// NZ RUGBY WORLD // june/july 2015

Canes Career day

A BIG HIT

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HurricaNES FEaturE

Ormer Hurricanes midfielder

Paul steinmetz reckOns smOOtH

transitiOns Out Of rugBy are

virtually imPOssiBle - unless

Players are PrePared tO Put sOme wOrk

in wHile tHey’re still Playing.

The one-test All Black joined other former

players Shannon Paku and Bernie Upton at a

careers day at the Hurricanes recently, lining

up alongside police oﬃcers, ﬁre ﬁghters and

teachers to give current players an idea of what

to expect after rugby.

These days, Steinmetz works for Fuji Xerox as

an account manager and is involved in property

management but admits he struggled when

he returned to New Zealand in 2009 after six

seasons with Irish club Ulster.

“That’s one downside to cutting ties here –

you’ve got to come back and start again with

your networking and you don’t really realise that

until you’re out of it,” Steinmetz said.

“A lot of the time, when you’re retiring from

rugby, you are in your early 30s and from there

you’re getting into the region of having kids and

there are a whole lot of lifestyle changes all of

a sudden. There is a lot of getting your head

around that, as well as earning a lot less money,

“The single biggest learning for me from the

day was the impact past players have. You

could have heard a pin drop when they were

talking...”

STEPHEN SYMONDS

which always puts stress on a relationship.”

The past players also talked about the need

for good advice, the risk that friends with good

commercial ideas might present, the need to use

the NZRPA and personal development managers to

assist and the need to plan.

A panel discussion was followed by a chance for

current players to mix and mingle with guests.

Even players such as Hurricanes ﬂanker Victor

Vito, who has studied throughout his rugby career

and is a ﬁrm advocate of personal development, got

something out of it.

“The panel gave us some good insights, such

as how the normal workplace is not always as

excellence-driven or upbeat as the one we have in

our rugby environment,” Vito said.

“The key is to surround yourself with like-minded

individuals and not let it get you down. Personally, I

got a lot out of the careers day for the simple fact it

starts to make you a lot more aware of the speciﬁc

types of job you’d be suited to after rugby. “As a

competitor, you back yourself at everything but this

gave me more clarity and a dose of reality. It was

also heartening for a lot of the young guys who have

never had to do any work outside of rugby that there

are a lot of transferable skills they already have for

life after rugby.”