Balcombe looks to improve interview technique David Balcombe, the former Hampshire and Surrey seamer, will have his first experience of a job interview when he takes part in an Interview and Assessment Day organised by the Professional Cricketers’ Association, the Rugby Players’ Association and PageGroup recruitment later this month. Balcombe retired from first-class cricket just before the start of last season to work in a marketing and commercial role with the KP24 Foundation, set up by his former county team mate Kevin Pietersen. But Balcombe has never had a formal job interview and has enrolled on the Interview and Assessment Day, which is being held at PageGroup’s central London offices on November 30, to learn new skills. ” I decided to retire only earlier this year and was fortunate to retire into a new career straight away, however the transition from the bubble of professional sport is not without its difficulties,” Balcombe said. ” I was lucky to effectively leave school, use cricket to leverage a university place and was signed at the age of 19. Upon graduation I was offered a full- time contract and didn’t look back till retirement in 2016, nearly 10 and a bit years on. In all that time, and now 31-years-old, I’ve never had a job interview. This is a fairly fundamental employment criteria to pass in order to obtain a job and skills I have never tested. ” The PageGroup day provides these opportunities, but also relevant interviewing in some of the fields I want to work in down the line and progress in. ” The commercial world of sport has always appealed to me and this is a field I am constantly exposed to in my marketing and commercial role with the KP24 Foundation. It is one I want to continuously explore to make new contacts and develop a strong career in in this next phase of my working life. The PageGroup day will hopefully highlight areas to focus on and help me develop my skills with key areas of development going forward.” Balcombe will be joined by past and present professional cricketers Freddie Coleman, Ruaidhri Smith, Adam Ball, Nathan Buck and Alex Macdonald as well as counterparts from the RPA at the PageGroup day which has been designed to make professional sportsmen and women job-ready for the business world and to allow them to showcase their employability. “The PCA Personal Development team are really excited about this collaboration with the PageGroup and RPA,” said PCA Personal Development Manager Lynsey Williams. “The Interview and Assessment Day will provide both current and former cricket and rugby players with an unique opportunity to experience the rigours and challenges of the recruitment process relative to their career sectors of interest and for them to gain valuable feedback on their readiness for employability in the corporate world. The PageGroup are hosting us in their board room of their city office so it will be fascinating to see how our candidates perform in what will be an unfamiliar and high pressure environment.” {{ak_sharing}}
