Freshminds works with a premium experiences and venue services business operating across sports and entertainment. Its consulting division provides strategic advisory services to stadiums, arenas, and major public venues, helping its clients with areas such as market analysis, financing, ticketing strategy, and guest experience design. 

Since its founding, the firm has delivered more than 3,000 engagements globally and has become a trusted advisor to some of the world’s most recognised sports and entertainment venues. 

Following several successful Freshminds hires into this division, in mid-2025, the London consulting team was entering a period of rapid growth. Following several successful hires into the business, demand for new projects was increasing significantly, placing pressure on the existing team’s capacity. To maintain momentum and support the office’s expansion, the leadership team needed to quickly strengthen the analyst function.

Project Scope

The brief to Freshminds was to recruit two additional Analysts into the London office. The objective was to increase delivery capacity, protect revenue growth, and ensure that the team could continue taking on new consulting engagements without becoming overstretched. 

Several challenges made this assignment particularly complex:

• Brand recognition for the firm was limited outside its sports consulting niche. 

• The candidate assessment process included a demanding case study with a 48-hour turnaround. 

• Identifying consultancy-trained candidates with the right level of experience and seniority to take on responsibility within a lean team

The project, therefore, required not only identifying technically strong candidates but also positioning the opportunity in such a way that would appeal to high-performing consultants from larger firms.

Methodology

The search conducted by Freshminds focused on candidates with:

• Approximately 3+ years of consulting experience 

• Strong financial modelling capability 

• Experience in strategy or commercial analysis 

• An active interest in sport, entertainment, or venue-related consulting 

To source, select and shortlist the most appropriate candidates for this role, the recruitment process involved the following steps:

Particular attention was paid to candidates who could demonstrate both analytical excellence and a genuine interest in the sector, helping ensure stronger long-term alignment with the client’s specialist consulting environment. 

Results / Outcome

Over a seven-month period, three Analysts were successfully placed into the London team. These placements will directly support the continued growth of the business. 

The impact extended beyond the immediate hires:

• Six of the eight members of the London consulting team had been placed through the partnership. 

• Every offer made was accepted smoothly, reflecting strong candidate engagement and a well-managed offer process. 

• The expanded team created additional delivery capacity for future projects. 

• Leadership reported strong enthusiasm internally about the new hires and the office’s continued development. 

The project demonstrated the value of a targeted recruitment approach in a specialist market, helping our client to secure high-calibre talent despite a challenging hiring landscape.

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