AFC Bournemouth

Scouting for Success: Building a Winning Off-Pitch Line-Up.

Talent seeker has been headhunting the best off-pitch talent for Premier League football club AFC Bournemouth since 2022.

We have been responsible for recruiting multiple roles from a wider variety of disciplines from HR & Marketing through to medical.

What followed was a story of precision, timing, and the perfect match.

Club Background

AFC Bournemouth, also known as the Cherries, is a professional football club founded in 1899, currently playing in the Premier League. They are based at Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, Dorset.

The club’s history includes various name changes and a period in lower divisions before their recent rise to prominence as one of the most exciting and progressive clubs in the Premier League.

Multiple Roles & Departments

We have made multiple successful hires for the club; including, but not limited to: Director of Medical & Performance, Head of IT, Head of Facilities, Marketing Manager, HR Assistant, Safeguarding Officer & Medical Administrator

“Over 3 years of partnership and multiple positions filled”

The Process

The highlight of our partnership with the club has been the recent appointment of a Director of Medical & Performance – a vitally important senior level hire for the club.

The role involved working closely with Tiago Pinto (President of Football Operations), ensuring he was kept updated with progress calls throughout.

It was a particularly challenging and complex headhunting assignment and led to speaking with senior level professionals at elite football clubs throughout the world – including Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, America and Saudi Arabia.

The Outcome.

Following an extensive and robust shortlisting, interviewing, selection and negotiation process, we were able to hire one of the leading football medical experts from an elite club in the German Bundesliga to the club.

Connect with Our Founder: Matt Edge-Wilkins

Matt has over 20 years experience connecting hundreds of companies of all sizes and sectors with high-calibre, passive candidates. In 2015, he chose to launch Talent Seeker, a Marketing headhunting firm, combining the best elements of in-house recruitment and executive search to deliver a best-in-class external recruitment service.

Connect with Matt directly on LinkedIn or book a 30 minute Calendly meeting to discuss how he, and Talent Seeker, can help make your recruitment efforts more successful.

LinkedIn Calendly

Testimonials from AFC Bournemouth

Tiago Pinto – President of Football Operations, AFC Bournemouth.

“I have been working closely with Matt Edge-Wilkins since April this year on a couple of vitally important senior level hires for the club. Matt was recommended to me internally, as he has successfully recruited multiple roles for the club over the last few years.

With both hires, a comprehensive multi-faceted, headhunting approach was required to target elite talent from other professional football clubs. Within a couple of weeks on each role, Matt delivered a shortlist of high-calibre candidates from top professional football clubs in England, Europe, America and Saudi Arabia – providing detailed profiles on each candidate.

One of these roles was particularly complex and challenging, but with Matt’s headhunting and negotiation skills, we have been able to hire one of the top football medical professionals from an elite club in the German Bundesliga, who I believe will add huge value to AFC Bournemouth in the years ahead.

Matt is a highly dedicated and professional headhunter, and I am happy to recommend his services to Sporting Directors and Senior Football Executives, who are looking to hire the most talented off-pitch professionals for their club.”

Holly Roberts - HR Manager, AFC Bournemouth.

“AFC Bournemouth have worked with Talent Seeker on a number of roles over the last three years, successfully placing key positions to the business. Matt is friendly, knowledgeable and has gone above and beyond to help us in a very difficult and challenging recruitment climate. Talent Seeker provide high quality candidates that fit the brief and they’re very communicative and helpful throughout the recruitment process.”