With most of the executive-level hires done across NFL front offices and most area scout slots filled, as well, we’re mostly at the point where teams are interviewing scouting assistants. For that reason, I thought it was a good time to address something I saw on social media recently. It’s related to how you interview.

I saw a post from a well-intentioned and frustrated aspiring scout. It lamented those who were getting interviews despite lacking the stack of reports that he had done. He implied he had worked a lot harder than some of those who were getting opportunities he wasn’t getting.

I’m sympathetic to this, and it’s true that this is still a who-you-know business. At the same time, I think there’s an important point to make.

When we conduct our annual December Zoom session with GMs and executives and the people we work with who are aspiring scouting assistants, there’s one thing they all say: don’t say you want to be a GM someday. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but there’s a good reason for it.

Most of the scouts and executives I talk to have a regular complaint about the younger generation of scouts, and it’s that they maybe have too much ambition. Or maybe it’s that they lack patience. They tell me they are being constantly hounded about promotions, or getting behind, or what it’s gonna take to make the next step. It’s exhausting to them. They don’t see young scouts as focused on getting good at their jobs as they are on getting a new job. That’s a big problem. I think there are even scouts who have lost their jobs because of their overly persistent attitudes about climbing the ladder.

There’s one thing teams want to find out, generally speaking, about their scouting assistant hires: how hard they will work. How good their attitude will be. How willing they will be to work on the details of one job before they’re seeking the next one. Some teams will want to see your reports, sure, and some will ask you to break down film, but not nearly as many as you might expect. More often than not, they’re going to presume you know a little football, and they feel they can teach you what you need to know. It’s far more important to come in with the frame of mind that you’re there to learn and you want to be a sponge.

If you’re reading this, and you get an interview in the coming weeks, I hope you already know this stuff, but if you don’t, I strongly suggest you follow my advice. It might be the difference.