3 Hiring Lessons From A Sports Playbook

I remember one time I watched my daughter at a high school volleyball tournament. As I was sitting in the stands, I noticed several people with cameras who were recording stats and furiously scribbling notes. 

I realized they were recruiters who were looking ahead two or more years to find the best talent for their volleyball programs. For business leaders, the process is often flip-flopped. Executives in charge of hiring wait until a need presents itself before worrying about filling it. 

 Below are three lessons for leaders to take from the sports playbook to use to their advantage when hiring: 

 1. Think about future seasons: For sports coaches, success comes when they envision where the team will be in future seasons. Business leaders should do the same and ask questions like, “What will cause our company to add personnel and when?” and “What skills or experience will we need when this growth happens?” 

 2. Create a (long-term) game plan: A proactive hiring process doesn’t end with just thinking about it. Businesses should build an organizational chart of what the company will look like one, two and three years in the future and design a hiring game plan based on how they project the growth of their business. 

 3. Build your bench: The last step is to recruit – not when positions need to be filled, but well in advance. That way you build a “virtual bench,” which is exactly what it sounds like – a roster of candidates from which businesses can pull. Once you have your prospects, keep them pre-qualified and ready for whenever the need might come up. 

 Just like in sports, businesses need proactive preparation to get a leg up on the competition. If a college volleyball team can do it, business leaders can too.