Raise Your Game: Can you describe your job?

Johann Alexander: I work across many different forms of communication for The FA. I mainly work with the women's and U21 men's team. I also work across our grass roots programmes. My job requires an ability to work in a number of different areas of PR.

First there's the proactive side - establishing and building good PR campaigns. There's also the reactive side of working for The Football Association - dealing with governance issues, press officer duties, squad announcements, along with being involved in matches and press conferences.

RYG: Why this job?

JA: I've always has a massive interest in football. I've played since I was four or five-years-old. My Dad played for Sri Lanka when he was young. I played to a semi-professional level and was really active in my university team. I also got my coaching badges at university.

I graduated with a 2:1 in Business and went to California to coach young soccer players for 18 months. I got steadily into PR at the same time I was coaching football and thought 'Wouldn't it be great if I found a job that incorporated both?'

I was working for a Sport's PR agency and they asked me 'What would your dream job be?' I said 'Either working for The FA or working for Manchester United.' I didn't really fancy moving to Manchester though. I got a call about eight months later and they said 'Your dream job's come up at the FA. Do you want to go for it?' I went for it.

RYG: What skills do you need to do this job?

JA: Communication is obviously a massive part of the job. You're working with so many different stakeholders. I may be in communications, but I'm also working with media, fans, players and managers of teams, such as Hope Powell and Stuart Pearce. I also work internally with different parts of the office.

Your communication skills need to be quite broad and varied. You have to adapt the skills you have to the different audiences you're involved with. For example, I talk to my manager differently to how I talk to an U21 player. I talk to the Head of Football development differently to how I would talk to our Chairman.

You have to be flexible and able to adapt to different situations. That can be quite difficult. You have to learn that over time as you gain more experience. By working in different environments such as coaching, through to working for big PR organisations, such as Microsoft, or for charities, I've been able to develop my communication skills. I think it's also important to be as open and honest as you can be in your job with different people.

RYG: How important is teamwork in this job?

JA: Our days can be quite long and stressful, so if there's no team ethic then it doesn't really work. I'm lucky to work with a very good team. It works really well and every individual does what they can to support the other members of the team. The team talks every day and communicates as to the key issues as they emerge through the day.

RYG: What makes a successful team?

JA: It helps to have a strong team with a strong bond. It's also good to have a mix of personalities and skills. You're not here to make friends, you're here to work together to build a good team. We get on well, but even if we didn't, there's a professional respect there that you always need in any team or organisation, whether it be in a communications team or in an England football team. Not all England team members are best friends. They succeed as a team because they all bring different things to that team. It's important to work well with your colleagues and to build a rapport in a working environment.

RYG: What route did you take into this job?

JA: I got some decent GCSEs. I didn't get very good A levels. I decided after about a year that wasn't good enough so I did an access certificate which got me into university. Once I was there I worked very hard. I managed to balance being Chairman of men's football as well as a Business degree, which isn't the easiest thing in the world.

After that I spent a couple of years not entirely sure of what I wanted to do. As long as you still have the ambition and drive to want to do something that's the most important thing.

I spent a few years doing six months of PR in London and doing six months of football coaching in California. It got to a point where I knew I couldn't do that forever and I needed to settle down and find a job that allowed me to do both. I eventually went to an agency that did sports PR, which is what I wanted to do. In turn that led me to The FA. I always think that this job found me when I was ready. Sometimes you need to try a few different things in order to realise what it is that you want to do.

RYG: What are the highlights of this job?

JA: I've only been here for eight months now, but already I've had some fantastic highlights. Working with international managers is so eye opening. I've been a football fan all my life, watching it on TV. It's entirely different being on the inside and watching it behind the scenes - seeing how players react and how players are coached - the daily routine that goes into producing a winning team.

There's so much work that goes on behind the scenes. You only see the 90 minutes of a game on TV. You don't see the hours, months and years that go into those 90 minutes. It's been really fascinating for me being away on international duty and watching how that structure works.

It's also been really good for me to learn from people who are above me in my communications team. It's been great to do my bit to push women's football. The success of our Get Into Refereeing campaign has been a real highlight. Working with the men's U21 team at the Euros in Sweden was also great.

In this job I get to watch football constantly. I get to talk about football and write about football. It's great, but there is so much hard work that goes into it.

RYG: Any lowlights?

So far I haven't experienced that many lows in my time here. It's a fantastic role, but a lot of work goes into it. I've been to about five or six different places over the last six months like Spain, Cyprus, Norway, and yet people ask me about the country and what it's like and I'll say 'Ok, well I know what the stadium looks like, I know what the team hotel looks like and I know what the training ground looks like, and those are really the three areas that we work in. People think it's all glamour and it's glitz, but you're busy working with the team the whole time.

RYG: What advice would you give to young people looking to follow in your footsteps?

JA: It's important to leave your mark wherever you go. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but, no matter what I did, I always gave it 110%. Even if you're only in a job for two weeks or so leave your mark. Make sure they miss you when you're gone. Someone can miss you more in a day than they miss someone who's left after six years.

It's not a case of how long you're there - it's about leaving a mark. I always try to make an impact. You do that by having a good work ethic and mentality. A try to get along with my team, build a rapport up and work really hard.