What Is A Recruiting Profile?

As a prospective collegiate athlete, it’s essential that you put together a comprehensive recruiting profile for coaches and scouts to see. However, you might be wondering what a recruiting profile is and what exactly it should include.

A recruiting profile is your sports resume, and it should include everything about you academically, athletically, and personally that will pertain to your recruitment. This might include highlight videos, test scores, GPA, achievements, and personal bios that give insight to your character and personal ambitions.

Creating a recruiting profile allows you to gain more exposure and increases your chances of coming across the radar of a college coach. It’s a chance for you to market yourself and get noticed, and this article will help you better understand what a recruiting profile is and what it should include.

Do I Need To Have A Recruiting Profile?

You might be wondering if a recruiting profile is really necessary to have. If you’re good enough to play at the next level, won’t college coaches just notice you anyway? This might be the case for some exceptional players, but it’s not true for everyone.

Your Responsibility As A Recruit: Recruiting is all about getting noticed, staying in communication with coaches, and proving that you’re the right fit for a program. The responsibility is equally, if not more so, on you to get noticed and communicate as it is on coaches to seek players and recruit them to play. Creating a recruiting profile is a way for you to take that responsibility and be active in your own recruitment, which will undoubtedly increase your chances of finding success.

Technically, you are not required to make a recruiting profile, but it is highly recommended. Very few players are good enough to gain notoriety without putting in the work to put themselves out there. A recruiting profile is a privilege that allows you to show coaches in detail how you can impress as a player, a student, and a person. Having the best recruiting profile possible is taking an important first step in the process – putting yourself out there might allow a coach to see your value, then begin watching you, and ultimately could lead to a relationship being built.

The Benefits Of Having A Recruiting Profile

Having a recruiting profile opens various opportunities and gives you a chance to let your achievements speak for themselves. It can be seen as the key first step of simply being noticed and gathering attention which might ultimately lead to an offer.

Convenience: A recruiting profile is extremely convenient to have because it can gather everything relevant about you as an athlete, student, and person in one comprehensive space. This can save you time when sharing your information and add efficiency to the entire process of reaching out to coaches by simply dropping a link to your profile which will make your life and theirs easier, and help ease the ultimate goal of developing a relationship.

Competition: A recruiting profile gives you the ability to be analyzed in comparison to other players based on their profiles, so having a great profile can be a major advantage when coaches are considering hundreds of players. It’s a chance for you to show that you might not only be a better player, but you care more and are hungrier for opportunities, which will pay dividends.

Making An Impression: When you apply for a job, a recruiter’s first impression of you is your resume – the content, the formatting, the achievements, etc. It’s the same for an athletic recruiting profile. A well-crafted, detailed profile will make a great first impression on any coach, and will further your chances of one of them reaching out to you. Coaches appreciate attention to detail and diligence, and a profile that reflects these qualities is always a bonus.

A recruiting profile, if created properly, offers privileges to you as an aspiring player. It’s all about marketing yourself in a convenient and efficient manner, showing why you might be a better option than someone else, and showing how you are worthy of moving forward in the process.

What Should A Recruiting Profile Include?

Your recruiting profile should be a fully comprehensive suite that demonstrates your athletic, academic, and personal qualities, so there are a number of things that you want to include.

Highlight Videos: The first thing a coach is going to want to see is what you’re capable of as a player. Your recruiting profile should absolutely include highlight videos that demonstrate your presence on the field, and that includes both games and practices if available. Make sure to have enough variety so you can show yourself as a well-rounded player with multiple strengths.

Statistics and Metrics: Statistics are a great way for a coach to quickly analyze you at a surface level and understand your impact as a player. Try to be as detailed as possible and gather as many different metrics that you can that highlight your strengths. There are thousands of different sports statistics that speak to different skill sets, so the sky's the limit, but be sure to present your stats in a humble, yet informative way.

Academic Information: When a coach thinks you have the athletic potential to fit the program, one of the first questions they ask will be whether or not you are academically eligible. Be sure that your profile includes an updated transcript, GPA and test scores. Being a strong student is a huge factor because it impresses coaches, provides eligibility, and in some cases can provide scholarship opportunities.

Personal Info: It never hurts to have a brief personal bio in your profile. The goal here is to give a glimpse of who you are as a person off the field, so you want to include things that will speak to your character, outline your goals, and highlight your qualities. However, be careful not to come across in a way that would be overly arrogant or egotistic – briefly present yourself with respect, humility, and strong character.

References: Include a list of names and contact info of former and current coaches, trainers, and anyone else who has worked with you on your development as a player and person. College coaches will often reach out to these people to get a sense of not only your skills and impact as a player, but your coachability, mindset, and character, which can be super helpful in demonstrating why you might be the right fit.

Upcoming Events: Mention some upcoming games or showcases where a college coach can come see you play in the future. Once they look over your profile and see your highlights, they’re going to want to watch you in person and evaluate you in more depth, so it’s important that they know where and when they can do this.

Contact Info: Make sure to include your phone number, email address, and even social media (as long as the content is appropriate), in order that college coaches can get in touch with you after viewing your profile.

Your recruiting profile should encompass everything you would want a college coach to see in you, and that includes a combination of quantitative, qualitative, and visual information. Including everything mentioned above will give you the best opportunity to market yourself and impress viewers.

What Should I Do With My Recruiting Profile?

The obvious goal of creating a recruiting profile is to have to be seen by coaches and recruiters. Once you create your profile, you’ll want to get it in front of as many eyes as possible.

Send To Coaches: When reaching out to college coaches via email, you should absolutely include a link for them to view your profile. They would most likely ask for a lot of the information anywhere, so giving them access to one space pertaining to everything necessary regarding your recruitment is extremely convenient for them and allows you to impress them with your highlights and qualities.

Social Media: Post your recruiting profile on various forms of social media. This is a great way to cast a wide net and gain exposure and awareness from a wide variety of viewers, some of whom could ultimately have an influence on the success of your recruitment.

The key is to be proactive with your profile and share it with as many people as possible. The more people that see it, the better chance you have of attracting interest from programs.

Things To Keep In Mind

Update Regularly: You’ll want to keep your recruiting profile as up-to-date as possible. This is extremely important so coaches can get an idea of where you stand now with both athletic and academic progress, as well as contact and reference information.

Comprehensive: Your recruiting profile is one of the easiest ways for coaches to look at you, so you’ll want to include everything necessary to make the right impression and provide all content and information necessary.