Talented recruiting prospects don’t just materialize out of thin air.
They all have life experiences and employment histories that made them who they are.
Astute hiring managers look for patterns in these histories so they can better recognize the hidden talent in their future prospects.
Author Daniel Coyle points out one of the patterns that tells us something important about a recruiting prospect:
One pattern of successful athletes happens when they’re 13 or so, when they develop a sense of ownership of their training.
For the ones who succeed, this age is when they decide that it’s not enough to simply be an obedient cog in the development machine.
They begin to go further, reaching beyond the program, deciding for themselves what their workouts will be–augmenting and customizing and addressing their weaknesses on their own.
This propensity for independence and self-management has been shown to lead to high performance in entrepreneurial positions in the workplace.
Questions about early ownership are worth working into your interviews and follow-up dialogs.
This pattern is an important clue that may help you recognize your next high-performer.
