Former Ohio State football coach and current Fox College Football analyst Urban Meyer is a strong advocate for multi-sport athletes.
“I am dead set against single-sport athletes (while kids are growing up),” Meyer told Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah on the Move the Sticks podcast in 2019. “I think that’s wrong. I think the young person is getting screwed. I think they should play other sports.”
A new program recently launched by Las Vegas-based Aristocrat Technologies mirrors that concept. But instead of multi-sports athletes, the gaming equipment manufacturer hopes to develop better team players well versed in all aspects of its business.
The Aristocrat Future Leaders (AFL) program will rotate newly hired college graduates through finance, operations, marketing, and other major commercial departments
“At Aristocrat we believe that investing in building a diverse skill set can be a big factor in a person’s long-term career success,” Aristocrat President Hector Fernandez said via email. “While eventually, these future leaders may become subject matter experts in one particular aspect of our business, having a broad foundation can only help them in their careers, and if that helps them in their careers, then that helps us as a company and as an industry.”
The AFL grew from a recognition that Aristocrat would benefit from hiring recent college grads with fresh ideas. For a company that thrives on innovation, new points of view are always appreciated.
Fernandez admits that while job applicants often are unfamiliar with the gaming industry, most of them are passionate about learning and innately curious.
“That’s one of the incredible aspects of AFL,” Fernandez said. “We have the opportunity to help the best and the brightest succeed while at the same time gain or deepen their understanding of this industry which we love.”
Fernandez believes a way to broaden a new employee’s knowledge base – and not just about the gaming industry – is through the rotational system. Each graduate will spend about eight months in operations, finance, marketing, and other departments.
“The rotational approach provides broad exposure of the different career options within Aristocrat and the gaming industry,” Fernandez said. “In addition to the AFL learning about different departments, the departments will also learn new diversified points of view from the participants.”
According to a 2019 report by Grand View Research, the global gaming industry is valued at more than $150 billion. Aristocrat recognizes that attracting new talent is essential to remain competitive, and AFL is a way for the company to distinguish itself from business competitors.
“We believe that investing in people is critical to the long-term success of Aristocrat and the gaming industry,” Fernandez said. “Talent will have many career options, and we strive to ensure that we are creating an attractive long-term proposition for that talent through investments in people at all stages of their career.”
The AFL is open to recent college graduates in the United States. Interested applicants are encouraged to contact the company via email at AFL@aristocrat.com.
