Stumbling Babies

I jumped on my computer last night in my hotel and opened up an e-mail from a young S&C coach that I had interviewed twice (and knocked back twice), but here's what Tom wrote...

'Hi Nick, I hope you're well and everything is going just as good. I just wanted to send you a quick e-mail with an update on my S&C career. So as of the end of November I moved to Hong Kong, where I work with the Hong Kong Rugby Union, and I am now the National Performance Strength and Conditioning Coach with their men's national squad. It was a massive move and huge step in my career, and I just wanted to e-mail you and thank you for all the prior feedback, advice and help that you gave me along the way with regards to interviews and areas to work on. Not to mention helping me keep my head up and keep applying and working towards the ultimate goal. Many thanks Tom'

The reason I'm sharing this with you is that it should hopefully encourage anyone that has had a knock back to just crack on. Babies learn to walk by falling over and more importantly, getting back up again. The S&C profession is swamped at the moment and it is really tough to catch a break. I sat on two interview panels and whilst on both occassions Tom interviewed really well and was a strong candidate, he just didn't quite have what we were looking for at the time. I subsequently recommended him for a couple of other roles that he didn't get. As you can imagine he started to question if it was all worth it and we exchanged a number of e-mails over several months where I encouraged him to keep on plugging away (if I knock someone back I make sure I'm on hand to help them). I helped tweak his CV and offered honest advice and feedback on how he could improve his interview technique.

Bottom line, Tom kept getting up and is now embarking on an exciting career in Rugby with the Hong Kong National Team. He did it, not me. He took action and he kept getting back up.