Team Recruitment: Who Are You Missing?

FIRST Tech Challengeteam recruitment season is upon us! For coaches and mentors looking to add to their team for the 2015-2016 season, we’ve got some tips.

Before you start recruiting, it might be helpful to ask yourself a few questions:

• How big is your team? How many additional team members do you need/want?
• What skills do your current members possess? What skills will you want to recruit for?
• How “old” is your team? How many members will be graduating/leaving in a year? How young do you want your new members to be?
• How many kids do you want to inspire?

Now pull up a mental picture of your team right now. Then subtract the members who have graduated or are leaving.

Ask yourself this: Who are you missing?

Are you missing an Einstein? He had Asperger’s Syndrome and had trouble concentrating in school, possibly due to dyslexia. What could he bring to the team?

Are you missing a Curie? She was poor, self-educated, and near blind. What could she bring to the team?

Are you missing a Lennon? He was an artist in his childhood and played in a band. What could he bring to your team?

Are you missing a Ford? This guy was a great inventor, but he had dyslexia and struggled as a result. What could he bring to the team?

Are you missing an Alvarez? She is a bilingual Dominican-American writer. What could she bring to your team?

Are you missing a Carver? He was a black former slave, raised by a white couple, and educated in segregated, poor black schools. What could he bring to the team?

Are you missing a Newton? He not only stuttered, but suffered from epilepsy. What could he bring to the team?

Are you missing a Jemison? She’s a dancer, but loves science and dreams of going into space. What could she bring to the team?

Are you missing a Hawking? He suffers from motor neuron disease and is in a motorized wheelchair and requires a computerized speech-synthesizer to communicate. What could he bring to the team?

Are you missing a Lama? He spends time meditating and is an outspoken activist and leader. What could he bring to the team?

Are you missing a Robinson?  He is a natural athlete following in his brothers' footsteps. What could he bring to the team?

Are you missing an Edison? He couldn’t read until he was twelve and suffered from diabetes and deafness. What could he bring to the team?

Perhaps it is not possible to have these folks on your team, but maybe the next great thinker, creator, engineer, scientist, athlete, inventor, humanitarian is waiting to join your team. So pull up that mental picture of your team again and think about the talented people your team might include.  Ask yourself a few more questions:

• How will you find them?
• How will you get them to join?
• How will you get them to stay?
• How will you inspire them? 
• What will they bring to your team?
• What will they bring to the world?

Changing the focus of your recruitment and selection criteria to one that aims to include and embrace the next Einstein, or Jemison, or Robinson without focusing on the reasons why not to include them will ensure that you are missing no one.

Truthfully, FTC is always recruiting. We’re looking for anyone who wants to get involved in celebrating science, technology, engineering, math, while using coopertition to compete. If you aren’t already a team member, coach or mentor, or volunteer, want to join?