Jobs In Skateboarding - Key Account Manager

Jobs In Skateboarding - Key Account Manager

Looking from the outside in it may seem as if jobs in skateboarding are few and far between, but once you delve deeper into the possibilities there's a plethora of careers surrounding our favourite toy. We hit up as many people as possible to investigate deeper to ask ‘What do you even do?’, so hopefully you’ll learn something new and find helpful ways to get into our so-called skateboarding industry. 

Small companies rely on staff to be able to take on a multitude of tasks in one job. Tom at Form is one of those people. 

What's your name?

Tom Smith. 

What is your current role and who do you work for?

My current role is Key Account Manager for Form Distribution. 

What is it that you actually do? / What takes up a majority of your work time?

Form is a small team of five so my job is made up of talking to UK stores on everything from new lines, sell through, marketing, selling the latest Girl, Chocolate, Zero, Lakai, Alltimers, Royal, Crupie and Footprint to shops in the UK and Europe, receiving deliveries, picking and packing orders, team management, cleaning, winning at pool on lunch breaks, marketing and everything in-between. 

Did you have any roles in the skate industry before this?

I’ve been really lucky to work for a bunch of different companies and brands in the industry. I started working in Leisure centres and when the XC in Hemel was being built I got a job as the Assistant Manager. I worked there for about a year whilst riding for some snowboard brands as the snow dome was right around the corner so I could skate and snowboard all the time which was sick. 

I did a bunch of work experience for my sponsors at trade shows in the UK and Ispo in Germany, then when a job came up working for Burton Snowboards on Gravis, Analog and Forum snowboards, I applied and got lucky. It was sick because one of my best mates was also working for Burton at the time so I was travelling the UK talking to skate and snowboard stores with my mate. Burton ended up pulling the plug on those brands and I was unfortunately made redundant. 

I then worked at SS20 in Oxford for a couple of years. It was definiley sick working in a core skate and snowboard store and I made some great friends working there. After leaving Burton I started riding for my old sponsors again and got asked to work for SoleTech for their snowboard brand ThirtyTwo. Again that was a dream job, I got to do a lot of snowboarding that year with demos across Europe. Finally I applied for a job at Form when Alex Barton was leaving to pursue ABC skate school and Lariatt full time and I’ve been here for over 6 years now.

What’s the best thing about your job?

The people you get to work with are the best thing about my job. The guys in the office are some of the best people I know, the stores you talk to everyday are awesome and I’ve ended up working for some of the best skateboarders ever. I still trip out seeing Rick Howard’s name on an email.

What’s the worst thing about your job?

Never fully switching off, I like to be that guy that if you email me you’ll get a reply, but that means I often send out emails out of hours.

Any advice for skateboarders out there who want to pursue your line of work?

Be nice and work hard.