This post on the Manager Tools blog caught my attention because it deals with one of my favourite interview questions – “So what’s your passion? What are you passionate about? What gets you sparked and out of bed on a good day?”
Years ago, when I was joining a small firm here in Calgary, one of the principals asked me the same question. He wasn’t interested in my answer so much as he was trying to see how I would light up and spark on something – it didn’t matter what it was. I took that to heart, and when hiring for a development team in later years, I’ve tried my best to ask the question, and to hire passionate people.
Some were passionate about their family, others were passionate about their hobbies or sports pursuits, one was passionate about wine, another was passionate about travelling. And yes, some were passionate about their work, about coding or testing or designing or planning. It matters less to you that your team is passionate about work, it only matters that they’re passionate about something in their lives. That’s because, chances are, if they’re fired up and passionate about one thing, you can probably get them fired up and passionate about the project.
Look for passion in your hires – try to see the spark in their eye, the rapid-fire speech, the heightened intensity, when they talk about something of interest to them. Get them talking about their interests, and you’ll see it.
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That’s an interesting/touching post. I remember 5 years ago when my manager told me, the day you feel that you’re waiting for 5 PM is the day you should quit your job, regardless on whether or not you’ve found another job. Staying there will just ruin you…