Players who finished with the ball. Former sumo champions who retired. Too tired baseball players. In Japan, “retired athletes” are increasingly sought after by companies. The axiom is simple: if they have been successful in sport, with dedication and sacrifice, they will also have it in work.
Mos food services has launched a program to allow former athletes to become owners of the Mos burger franchise, a fast food chain, with the aim of implementing the generational handover between its owners to keep its network of restaurants in step with the times.
“People who have focused on one thing in their life tend to approach their work faithfully,” said Mos food services president Eisuke Nakamura. As part of the program, former sportsmen learn the basics of restaurant management and are trained on the job in the first year after joining the company, with the ultimate goal of launching their own franchises. Training is now behind the desk.
Last March, the main personnel agency of the Asian country, Pasona group, started recruiting as contract employees some athletes still in business who are thinking about their post-competitive careers.
Mynavi, a Japanese employment center, introduces potential employers to former athletes and holds seminars to teach how to find employment. “Many athletes don’t know what strength they have gained through sport or how they can use that advantage after retirement,” a group official told the Japan Times newspaper.
The lack of human resources also affects professional sports teams which are unable to train young staff for sports management positions. The Pia ticketing agency promoted a paid course last year to raise awareness of the sport business. Of the 22 people who learned how to manage ticket sales and stadium operations, seven found jobs with sports teams.
There are those who prefer to enjoy life and then go on their own. visited a hundred states in three years with a backpack. He now leads N, the sake company he founded.
