Football insights from an Executive Recruiter, pt.1

Football. It’s a big deal in my house, I mean a really big deal. Football season is not just about faithfully attending and watching the regular season games and, if luck is on our side, having the ability to cheer for our favorite teams in conference playoffs or beyond. We also closely follow the NFL Combine, NFL Draft, and team training camps - like some people binge-watch the latest series on Netflix. There is one incredibly clear observation throughout the events leading up to the kickoff of the football season – the level of pure talent and determination found in the athletes is nothing less than incredible.

As an industry “talent scout”, I readily recognize the need for the endless pursuit of identifying the next team of recruits and future leaders. The combine and draft activities have many similarities to building teams in a business. Let me grab my virtual clipboard and share some thoughts from my playbook.

While attending NFL Combines, you cannot help but notice the atmosphere is unique and very much unlike the regular sights and sounds I have grown accustomed to under the Lucas Oil Stadium roof. It is honestly more like a mix between a golf match and a visit to the library. Imagine all 32 NFL team representatives present with the overall vibe - this is SERIOUS business. When I say serious, it was literally – no talking, no movement during drills – serious business.

The NFL combine not only highlights each athlete’s college stats. The draft hopefuls perform additional testing and skill evaluations during the almost week-long job interview of all interviews. Although the screening process looks a bit different from that in the business world, there are some useful lessons to take from the Combine experience.

It’s Not all about Stats. During the Combine, there are many on-field drills along with interviews and written tests. Teams are evaluating the athletes and looking into individual thought processes. Just because a player has an amazing “resume” of college statistics does not necessarily mean a perfect fit for a team or the league for that matter – can you say Johnny Manziel? Teams are typically looking for well-rounded and grounded athletes, not an individual who may have above-average game stats but presents some red flags that could be detrimental to the team’s functionality.

How often have you looked at a resume and made a quick evaluation as to whether the person would be a fit? It is a well-known fact that the average recruiter or hiring manager reviews a resume in six seconds or less. Are you passing on potential candidates because their resumes don’t look “perfect” at first blush? Or, are you looking at potential new hires solely based on their results and not fully delving into their fit within your overall culture and current team? Those little “red flags” that we have all been guilty of ignoring can potentially cause a negative effect on the team. As you are screening and hiring talent at any level, you must consider attitude and aptitude, not the educational background or current company, or title alone. Along with this, there should be a formal testing component to any hiring process. There are many options available in the marketplace but one thing is certain, hiring managers will attest to the validity of assessments and the short and long-term differences formed by those hiring decisions. The cost of making a bad hiring decision has more connected to it than a monetary value and the lesson associated with those hires should be assessed and reassessed often. After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. Being in a 4th down situation regularly is not a position of strength!

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January Producer of the Month—David Brown

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Episode #1: Doing it right: The importance of mentoring & training with guest Joshua McMahon