MASSIVE MUSCLES VS COACHING CAPABILITY

As a Sports Performance Director, hiring quality employees capable of enforcing our philosophies with exceptional coaching skills is a top priority. Obtaining a degree has become popular, almost the standard. Consider this; any graduating medical student can place an “M.D.” at the end of their name to suggest he or she is an educated and experienced doctor. Would it be safe to assume you would place your best interests in the hands of just ANY doctor that provides a piece of paper to validate their abilities? (I hope your response is “no”, or else you may need to re-consider your ‘top priority’).  Similarly, I would not put my athletes in the line of instruction from anyone that does not have the capabilities necessary to meet our standards and goals in every aspect of our coaching needs. Those graduating diplomas and certificates are vital tools in jumpstarting a career with the necessary educational background. However, how do you practice with that piece of paper to then prove you have what it takes to be exceptional in all aspects of that field??

I received a decent resume from a seemingly qualified young man. The resume contained a couple of the key foundational requirements I look for:
-A college degree in an Exercise Science related Field
-Experience working with athletes of all ages
-Experience with Strength & Conditioning
In my mind, these points inspired confidence to look into this applicant further. I continued to look over the resume and make some positive mental notes. I began to feel really good about this candidate and did some extra checks. I checked our resume filing cabinet to see if this was a duplicate resume of one we have already received and there it was. Surprised at how a resume with such impressive features could have been overlooked or turned-away I made a call to our former Sports Performance Director, who is also a friend and mentor of mine. I was shocked to hear his response, “Adam, he has one of the best resumes and it is filled with all the perfect experience, but he was by far one of the worst interviews I have ever had in my entire life. He displayed the worst interpersonal communication skills I have ever seen in my entire career.” He continued to describe a person that was completely opposite of what was written on the piece of paper in my hand.

So there it was, I just received one of the worst references I could have ever imagined with one of the best resumes I have seen in a while. In this field of sports performance, teaching and coaching, our business relies on effective interpersonal communication skills. I hung up the phone in disappointment but made the decision that this quality resume deserved another look, and to be thorough I checked into another reference. According to his resume, he would have worked as a collegiate strength and conditioning coach with an athlete who trains with us at Velocity Sports Performance. With this information, I made a call to the athlete and asked his opinion on working with this applicant to find out if the candidate was VPS material. I was again surprised to hear an almost identical opinion when this athlete said, “I mean he is not a bad guy, but most of the athletes on the team do not really get along with him. We are not really even sure he knows what he is talking about, he just yells a lot.”

These negative references would be more than sufficient for any employer to disregard a resume. However, I am the type of person that considers what is said but needs to see and experience for myself. Since I was not hiring at that time, I wrote an e-mail back to the candidate to explain, “I like your resume, and am impressed with your qualifications. Our busiest time of year will be coming up in the summer and springtime is usually when we begin the process to search for new hires. I will put your resume on file and contact you at the appropriate moment. Thank you for your interest in Velocity Sports Performance.” With that, I felt better about giving this resume a window of opportunity it seemed to deserve.

Wrong. Without hesitation, those two references haunted my inbox when I received a quick e-mail from the candidate who scripted a professional and impressive resume. The response was, “Yeah. Thanks. Keep me posted if you actually want to hire a coach that looks like they lift weights unlike every single Velocity and Parisi in this state.”

Needless to say, I did not respond. Though the irony of his statement made me feel a little embarrassed for the guy. I must have missed a section of classes, which explained that anyone with big muscles and a diploma would make a higher quality coach then the already 4 part time coaches we have on staff who are all in the process of obtaining their Masters Degree. However, this opened my eyes to the ignorant opinion that if you do not look HUGE with massive muscles, then apparently you aren’t doing it right.