I have been a diehard football fan all my life! I love the game and look forward to the start of the football season every year. I especially love watching the NY Giants games, since they come to my hometown every August for training camp at University at Albany.

As we have written in previous blogs, we really admire the recruitment process that professional and college teams execute to have a great starting team. In Pro football organizations the recruitment process starts out with the NFL draft. The draft process is an exciting journey for both the teams and the draft picks alike. The teams spend a tremendous amount of time and energy putting together the recruitment list of players that they would like to draft to their team. The draft picks are recruited to specific teams for their top notch skills that they can be bring to the game to make the team stronger. Just like in the business world organizations put together a list of qualifications they need candidates to possess to become a stronger firm. What I love about the football recruiting process is the amount of preplanning, energy and excitement that the organization puts forth throughout the whole recruiting process.

For draftees in the NFL, there’s no job descriptions provided. They know what they’ve signed themselves up for. All that’s required of them is to continuously “bring it” everyday on the field and the attitude to support it. They learn from their mistakes in past games and practices, and then move onwards to improve that one small imperfection that has decreased their chances of winning, to end up leading their team to victory. They’ve been chosen as recruits for a particular reason- because they work hard, give their best, and continuously improve above all others.

Along with recruiting the right skills for your business or team, trying to find that “perfect fit” within the culture is a definite must! With a strong focus on company/team culture, everyone can work together striving towards the same goal. No one will deviate away from the main goal, and only focus on themselves. Both coaches and managers top priority should be to build a close bond with prospective employees/athletes. They develop a strong trust, and the feeling of being wanted by the organization, which in the end makes a great fit for everyone. This is what ultimately makes a well oiled company/team!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure to sit down during the New York Giants training camp at University at Albany, and ask a few questions to the current players on this topic. I spoke to five past draft picks, which all went through the same drafting process in the past and being recruited to a team that puts a lot of effort towards team culture. I even had the opportunity to ask Giants head coach, Tom Coughlin, about his thoughts on team building.

**To view the interview videos, please go to the original blog post**