Why College Athletes Tend To Make Great Employees

If you are responsible for recruiting for your business, you may have a standard approach to filtering through applicant. Some recruiters use scoring systems amongst other methods, meaning prospective employees can get overlooked. This can mean applicants who have strong sporting histories may not have as good of a shot as others because recruiters tend to linger on work experience and qualifications. Therefore, employers could be missing out on crucial insight into a person’s capabilities that could excel at your company.

Maybe it is time to review your current scoring system and add a filter for people who were involved in sport at college. We’re not just talking about the elite athletes, as many of them will no doubt be staying in the area of sport for their career. We’re talking about athletes that showed elevated levels of commitment and many other great characteristics through a long period of playing sports.

Some of the transferable skills from sport to business are quite obvious:

Leadership –

If a player was captain, then they have displayed potential leadership qualities that can be used in a business situation. They are more likely to be confident and will try to look after their team rather than take personal glory. A good leader is one that takes their team on the journey with them and gives them credit, and who does not blame others when things go wrong. Captains are usually trusted as teammates will not choose a captain less than worthy.

Team Player –

Any sports player who plays a team sport, enjoys working as a team rather than an individual, otherwise they would have chosen an individual sporting event. A good business relies on a team of players that can collaborate and work well together. Sharing best practice and helping people out when difficult deadlines approach is some of the traits you can expect from a sports player.

Goal focused –

A successful team is one that sets difficult targets and still manages to meet them. To get the best out of any team in any industry, you must ensure goals are set so employees can become motivated. Whether this is done through increased sales, etc. a boost in reputation through great customer services or any other tangible measure for your business is a plus.

Sports players are brought up with a goal to focus on, and they will help your team to reach the next level due to their training and personality traits ingrained into them from their sporting days. Whether they proudly display their Princeton class rings or are a more reserved team player from a local college team, they both bring similar qualities to the table and are wise investments.

Another key aspect of employing sports enthusiasts is that they tend to have good levels of health, mean they may be less prone to sickness. The people who spend an hour in the gym before work tend to be the ones that can fire on all cylinders at 7 in the morning when the rest are trying to wake up.