I know, I know. You’ve heard lots of reasons athletes make good employees. Common arguments include they are team players, Type A personalities, and so on. I’d generally agree with these concepts. But I wanted to go so far to say triathletes make GREAT employees. Of course this is only my personal opinion, but read on for why I believe you should hire a triathlete.
Why You Should Hire a Triathlete
Triathletes are amazing people. As a triathlete and friend to many who are, I’ve learned that your average triathlete has several key skills that will make them a great asset to your company. You will soon learn why you should hire a triathlete.
Time Management Skills
In order to get in hours of training swimming, biking, and running in a week, triathletes must be experts at time management skills. We fit in our activities early in the morning, late at night, or shoving them into any piece of downtime (such as lunch).
As triathletes can figure out how to maximize every last hour of their day, they are typically extremely productive employees with their time at work. This means that as an employer or manager, having a triathlete on your team will mean they are ruthlessly efficient with their time and are not fond of wasting time. Triathletes want to get as much done as they can as they know time is a valuable resource.
Energy & Mood
Just look at any employer job posting and you’ll find something like:
Must be a flexible, resourceful, team player that is able to thrive in a fast-paced, constantly changing environment
Triathletes tend to have a healthier lifestyle as compared to their more sedentary peers. Triathletes can often be found eating foods that typically beg the question “what on earth are you eating?”
From a triathlete’s meal plan to the hundreds of calories they burn each day training, you will find a triathlete often has boundless energy throughout the day to get work done. You don’t want an employee snoozing through a meeting and it will be unlikely you’ll find a triathlete doing that.
As a triathlete puts in hours of training a week, they produce many beneficial hormones (coupled with a healthier meal plan) that often produces a generally happy employee. Happy employees are easier to motivate and are more fun to work with in a team environment. These employees will be your go-to to get team projects done.
Ability to Adapt to New Technology
It is well known that triathletes are early adopters for technology. Compared to our peers, a triathlete both loves technology and the data produced, but also looks for whatever edge they can get with technology. For example, I invested in a separate optical heart rate system before many watches or fitness trackers came with them.
As an employer, some of the resistance you’ll encounter is with employees not wanting to change or challenge the status quo of the technology used in your business. Triathletes are usually wiling to adapt to these changes. I for one am usually on the bleeding edge of software releases accepting beta software if it means I get access to features that will make me more efficient or productive before my peers. A triathlete is usually comfortable drawing conclusions from large volumes of data. If you need an employee who can make sense of mountains of data, a triathlete is a good bet.
Capacity to Work Individually on Projects
In direct contrast to requiring an employee to work on a team project, you’ll often need to lay a project on an employee with minimum direction where they need to “just get it done.” You can also find this key attribute in several job descriptions:
Demonstrated ability to work with minimum direction
Sometimes you need to have a go-to employee to just get a project done when you either can’t provide, or there simply isn’t much guidance to provide them. Triathletes are accustomed to spending many hours alone as they train to better their performance. A triathlete is often a person who is quite capable of taking a project or task and running with it (no pun intended) until it’s done. They will persevere until the project is complete.
Triathletes Like to Win
“Winning” is a relative term for a triathlete. Sometimes winning is just about getting to the finish line. For others it means hitting the finish line under their goal time. For others it means being ultra competitive in the overall race or within their age group. Triathletes are motivated people who persevere.
Triathletes will find a way to get something done. Sometimes this means training harder, taking time to recover from an injury, or changing the way they train. In other cases, it means totally changing their diet. You want to hire a person who will do whatever is necessary to get the job done.
Are You Convinced You Should Hire a Triathlete Yet?
You should now be ready to hire a triathlete to your staff. You will get an employee who is:
- Motivated
- Has energy
- Can work in a team setting or individually
- Is a master at time management
What are you waiting for? You should hire a triathlete already! If you still aren’t convinced, ask a triathlete in an interview what motivates them, why they chose triathlon, and ask to explain how they overcame a challenge. You won’t be disappointed with their response.