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When sport event volunteering pays off

A love of athletics inspired Natalie to volunteer at major sporting events around the world. This lead her to a dream job working at the Commonwealth Games in 2018.

As an early riser with a passion for sport, Natalie is up before sunrise each morning, training for triathlons with a local Queenland club, where she relocated for a dream job at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

But before settling into her new home of Queensland, Natalie spent many years travelling around the world to volunteer and work at sporting events.

“Volunteering and working on events is a shared experience,” says Natalie. “You meet people along that journey and through those conversations and the friendships you make, you want to continue to be part of it.”

For Natalie, it’s clearly the social bonds and warm memories that kept her enthused and on the same journey for such a long time. She reflects on the mementos she’s collected over the years from various events, stored in a treasured, dedicated box, including ‘thank you’ letters and ‘welcome back’ signs.

In her role at the Commonwealth Games, she was responsible for delivering an exceptional experience for both athletes and spectators; and she clearly had the years of experience to do this.

‘Working at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 is something that you’ll never forget and the opportunity to be able to say, ‘I was there’ – you can never let go of that,” says Natalie.

Natalie’s tips for landing a role in the sporting event industry:

  • Get to know the right people while volunteering and working, and then follow up with them after the events.
  • Studying alone won’t help land a job; you need to have hands-on experience and volunteering will absolutely help you with that.
  • Don’t think too much about volunteering at the Commonwealth Games (or any sporting event). These kinds of opportunities don’t come up often, and it’s something you’ll be able to hold onto forever.