Catching up with James Jordan
The time we spend at our desks can take up a lot of our time. And while what we do to make a living is important to our lives, it isn’t the full picture of who we are.
So we've set out to discover how our team spends their time during the work day and once they clock out.
James Jordan joined TurnkeyZRG in early 2023 in the role of Director of Marketing Partnerships, focused on corporate partnership recruiting. Prior to joining TurnkeyZRG, James garnered valuable experience on both the strategy side and sales side of the corporate partnership business and has represented marquee teams and venues including the LA Rams, LA Chargers and SoFi Stadium & Hollywood Park (Los Angeles, CA).
Read on to learn more about James.
Each day is a little different. How I spend my time is heavily influenced by how many searches we are working on, and the stage that each search is at in our process.
For those that are earlier in the process there are a lot of outreach notes, screen calls and interviews ahead of presenting a shortlist of vetted candidates to the client. With searches that are further along there are more process management responsibilities working hand in hand with both the client and candidate(s) to help both sides navigate the conversation productively and efficiently.
While days look different, there are some elements that remain consistent regardless of the number of searches we are working on and the stage they are in. These elements are networking, staying current on news/trends across the industry, and business development efforts. Paying close attention to these three elements allows me to be the best resource I can be for both our clients and the candidates I engage.
With Curtis Walker and I leading the Corporate Partnership lane for TurnkeyZRG, we are also very intentional about making as many authentic connections across the industry as we can from top to bottom.
Something that truly separates us in the executive search space is the experience and expertise that we bring to the table, having been partnership practitioners on some of the biggest stages.
We take pride in this and believe it is important that current and prospective clients, in addition to candidates, understand the full value that we provide in the search process. With both of us being fairly new to the search space, putting ourselves out there and engaging as many folks as we can to build relationships and share our story is important to us and something that we prioritize.
One of the biggest surprises for me now being on this side of the table is the perception that some organizations have when it comes to candidates with non-traditional experience.
There is a lot of talent in sports adjacent industries and the wider business world that would bring tremendous value and unique perspective to a sports organization. Some of the more innovative organizations have realized this and seek out candidates with non-traditional experience, however most properties look for more of a plug and play option.
There are of course some benefits to this (mostly short-term) and by no means would every candidate with non-traditional experience be a perfect fit, however the potential longer-term upside that some non-traditional candidates have is something that is heavily overlooked.
A second surprise that coincides with the above would be the lack of developmental resources that organizations pour into up-and-coming talent, especially within the Corporate Partnership space. The majority of organizations view hires through the lens of short-term execution, versus the longer-term upside value that could be there with the right development and potential short-term sacrifice.
I moved to the U.S. in 2009 to play soccer in university.
After graduating I moved to NY and was fortunate to secure an internship on the corporate partnership team at Major League Soccer league office. This was the first time I was truly exposed to the business side of sports and ultimately is where I decided that I wanted to pursue a career as a partnership seller.
From MLS I went to get my Master’s degree in Sport Business before jumping back into full-time employment. My first role out of graduate school was with NBCUniversal, working across their sports properties. This was a great first step in my sports career because it gave me insight into one of the more complex and nuanced pieces of an integrated partnership asset mix which is media.
After a couple of great years with NBC, I had the opportunity to move out to LA with Legends to help build the corporate partnership strategy for SoFi Stadium & Hollywood Park, the LA Rams and the LA Chargers. While this opportunity would not initially put me in the sales seat I wanted to be in, I knew that there would be no better place on the planet to truly cut my teeth and be exposed to some of the biggest deals seen in our business. This proved to be true and was ultimately a catalyst for my career as a seller. After sitting in a sales seat on the stadium side, I was given the opportunity to move in-house with the LA Rams as a partnership seller.
My career experiences prior to joining TurnkeyZRG all lend themselves well to the seat I sit in now working within executive search with a specific focus on corporate partnership related roles. I never imagined myself working within this space, however I could not be more excited to be in this role, for this new chapter of my career, and for the positive impact that our firm has and will continue to have across the sports landscape.
Having moved to the U.S. at 18 years of age, I did not have the opportunity to live and work in the UK as an adult. With that being said, my friends and family are in London, so I have spent a lot of time back in Europe since moving.
The biggest advantage my international perspective provides me with is the understanding of the cultural nuances that exist, in addition to the structure of professional sports organizations and governing bodies overseas.
To speak to the former, the landmass of the U.S. is almost equivalent to the landmass of Europe (U.S. slightly smaller). Despite that, doing business domestically state to state in the U.S. comes with little to no notable differences. Navigating the corporate world in Europe between countries, however, is far more challenging with different laws, currencies, languages, business etiquette, cultural nuance, etc. This perspective gives me a deeper understanding of the value candidates with international experience bring.
My wife and I have a puppy that has been keeping us busy for the past year and a half and we love spending time with her.
My wife was in a remote role before I joined TurnkeyZRG and with us now being in remote roles, we were given the freedom to look at where we wanted to live, no longer needing to be near an office. We now live on the beach in the South Bay of Los Angeles and are making the most of all that sunny Southern California has to offer. It’s not lost on us that we are extremely blessed and spoiled to be living here. We do not take it for granted!
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ABOUT TURNKEYZRG
Founded in 1996, TurnkeyZRG is a highly specialized talent recruitment/executive search firm filling C-level, senior-level and mid-management level positions throughout sports, entertainment, music and media. Over the past 25 years, TurnkeyZRG has filled more than 1,400 positions throughout sports, entertainment and media. TurnkeyZRG helps teams, leagues, stadiums, arenas, theaters, college athletic departments, events, sponsors, agencies, media companies, private equity companies and other clients identify, recruit and hire the very best management talent. Turnkey now benefits from ZRG’s global footprint, full array of industry practice groups, data-driven, analytical search tools, and technology investment in changing the way executive search/talent recruiting is done. TurnkeyZRG becomes a tech-enabled disrupter of the prior executive search model.