” organisms.” This open Darwin has spent years of his life discussion about the signification of about the question of evolution. As “strongest,” is it about muscles or evolution is mutation, we could ask about performances? His real theory ourselves how evolution has led us to postulates that it’s about the “fittest” competition. As competition is often organism, which means: the associated to sports and to organism who has a relative adaptive recruitment processes, we can advantage within a given logically ask: how the origin of environment. In the economy or recruitment process of the sports during a recruitment process, this is industry has been affected by called a competitive advantage. evolution? Epigenetics and ecosystem analysis Companies want to find the will be the answer. candidate who “fit the best” in their open position. As the answer is The sports industry has become directly linked to the environment (= even more competitive due to the ecosystem), the company has a sanitary crises of COVID-19. We will direct impact on the answer. How to conclude this article with reflections, evaluate each company’s

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ecosystem? And how then to our career? Would epigenetics be evaluate the competition between one of the key success factors in our candidates in this specific career? Just as the worm ecosystem? According to this Caenorhabditis elegans would have notable quote “everybody is a an attraction for a smell acquired by genius. but if you judge a fish by its the experience of over 40 ability to climb a tree, it will live its generations, could a candidate whole life believing that it is stupid!” inherit a professional performance we can assume that the next trends thanks to their ancestors? And what in Human Resources will be to about sporting performances? evaluate each “fish” according to its own ecosystem, and not the Epigenetics show that our behavior opposite. has an influence on the expression of our genes and rejects the Is sports the origin of competition determinism of conventional in the recruitment process? genetics. Joël de Rosnay describes this “Symphony of the living” as a As the market is not exactly ready for double responsibility. Everyone can this human resource disruption, let decide to put in place concrete us first understand the sports actions to protect themselves from industry market (where do we come chronic diseases, live, and age in from), in order to better understand better health... collective awareness where we are going. allows, by analogy, to influence the functioning of society and enterprise. The theory of natural selection could have been based on sports history. And if you can have influence on the Origins of sports are based on economy, businesses and people, it hunting (kill to survive) and territory means that you can have influence wars (evolve to lead). Somehow, on jobs. A new world is opening up competition has always been a tool to analyze career opportunities! for evolution, not only for sport competition or candidate Research has already proven that recruitments. sports activities have an epigenetic impact: it changes the expression of Sport, wrote Jean Giraudoux, is the our genes. "It is widely believed that only way to preserve in man the physical activity improves health qualities of the primitive man. It status, quality of life and longevity, ensures the passage from the past but the mechanisms involved in this stone era to the future stone era, link remain unclear." Professor Carl from prehistory to post- Johan Sundberg, team leader at the history, sports provide some of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, strongest virtues of the soul (energy, has partly solved this mystery. In a boldness, patience) to the body. study published in the journal Epigenetics, the researcher and his Sports, career and transmission of team prove that regular physical acquired characteristics exercise has an effect at the epigenetic level, in the nucleus of What about our ability to transmit muscle cells. acquired characteristics in our ecosystem? What is the impact on

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Could we learn one day that salary (and taxes) will lead to the managers could improve their reduction in the objection to your leadership through epigenetics? The hiring (sponsor supports for a next revolution in Human Resources position of sponsorship manager could come from epigenetics, in for example). addition to the Darwinian Another thing to do is to change your understanding of the ecosystem in approach to the market. This change order to be able to “fit” perfectly with targets and considers small and the business we want to work for. medium-sized enterprises. Are you used to targeting big federations or How to get a job when nobody big companies? Consider smaller recruits? enterprises. They are more flexible than large companies and have been The sports industry has been able to react faster. Perhaps even particularly affected by the Covid-19 some of them were forward-thinking health crisis. For the past 6 months and benefited from the crisis. They no sporting event has been held might have now a strong growth rate. “traditionally” and we do not know how long this status quo will last. A competitive market for the Many companies have frozen candidates = new job recruitment until the end of 2020. So, opportunities how to get hired anyway? Companies need to continue their Our history is full of success stories. development if they want to survive, Innovation comes from people who which means that you have 3 can see opportunities, even in times opportunities: of crises. The sports industry is no • Replacement of different. The next few years could maternity/paternity leave. It might be the golden years. The current be for a short period, but you will economic context forces disruptive have the opportunity to be noticed innovation. For example, the French by managers of the company, start-up Syllabs writes articles. The develop your network and be on robot editor can write 36’000 articles top of the list when recruitment in 4 hours. It could be used for processes will start again. comments and articles about • Companies cannot hire you, but worldwide sport competition. they can pay you. They continue In 2020, sports event companies to pay invoices even if they have have to face an unusual situation. It stopped signing contracts. If you is not possible to organize events, become a supplier instead of an and for the small numbers of events employee, you could start allowed, fans cannot be here to working for the company. Instead support the athletes. Innovation need of paying additional salaries to be strong enough to be able to (which they are not allowed to reload the fan community. Athletes do), they will pay an invoice are also involved in this process. For (which is not frozen). example, Roger Federer launched • High market volatility is driving « Tennis at home challenge » - a companies to be cautious. If you swiss buzz which has been are applying to small/medium appreciated by the companies, coming with the community. Companies have also guarantee that you will pay your decided to focus on a « human

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centered » strategies. We can Scoville, H. (2020) What is forecast that Community Managers, Darwinism? Thoughtco. Online. Fan Engagement Supervisors and Sport Data Analysts are going to be Timson, D.J. (2017) We are all key job positions to fulfil in the next Mutants. Association for Science decades. Job trends are strongly Education. School Science Review, oriented on the digital. Technology, Vol. 99, No. 366. Pp 45-50. yes, but not only. Companies have Ennis, C. (2014) Epigenetics 101: A understood that if they want to keep Beginner’s Guide to Explain their key employees (and attract star Everything. The Guardian. Online. profile), they need to be focused on their employee values. The sports Freeletics (2017) Le gène du sport : industry is strongly an industry of une simple coïncidence? Online. values. Sports has a strong visibility on the market (through athletes, Tort, P. (n.d) Darwin n’est pas celui events, advertising ...) and will que l’on croit. P. 61. Online. certainly be one of the first to massively represent the jobs of Lamarck, J.B. (1801) Research tomorrow: Gender Equity Managers about Living Organism. Online. or Sustainable Supervisors, for example. Strong visibility means strong responsibilities.

The sports industry is launching the new trends. Let us build the jobs of tomorrow, map new career opportunities, be impactful, be a mutant, and build your own evolution.

References

Darwin, C. (1859) The Origin of Species. Bellis, . (2019) A Brief History of Sport. Thoughtco. Online. Parienté, R. (n.d) Histoire du Sport. Encyclopædia Universalis. Online. Osborne, A. (2017) The Role of Epigenetics in Human Evolution. Bioscience Horizons: The International Journal of Student Research. Vol. 10. Favre, L. (2020) Le Covid-19 accélère la mutation du sport. Letemps.ch. Online.

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