What effect does socializing have?

[JugglingReferee]

A referee approached me with a question.

When being looked at to move up to officiate a higher level of football, how much does your ability to socialize come into play?

Take two people, both whom are equal in ability.  Will the one who has a noticeable social presence be picked over the other official?

What if one person gets along with everyone, and vice versa.  Could he be picked before a more knowledgeable official, but who has a lower social tendency?

[mccormicw]

A referee approached me with a question.

When being looked at to move up to officiate a higher level of football, how much does your ability to socialize come into play?

Take two people, both whom are equal in ability.  Will the one who has a noticeable social presence be picked over the other official?

What if one person gets along with everyone, and vice versa.  Could he be picked before a more knowledgeable official, but who has a lower social tendency?

The ability to socialize will absolutely come into play.  I don't think it necessarily comes down to comparing two officials though.  In order to move up, an official needs to have an acceptable level of social "ability".  If he is obviously lacking in this area, all the officiating ability in the world probably won't help. 

I used socializing in my post because it was in the title.  I believe there are several subcategories that are weighed:  Ability to get along with crew, social awkwardness, ability to communicate effectively with coaches....

[cincybearcat]

I don't really like the phrase "socializing"...because I think some could interpret that somewhat as brown-nosing (or insert phrase here)...which I really don't think has a big affect.  However, "Comunication Skills" have a HUGE impact.  We are in a people/communication business...verbal and non-verbal.  Those skills are ABSOLUTELY required for a college football official.

[bossman72]

Take a few things into consideration:

1) A supervisor is more likely to hire someone whom he's met with and conversed with rather than someone he doesn't know.

2) Face time with a supervisor is incredibly valuable.  This sometimes happens at a clinic, but you have 100 guys trying to shake his hand after each break out session.  Valuable time is actually with a supervisor at a social even AFTER the clinic (usually a bar).  Remember, supervisors were once officials just like us too. 

Story time: Myself and another official got to talk with a supervisor at a bar after a clinic.  It was late and the other official was tired and went to bed after talking for 10 min.  I was able to talk with the supervisor for another 45 min and build a great rapport with him over some beers at the bar.

3) Socializing all comes into play when gelling with a crew.  Nobody wants to work with a guy who's all business, works the game, then leaves.  Supervisors notice this too.

[ljudge]

Socializing helps in many ways.  One way it helped me early in my career was when working weighted (pee-wee) ball we met at a club where the owner was a former official who allowed us to have our meetings there.  Rather than go home immediately after the meeting I went to the bar to socialize.  It's AMAZING how much you can learn just by doing that.  I mean hearing all the "war stories" of things that happened in games, how they handled, what went well, plays they've seen, experiences, etc. etc.  I was like a parrot in the first years of life - I shut up, listened, and learned.

It helped me at NCAA level to get to know other guys.  Even though I'm on a crew we're at times put in games "out of crew."  Our supervisor runs a charity golf outing the night before our annual clinic in August.  It's a great way to meet guys and have fun and the added benefit is when you get one of those out of crew assignments you aren't always meeting people for the first time 3 hours before you take the field.  Knowing your partner is extremely helpeful especially in a "fast" game especially at the higher levels.  This is just one way to socialize and you have a fun at the same time (AND the money goes to a worthy cause).  All pluses!!!!

My advice is to use socialization to get BETTER! 

Hope this helps.

[pgh guy]

All great responses above!  I attribute some of my early success to what was learned at "the meeting after the meeting", which was the bar near where we had our meetings.  While it's not necessary to be a drinker, you can go and have soft drinks, but in my opinion, the social aspect is absolutely necessary.  There has to be a human aspect to what we do out there and since we're not all robots, it is good for that side to be seen by those who can help us.