Church of the Customer Blog
« Wanted: Passion. Inquire within. | Main | The best of? »
August 09, 2005
Wanted: Passion. Inquire within.
My post about Tea Gschwendner's "passion wanted" sign spurred several comments and ideas among a handful of blog readers.
Lisa Haneberg wonders if HR departments are prepared to hire for passion. "Are most interviewers able to ask questions that assess attitude that would pass muster?" she asks. Good point. It's one thing for an interviewer to blithely ask candidates about their passion in general, but it's an entirely different sniff test that asks candidates to demonstrate their passion for the company's products or belief system.
Glenn points out that CRM is "much tougher" without passionate employees in place to generate positive ROI for that expensive software investment.
The Student Leaders blog jumps in with additional advice: "Do people look at you in your position and recognize someone who is passionate about their work (so much so, that it almost looks like play)?" The several times I've visited Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the work-as-play motif was strong. And effective.
The Genuine Idea blog says hiring for passion weaves back to hiring for shared values.
Mark Askey, a 15-year retail veteran, summed up the quest for finding passionate employees by saying, "What sort of message do you send to your potential applicants? Are you trying to find a brand champion to help drive your business to the next level?"
You may remember this November post about Container Store and how it finds passionate employees: from its database of existing customers.
In the big picture, passion is the fuel behind word of mouth.
Other blogs that reference Wanted: Passion. Inquire within.:
» Passion is essential, but what is it? from Leading Questions
A posting over at Church of the Customer by Ben McConnell - Wanted: Passion. Inquire within. -made me think about this whole passion thing in a new way. Is passion becoming one of those words that is becoming so over [Read More]
» The Passion Behind Your Company from CCUCEO
Ben McConnell, at Church of the Customer, posted about employee passion and how to find it. Good post. Lots of touched nerves and passionate responses. It touched our nerve. Employee passion has always been and will remain the key to [Read More]
One way Starbucks attempts to hire passionate partners (store-level employees) is to NOT hire people who politely decline a cup of coffee during their job interview.
I'm not sure if all Starbucks locations still practice this unwritten policy but many did back in the late 90s.
Starbucks thinking back in the day was if you aren't apt to drinking coffee, especially during the job interview, then you most likely aren't going to talk about passionately coffee with customers.
Nice series of posts on this way worthy topic.
One critical tool I've found over the years in assessing both passion and competence in interviewees is asking variations on the two -part question: "What was it? And what did you do?"
For passion, I suppose this can be addressed either via passion in a previous role regarding the subject area, or (even better) passion as exemplified in the employee's "outside work life."
If looking for general zeal, one approach then would be "Could you give me an example of a past role where you were really passionate about what you were doing? What was it, and what did you do?" Then really have the conversation to understand what it was that was *done*.
The onus is really on the interviewer to hold up his or her end of the conversation, and to make the effort to understand the interviewee by getting engaged. If the interviewee likewise "goes deep" and shows (again, through past actual actions, not just words of "well I would..."), there is an increased likelyhood of a good fit, and that passion shining through in the current opportunity.
That tea shop sign doesn't necessarily mean a thing. It's quite possibly just another kind of bullshit. You get interviewed and it's all "rah, rah" but the actual work tells a different story: nobody really cares and it's just another job. It's an act on both sides, because interviewees are going to do what they think will get them the job.
In order for this to be for real, you need to either not mention it at all, or specifically look for knowledgeable people. It would be very easy to ask someone a few questions and present them with some tea samples and test the applicant's knowledge. If an applicant really had any passion, this would be where you'd see it.
There is a guy who is at the local Starbucks every morning, hanging out, saying hello to all of the other regulars. He has become as familiar as the furniture. I don't think it would be too much of a leap for him to move from behind the table to behind the counter.
The tricky part is whenever you attach the word "job" to something. Customers are always on the lookout for opportunities of convenience, not necessarily commitment.
That comment about denying someone a job at Starbucks' because they denied a coffee during a job interview indicates a tragic mistake made during interviews (which are so fulled of flaws to begin with.) It is namely that "behavior may or may not represent intention."
(Example: a person shows a sense of good humor at work. One group says the behavior builds camaraderie, while another says it indicates lack of seriousness. So let's hereby discontinue comedy at work.)
I actually once made the mistake of taking a Starbucks coffee at a job interview once. It was a variety I liked, and strong too. I was extremely excited about the position, and hearing the interviewer say my favorite flavor sent me through the roof. When you added my passion for the company, my passion for their product, my passion for Guatemala Antigua, and compound it with the overall life-death career-make-or-break decision behind a job interview, you've got passion boiling 10+ times over Starbucks recommended 180 degrees.
I did not get that job. Why not? One person evaluating me thought I was "overenthusiastic." (Oh, other interviewers did want me, but they used a unanimous vote system. No passion from the other evaluators could outweigh the "No.")
I have since taken a 180 degree look at coffee at job interviews. I learned that I can handle coffee, provided that I moderate it, and I'm not already excited or jittery to begin with. So my declining it would not indicate a lack of passion. If anything, it may actually show that when I do take a cup, I savor and love every minute of it.
In terms of "Creating Customer Evangelists," I have found that one big fear people have about using passion is about being written off as wacko. Or they think emotion has absolutely no place in speaking about a product or company. As one person would later tell me, we can each indeed using emotion without becoming "emotional."
It's really sad that in adulthood, many are overly concerned with maintaining a certain image, and so they kill the passion within them. It's also why I get extremely dispassionate resumes from people who don't sing to me their own praises, telling me what they can do for me that no other candidate can. I think about that Oliver Wendell Holmes saying of how sad it is that many people die with music within them the world will never get to hear. Oh, knowing me, if I was interviewing for the Starbucks position, I'd probably not drink a coffee and instead focus on the fine music CD's customers could hear and buy as they enjoyed their sample of joe.
I also read the above suggestion about asking a candidate when they were once passionate at a job.
The big school of thought now in hiring is the behavioral camp, the notion that past successful actions indicates future triumphs in other employers' playfields. Well, what if that passionate person has had no arena to display the passion?
When it comes to hiring, I'm not one of those who focus on the past. The past can be fabricated, respun by storytellers. Some even say 30% of any resume is lie, that interviews are overchoreographed affairs to begin with. The candidate hides past skeletons, the management doesn't reveal faux pas.
The present is a different beast altogether, the candidate has to know my situation. And I of all people as the manager must have my act together first. The fantastic work you did for others means nothing to me like the fantastic work you and I will do together.
In fact, it may be the very force of passion that drove you to find me. We are frequently told that it is a sin to speak ill of a former supervisor. We are also told that many job changes occur not because of money. Instead, the main driver is boredom, lack of advancement, or the ultimate personality difference with the boss. With interview time being so limited, why force the candidate to sugarcoat what he's running away from?
In my own vanity, I want to hear what the candidates sees in me and my company. Then I want the candidates to show their vanity. Where do they see themselves fitting in right now?, not 5 years from now, not 5 years ago.
When I've told candidates that we're going to focus on our journey from this day forward, many are extremely surprised. Yet that's what many want out of a job interview. It's also why some have stopped researching companies because they think all they're going to talk is the very past they want to escape. Sorry, it ain't misbehavin' to know the past is prologue, and to passionately indicate interest in the present, the candidate's and the employer's.
the retail kitchenware store i own has a simple one page application including questions like:
"tell me three things you know about an omlette"
"what happens if you teach a pig karate?"
and "draw a duck, chicken, turkey or other fowl."
i train my sales associates to chat up prospective employees and then grade the application...a+ or b-, f, etc. after all, retail is about attitude, and people have got to have a sense of humor...
My experience with typical HR departments's habits:
1) Hire people who are more or less qualified for the specific job opening.
2) Put asses in seats.
As sad as it sounds, that is the norm.
Passion (or rather, enthusiasm) during the interview process seems to only be marginally relevant, and appreciated mostly as a kind of secondary bonus quality. While it certainly doesn't go unnoticed in a talented applicant, it isn't actively sought.
Perhaps as important as passion are intellectual curiosity, creativity (especially when it comes to problem-solving), specific talents, and the oh-so-rare common sense. Unfortunately, these essential qualities are still considered to be secondary to the traditional resume headers: previous job title, education, and successes of note.
Worse yet, most HR departments typically suffer from a gross disconnect from the organizations (and specific departments) which they serve. They rarely (if ever) sit in on departmental meetings and so are not aware of their dynamics or the subtle incremental changes that mark their respective growth(s). That's a HUGE mistake.
HR professionals should be students of their own organizations. They should KNOW their own businesses inside out. Typically, they don't.
Don't even get me started. :D
(Great blog, by the way.)
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Interesting, I was talking with a HF recruiter today, and she was telling me that she always looks first for the passion in someone. That some people are better suited for certain jobs because of their enthusiasm.
Sorry, haven't read your blog in about a week or so.
What an excellent thread on the "passion" subject.
I call this phenomenon the Robin Williams Effect and find it to be one of the most important aspects of any business...if not the most important.
You can read my entire thought...http://www.michaelchaffin.com/2005/03/the_robin_willi.html
