I am not a consultant or a human resources guru. However, I do run a business and have seen a lot of different people succeed and fail in my respective workplaces over the last 20 years.
When it comes to recruiting and hiring, I’ve noticed a strong indicator of future success in job candidates: Passion.
People need a passion for something that requires action. Action is important here—you don’t need a workplace full of people who have only a passion for watching TV, just watching sports, or passive listening to music. But someone who has a passion for TV and acts upon it by running a fan website or by building her own cutting edge home entertainment network might have what you seek. Passion could also be found on the job, or outside work.
Evidence of passion indicates several positive attributes, including:
- Ability to engage in pursuit of a goal
- Affinity for action
- Ability to manage time and identify priorities
- Self awareness to realize interests
- Vision of a desired future
For most jobs, I think you also need to look for evidence of “finishers.” A passion without the ability to achieve results may not help your cause. A tinkerer with a garage full of unfinished projects might leave the workplace projects in similar condition. Achievement is icing on the cake of passion, especially for more experienced people who have had some time to achieve goals. Awards and rewards are great evidence of achievement, on and off the job.
Some great questions to reveal passion include: Is there anything you feel passionate about? What do you like to do when you find yourself with a little downtime? What do you do to pursue your interests? Is there a way you measure success when you pursue (your passion)?
I predict you will find that passion is a far more important predictor of success than simple experience.
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