Alumni interview, Workforce manager, FIFA 2022 World Cup

Meet our alumna Nathalie

Six years ago, a young Thai/Belgian student named Nathalie was starting a new life at AMOS Paris. After a first year of a Bachelor’s degree in science and chemistry, she completely changed her mind and decided to come to AMOS to study Sports Business. Six years later, this young and promising individual, described as “very conscientious, engaged and always focused” by her ex-director Joanne Macrae, is working as Workforce Manager in Qatar for the FIFA 2022 World Cup.

Networking and volunteering have paved the way to success for this ambitious young woman. It was while volunteering for the Paris 7 World Rugby Series that she discovered her wish to work in the sports industry. She discovered her passion for sporting events by volunteering in London, and she got in touch with her current employer through a co-worker. As she says, “your network is key, the world of sporting events is really small”, and her experience proved her right.

A year ago this month, Nathalie arrived in Qatar and was getting ready to take part in the organization of one of the world’s most famous sporting events: the FIFA World Cup.

Her job in Qatar

She is one of the workforce operations managers, supervising over 3000 people.

“Our role is to plan and assist in all workforce areas, including workforce and headcount planning, catering, accreditations, uniforms and training. We have over 60 operational sites, so it is about making sure that everyone is at the right place at the right time, knows their missions and has enough time to rest.”

Nathalie handles a wide range of missions which require a particular set of skills, “patience, attention to detail, emotional intelligence, being open-minded, thinking outside of the box and the ability to handle pressure.”

When asked about her favorite thing at work, Nathalie did not start with the tasks she was assigned but with the enjoyment she found in managing and meeting people. “The diversity of nationalities (88% of the workforce in Qatar is composed of foreign workers) and their backgrounds make this job exciting. The people come from all over the world and work as one team.”

Having an “international approach, being open-minded, having the capacity to adapt yourself to any situation and being able to work in a multi-cultural environment” are the things she benefited from when undertaking the Global Sport Business Masters at AMOS London.

Her bucket lists

Everyone who knows about the path of this brilliant person would probably think: What can you expect from your professional career when the first event you are working for is the Football World Cup?
It sounds like starting your meal with the cherry on top of the cake. But for her, the exciting part is the variety of events that are still to be organized.

“Most of the people I currently work with already know each other from other mega sports events organized in the past, such as the Olympics, Formula 1, the previous soccer and rugby world cups or the HSBC 7 series. So, when I hear about all these amazing experiences, I don’t want to choose one, I want to experience them all!”