How Tia landed a job at Cricket Australia without applying online

She didn’t just land any job in sport, she landed one of the most sought-after in Partnerships. Here’s how:

Tia Schwalger grew up on the Gold Coast loving sport.

She always wanted to work in it, but the opportunities were limited.

That’s when she began dreaming of taking her career to the sporting capital of the world - Melbourne.

So with a bit of trawling through LinkedIn, in 2020 she found SportsGrad, began tuning into the podcast and coming to Meetups in Brisbane.

As recently as last month, Tia was down for the AFL Grand Final, I was hosting a party at the newly formed ‘SportsGrad House’ and she told me about her ambitions to come south.

Lucky for her, a door in the Cricket Australia Partnerships team had just opened.

Great timing.

In Jan this year, CA reached out for a shortlist of candidates to fill a role, which led to Dante McDonald landing a dream job and relocating from Adelaide just 16 days after joining the SportsGrad Method program.

He continued to stay involved with the program, put his best foot forward and earned an internal promotion in just 8 months!

This meant Cricket Australia came back to me and said ‘we need another Dante, fast (the Ashes are on our doorstep!!)’.

I sent them a few names, and a couple weeks later, they hired Tia!

So now Tia has flipped her life on the Gold Coast, moved to Melbourne in a heartbeat, and just started in the Partnerships team one month from the first ball of The Ashes!!

A far cry from feeling stuck with ‘limited opportunities’.

I love helping people land their first FT job in sport, but this one is particularly special.

Almost 8 years ago exactly I started in the Commercial team at Cricket Australia 1 day after finishing uni (even took the exact same CA selfie!).

I walked straight into an Ashes summer and found myself at home with an incredibly like-minded group of people who have become lifetime friends.

So knowing full well what’s ahead for Tia is super exciting to think about.

If you’re wondering why your dream might not be on the job boards - now you know.

Our program prepares and gives you first access to the hidden job market.

(but you gotta be someone I’m happy to vouch for)

We’re currently sifting through 105 applications for the 40 spots available in Cohort #4 of The SportsGrad Method Program. If you want a serious leg up over the competition, apply today so we can chat before the Oct 31 deadline.

And if you’re an organisation looking for a short-list of guns, send me a message and we can get your team back up to speed quickly.

-Reuben

P.s. - We’ve helped people land 776 roles in sport since 2020. If you want to learn more about what people are saying about the program (our most effective offering yet), scroll to the bottom of this page and watch the dozens of video testimonials from people who have been through it.