Adecco and the International Olympic Committee extend and strengthen Career Development

Athletesí Career Programme expands global reach; 1,000th athlete to join programme

Adecco and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced the extension of the Athletesí Career Programme (ACP), an initiative designed to facilitate the integration of athletes into the labor market both during and at the end of their elite sporting careers.

On the occasion of the 1,000th athlete joining the programme since Adecco and the IOC started to jointly manage the program in February 2005, Adecco CEO Dieter Scheiff and IOC President Jacques Rogge agreed to extend this important programme. These career services, specifically tailored to the needs of athletes are currently offered in over 15 countries and will be expanded throughout 2007.

The fact that 1,000 athletes have sought professional advice since 2005 highlights the growing popularity of our programme, said Jacques Rogge. The period following the end of a sporting career is often difficult and the Athletesí Career Programme provides support to assist athletes select the best career path and launch their professional lives after sport.

Sports competition requires an extensive personal investment from athletes that it leaves them limited time to prepare for their professional life. This is where we come in and offer our worldwide expertise in delivering career training and placing people in the right jobs, said Dieter Scheiff. We are proud to help athletes leverage the strength of their demonstrated traits in sport to find new challenges in the workplace and gain a foothold in the labor market.

This programme aims at facilitating the integration of athletes into the labor market through a variety of measures. In a first step, the programme helps athletes define their professional goals. Ideally, the athlete joins the programme as early as possible so that they can either enter a part-time continuing education program while they are still active as an athlete or just begin to develop and refine skills needed to enter the workforce more prepared. Adecco then assists the athlete in contacting potential employers. Here Adecco focuses on selecting companies that appreciate athletesí talents and proven traits such as a strong team spirit, competitiveness, goal-orientation and self-motivation.

The Athletesí Career Programme has two integrated tracks:

Career Development Training - Athletes demonstrate extraordinary traits everyday in their sport. This track helps Athletes understand how to transition these into the business world and begin to accumulate transition knowledge.

Job Placement - Athletes and Employees both have needs; this track focuses on bringing the two parties together to provide jobs for elite athletes.