The Russian International Olympic University (RIOU) successfully launched a new course Career Management in Sport (Outplacement) within the Olympic educational program

Professional athletes’ adaptation to active life post competition, integration into the professional community, use of their capacities for career development and proactive social role – these are the tasks of great importance for the athletes.

The advanced course Career Management in Sport (Outplacement) was developed by the joint efforts of RIOU and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and is targeted at athletes who strive for achievements after their retirement from sport as well as for all those who are involved in the athletes’ outplacement.

Elizaveta Kozhevnikova, famous Russian alpine skier, winner of the Olympic Games, sportscaster,  news anchor and host of thematic programs at NTV-plus and Match TV, was a guest speaker. By her example, she identified issues faced by the athletes after their career in sport is finished, as well as told about new possibilities and resources to utilize in order to fulfil themselves in their life after sport.

Participants who completed the training were recommended by the regional Olympic councils of the Krasnodar Territory, Astrakhan, Lipetsk, Saratov, and Murmansk regions, Republic of Tatarstan and Republic of Kalmykia, by the Central Olympic Academy and the Olympic Academy of the Urals. Among them are professional athletes who retired from sport or at the finishing stage of their sports career, as well as those who actively work with athletes and help them in their professional activities – coaches, directors and staff of sports clubs, sports training centers, professors of sport-related higher institutions.

During the training, the program participants could assess in practice the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches towards job search, test by their own examples of new technologies for outplacement, writing of CVs and letters of reference for certain positions, as well as master skills in self-presentation and communication with employers.

The program attracted a high level of interest and received a very positive feedback from the participants.

— When I and other participants enrolled for the course, we had no idea how it is possible to train a former professional athlete to succeed in job search and outplacement, but the lecturers impressed and inspired us. The structure of the lectures was very unusual and interesting, lots of great practice work, exercises in self-development, true-life tools and techniques which will help in outplacement. I had just finished my sports career and was in a state of some uncertainty and anxiety. Now, as I’m leaving RIOU I feel quite a different person who has new plans and is confident of success, said Maria Bruntseva, world champion in volleyball upon the completion of her training.