We received great feedback on our relationship building, networking and skill set series that ran over the last few weeks. A few thoughts from readers that I wanted to include:
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Qiong Yao, who is co-founder and COO of sports counseling, marketing and PR firm WEsport Limited, wrote from Beijing and wanted to share his thoughts about what he and his colleagues seek in young people in China as employers. His emailed response:
1) Creative and practical: We want our employees to be able to brainstorm and come up with practical new — and most of time better — solutions. It doesn’t always come with their young ages naturally, but we want them to challenge, to ask and to solve.
2) Attention to details: This is important, because as a service provider, we get new clients from having a good reputation. Reputation comes from constant, excellent quality. You don’t achieve that by making “small” mistakes everywhere.
3) Eager to learn: Every employee in our company is going to learn, all the time. Things are changing really fast. It’s not about one particular sport or social media platform any more, opportunities and challenges are right in front of us.
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I also heard from Michael Mondello, associate director of the Sport and Entertainment Management Program at the University of South Florida, who stressed that young people should focus on going beyond what’s asked:
“Today’s college graduates are in some ways more talented than any group I’ve interacted with, particularly with technology. But my sense after talking with industry employers is that they are seeking future colleagues who can ask the right questions, listen intently, and have the ability to not only complete given tasks, but more importantly, have the ability to create new ones.”
Thanks for all the thoughts and comments, and I plan to look at other areas related to these topics in the months ahead.
— Abraham D. Madkour
