Here are just five of the many reasons why athletes make the best employees:
1. Athletes Are Goal-Oriented
Most college athletes have been playing their sport since elementary school (or even earlier). Their entire lives have been spent training, practicing, improving, setting goals and using a clear game plan to achieve those goals. Setting goals doesn’t end on the field. That skill translates into their professional lives, making athletes driven to succeed on the job.
2. Athletes Are Coachable
Hiring managers know that a motivated and coachable employee who might lack some experience or a few skills can be taught to do a job well. Athletes have spent their entire lives being coached. They know how to listen, take feedback, and use the things their coaches say to improve their game. Hiring a lifelong athlete means getting an employee who is coachable, trainable and can be molded into a top contributor.
3. Athletes Understand Teamwork
Athletes who play team sports understand that everyone must work together and play their role to help the group achieve its goals. You’ve rarely heard an athlete take sole credit for a win in a post-game interview. You typically hear, “it was a team effort.” It can be difficult to teach strong teamwork to a new employee, but athletes come to the table ready to contribute, support their professional teammates and pull their weight to achieve group and organizational goals.
4. Athletes Understand Skill Building
Athletes can trace specific skills back to drills they learned as children. They understand you have to learn to connect with a ball before you can develop a power-hitting swing, for example. They also know that you have to revisit fundamentals regularly to keep skills sharp. In the workplace, this means athletes understand they have fundamentals to learn and master before moving up.
5. Athletes Are Resilient
Even athletes who ooze natural talent have had to work hard to hone their skills. They also had to fail many times throughout their careers. But to get as far as they have on the field, they know the importance of picking up and moving on from setbacks and failures. As employees, those athletes can be counted on to rise above setbacks and challenges and stay focused on achieving individual and team goals.
Are You Looking For Exceptional Talent?
The character traits athletes have built through a lifetime of competition translate well into the work world. For more reasons why you should consider hiring former athletes and to learn more about the ways you can find top talent for your business, contact Athlete Career Placement today.
