Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people, has launched a four-part video series revealing how Manchester City players have had to prepare and be adaptable during their careers to help them reach their career goals.  

Hays, the Official Recruitment Partner of Manchester City, spoke to Gabriel Jesus, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake, Lucy Bronze, Janine Beckie and Esme Morgan, as part of its continuing “Behind Every Goal” campaign.

Each episode is themed around a subject that draws on parallels between the world of elite football and the world of work, focusing on skills development, building a successful team, developing a winning mindset and the importance of receiving support from others.

Jennifer Clark, Hays Senior Sponsorship Manager, commented on the videos; “To be successful within any career, whether that’s in an office, or on the football pitch, it takes a high level of dedication and development. Manchester City are one of the best performing teams in the world of football, so being able to explore what drives the players and helps them to be at the top of their game is always interesting to us at Hays and it allows us to apply some of those lessons to the world of work. The players have revealed some fascinating insights into what is really needed to be part of a high-performing team.”

Below are just some of the insights which were gathered from the interviews which can be applied to the world of work.

1. The connection between hard work and talent

Forward, Gabriel Jesus, spoke about the connection between hard work and talent and how having talent alone is not enough to sustain success. “Talent is not enough to keep yourself at a high level. You can get there, but maintaining it requires hard work, taking care of yourself, investing in your career, and I think that's what I've been doing since I decided I wanted to do this, and it has been working so far.”

2. Developing your skills

Defender, Lucy Bronze, talked about how the game of football constantly evolves and in turn so does the required strengths of a player, “Football is a game that constantly adapts. Positionally, tactics, everything adapts and that's the way that you get to the top. I think that's something that I've done well in my career, I've been known as a very fit player. Then I became a very strong player. Then I became a very powerful player. Then I wanted to add tactical work to it. Then I wanted to add technical and I'm always looking for the area of my weakness that I want to add to my game and make it a strength, and constantly adapt and become a better player.”

3. Learning from others

Defender, Esme Morgan, said she learns from her teammates to help improve her own skills. “I'm definitely encouraged to learn from others because I think there's so many people within this team who have so much experience within the game, and they've achieved amazing things and been successful and won so many honours, and that is what I aspire to achieve during in my career. And I'm nowhere near where I want to be now, I've still got so much that I want to improve on.”

4. Dealing with setbacks

Forward, Janine Beckie, spoke about suffering setbacks and it being part of the journey, “Setbacks are a necessary evil, I think, in sport, in life, in business, really in anything. In order to be successful, I don't see that success comes without setbacks. You almost sometimes have to fail in order to succeed, and if you've never failed, you don't really know what success feels like. So, to take those setbacks, and to be present in them, and realise the lessons that they're teaching you, but also using them to propel you forward, and to know that there is an end goal and there is an end to the setback, it just makes the success so much sweeter.

5. Sharing the same vision as your teammates

Defender, Nathan Ake spoke about the importance of a team sharing the same vision and trying to reach the same goals. “Everyone has the same goal, the same passion. And I think the staff and the players, they're trying to help each other to get to another level and trying to achieve those things.”

6. Being a team player

Forward, Janine Beckie, was asked about the most important thing an individual can do for the team, she said, “I think one of the most important things someone can do for their team is, it sounds cliché, but to put the team first and realise that there's a reason that we've chosen to play a team sport, not an individual sport. And I think there's something really special about when the goal of the team is ahead of the goal of the individual.”

7. Finding a mentor

Ake also spoke about the importance of finding a mentor to improve on your own skills, “I think it's very important, because obviously, mentors are people who have been at an elite level already and they show their quality and their commitment every day in training, or in games or if you're a member of staff, then just the way you are around the place. I think, if you see those people, you want to achieve the same thing.”

8. Creating a culture

Defender, Aymeric Laporte, spoke about the importance of team spirit and staying connected, specifically during the initial lockdown when the team was unable to train together. He said, “The team spirit was very beautiful, we spent most of the year together and then all of a sudden, we had to stay at home for a period of time. And it was kind of strange, so we stayed in touch through apps so we could see each other, to talk. We have a good relationship as a team, and we talk over messages or we phone each other, so we didn't lose contact at all.”

The videos are going to be released over a four week period, to view the first one, click here.

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About Hays and Manchester City Partnership

Hays became the Official Recruitment Partner of Manchester City in 2013, renewing for a second time in 2019 and extending the partnership to 2023. During their partnership, Hays has broadened the relationship with City Football Group to become the Official Recruitment Partner of New York City FC in 2015, as well as Manchester City Women in 2017 and most recently with Japanese side, Yokohama F. Marinos, in 2019.

As an industry leader, every day we benefit society by hearlping people succeed and enabling organisations to thrive – creating opportunities and improving lives. Both Hays and Manchester City thrive on the challenge of identifying skilled individuals who offer the right chemistry and capabilities to help a team succeed.

About Hays

Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Australia and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe, Latin America and Asia. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 30 June 2020 the Group employed c.10,400 staff operating from 266 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2020:

– the Group reported net fees of £996.2 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £135.0 million;

– the Group placed around 66,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 235,000 people into temporary roles;

– 17% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 26% in Germany, 23% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 34% in Rest of World (RoW);

– the temporary placement business represented 59% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 41% of net fees;

– IT is the Group’s largest specialism, with 25% of net fees, while Accountancy & Finance (15%) and Construction & Property (12%), are the next largest

– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA

About City Football Group 

Established in May 2013, City Football Group is the world’s leading private owner and operator of football clubs, with total or partial ownership of ten clubs in major cities across the world: Premier League Champions Manchester City in the UK, New York City FC in the US, Melbourne FC in Australia, Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, Montevideo City Torque in Uruguay, Girona Futbol Club in Spain, Sichuan Jiuniu FC in China, Mumbai City FC in India, Lommel SK in Belgium and ESTAC in France. With 13 offices around the world, CFG also invests in other football related businesses and projects and serves as a global commercial platform for its partners, whilst fulfilling its vision of using football for social good on a local and global scale through its clubs’ charities, foundations and other CSR initiatives.  

Abu Dhabi United Group, the investment vehicle owned by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is the majority CFG shareholder (c.77%).  In addition, c.12% of CFG equity is held by a consortium of Chinese institutional investors led by China’s leading media and entertainment conglomerate CMC Inc. A further c.10% is owned by Silver Lake, a global leader in technology investing.