Why Hire an Athlete?

Every person in this world has a different personality, and a different way of applying their traits into their own lifestyle. In the business sector, companies seek for particular traits in candidates, such as self-motivation, discipline and good team ethic. This is why many companies like to hire athletes, since athletes are usually previously trained with a similar kind of mindset which they have reinforced many times over several tasks over a long period of time. That being said, I can agree that athletes can be a huge asset for the company’s performance and development. People who are not athletes can also have this kind of mindset and are great assets too, but for purposes of this article, I will clarify why companies hire athletes and what athletes have that may differ from other prospects. 

Why Companies Should Hire Athletes? First of all, athletes are resilient. 

Athletes have competed so much throughout their entire career, that they have lost many times, but have the ability to get back up again. Athletes lose every single day, and that is their challenge, they set goals they want to meet for every task and they will try over and over again until they meet this goal. Resilient people are the ones that have gone through a hard time and then use what they have learned to find a better outcome in the future. In short, resilient people, or athletes in this case, are the ones who never quit no matter how hard the challenge is. Being resilient goes hand in hand with mental toughness. Mental toughness is basically putting in the work even when you do not feel like doing it. Athletes, given that they have a routine to follow, have to give their full effort even if they do not feel their 100%, they need to keep hustling to be able to achieve the end goal they have in mind. Companies like employees that are self-driven and self-confident. Athletes are good at both those skills! Companies need self-driven that take responsibility for their tasks by themselves, not needing others to be on top of them the whole time reminding them what they need to be doing. Companies want people that are motivated to achieve their goal (which helps the overall company objective) by their own means. They also need people that are self-confident in the sense that they need employees who know what they are capable of, are aware of their abilities, strengths and weaknesses and use those for the best of their advantage. Now, the KEY to being a great employee is to be self-confident but not arrogant. 

Athletes are good at Time Management and are accountable for:

1. Athletes have been trained from the start to prioritise their tasks to use their time more efficiently. Therefore, companies need employees that are able to manage their time schedule and to be flexible within it too. Being able to manage their time slots and prioritise those makes them accountable since companies can be sure and trust that their employees are putting in the hours and the effort (usually extra effort) they have to put in into their work. Lastly, athletes can handle criticism. They have been told many times what they are doing wrong and what they are doing right. Usually, the best way to come up with any person is by providing feedback, but this one can be either negative or positive. A good leader is one able to provide positive feedback to its employees by helping them grow in the areas they are not excelling at. Criticism on the other hand can sound very harsh for some people, but given that athletes have been involved in the competitive world for some time, they have experienced great feedback as much as they have experienced awful critiques. The whole point on this is that athletes are usually more used to this sort of criticism and they are able to handle it without hurting their feelings or getting sensitive about it and have the ability to switch those critiques into something they can work for (something they can improve). Athletes can view those critiques and use those challenges as extra motivation to work even harder to achieve expertise in the areas they are having trouble with.

So what TRAITS do athletes have that differ from others? 

Athletes have a positive attitude towards challenges. In other words, challenges are not viewed as setbacks, but rather opportunities. 

They are highly motivated to perform at the best of their ability, and even better if they are working at a company they love and they are passionate about the role they are compromising. They set high goals within every little task, which help them design a long and short term plan. Athletes are also good at managing their emotions, such as stressors in their life and work, and are able to find a balance within both aspects of their life. 

Overall, everyone can be an athlete by heart, but non-athletes are also great assets for many companies. As stated before, every person is unique and everyone brings to the company their own style of doing things and shine in their own way. Athletes may have a more perform oriented kind of mindset but just as many other people who are not into sports but into other activities. As long as we all strive for something and work towards that goal with persistence and discipline, that is all that matters!