So, I never really pondered the notion of a running back making a fantastic hire or a ballerina being a sought after candidate. Have you?
The idea of hiring athletes makes sense though. After it was brought to my attention during a meeting this past week, I decided to go down this rabbit hole & find articles in this regard.
There are several articles in which this point is displayed, these are just a few:
https://www.inc.com/christina-desmarais/heres-why-kids-who-play-sports-do-better-in-life.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-qualities-former-student-athletes-make-them-great-employees-walker/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-qualities-former-student-athletes-make-them-great-employees-walker/
To summerize these articles in a few simple points, athletes make better employees because:
- The are focused & have an end goal insight.
- Their mentality is geared to with stand negativity & focus on positives. Thick skinned. Every athlete has been judged & harshly criticized at some point in their career. Either by a ruthless coach or an opposing team. They take the negative & they utilize it to their advantage.
- Work ethic is not lost on them, they know they need it to succeed. In order to play on the best teams they know that in order to be the best they have to put in the hours. The blood. The sweat. The tears.
- They are built to value their work ethic & with that comes self confidence. When you do well you reap those benefits. As such in any aspect of your life. When you do excel at something you gain an air about you that no one can take away.
- They are built to lean on a team member. A one man show doesn’t exist in their mind set. If it did at the beginning of their athletic career the Coach aims to squash that I focused mentality in order to rebuild that athlete to lean on the other members. There is truly no ‘I’ in team.
- Tend to be natural leaders. This feeds of team building skills in that when one member drops the ball the other seamlessly picks it up & keeps going.
- They know that if they mess up it can ultimately lead to the entire group or team failing. Accountability is key to humility & a better team.
So if you are a former Athlete and played professional in any college or pro capacity as a Recruiter I see value in placing that on your resume. Just the same as if you are a Veteran. I love hiring Veterans for the exact same reason! They are awesome hires! Not to mention, you have to pay them back for their service to our beautiful country!
I’ll leave you with a quote from Michael Phelps, “If you want to be the best you have to do what others aren’t willing to do.” That right there folks is the difference between average and greatness!
