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Job ads that say, "Are you passionate about...?"

Helen Back said:
Well, no, I'm not passionate about anything that you have to pay me to do before I'll do it. :)
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I remember that starting. Like so many of these things, "being passionate" isn't a bad thing...but once it becomes a kind of default option, and inappropriately used, it quickly looks silly. I would have described myself as "passionate" about database design and development, and stuff like that, back in the day, and jobspecs would often have "must be passionate about <mumble> test-driven development" in there somewhere, which did feel like a bit of a reach.
 
Passionate would be a stretch but I am genuinely interested in what I do (translation) both technically and the abstract side about cross cultural communication and the rest, but the point about why they have to pay you stands as ninety nine percent of the texts I work with are pointless or actively awful.
Can imagine a craftsperson or cook etc enjoying providing quality, and caring professions you'd imagine.
 
That's like when they ask you in the interview: "why do you want to work here?" and instead of saying the truth (er because I need money), you say "oh, I have a friend who worked here and she said it was such a wonderful place to work" :rolleyes: Just play the game
 
miss direct said:
That's like when they ask you in the interview: "why do you want to work here?" and instead of saying the truth (er because I need money), you say "oh, I have a friend who worked here and she said it was such a wonderful place to work" :rolleyes: Just play the game
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I usually just said "because I liked the look of the job", unless there was some more specific (genuine) reason. It's a bit of a dumb question, usually.
 
This sort of interview question winds me up no end (which is probably why I find it difficult to get a job or thrive in the work environment, I don't have the bullshit responses and fake enthusiasm properly nailed down and ready to regurgitate at the appropriate moment).

At this point in my life, I'm passionate about eventually getting my hands on a free bus pass and my pension, everything else is kind of just filling in the time to pay bills.
 
There are loads of people out there who work harder and in jobs far more valuable to society than mine who aren't getting a fraction of what I do (Mrs Q likes to try and make me feel guilty about this every now and then)
I enjoy what I do, I'm good at it and it has brought me much in the way of material rewards but passionate about it no, it's a job not a calling.
 
Epona said:
I don't have the bullshit responses and fake enthusiasm properly nailed down and ready to regurgitate at the appropriate moment).
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They're hideous questions for everyone except a wildly extroverted narcissist. I hope this doesn't sound patronising or condescending.

I've been an interviewer. I've done a ton of interviews, enough to know that it's a lazy question, asked by poor interviewers who don't know what they're looking for and couldn't frame a decent question to uncover it.

But I wouldn't say that. Here's how I would bat it back: Don't answer the question. Blank it. Give an answer that you want to say about yourself. Obviously, your strengths will differ, but consider:

Wally interviewer asks: "What / passionate about?"

You: "Let me tell you about myself. I'm never late. I abhor situations that force me to keep people waiting. I've never missed a deadline I promised to hit. I dislike casual sloppiness. I like loose ends tied up even if it means staying a bit later. I want to do the very best I can, whether it's a spreadsheet or neatly parking in the car park. I love to show other people what I know, especially younger staff who never get on-job training these days...

"I don't know if that amounts to passion, but it's the kind of person I am: reliable, diligent, honest, collegiate and caring. I hope that's what you're looking for in this position."

Many people may disagree with me, but my experience is that honesty is a big tick in the box. The passion (or similar) question is a red herring. It's like the "where do you see yourself in X years?" bullshit.

Just prepare a few things about yourself and your qualities, and look out for a chance to lay them out. If you're an introvert like me, this will feel all wrong, but honestly, interviewers aren't expecting you to address the precise question. That doesn't matter. Dealing with the question fluently, and pitching some of your strengths will earn double-plus bonus points.

:thumbs:
 
Limejuice said:
They're hideous questions for everyone except a wildly extroverted narcissist. I hope this doesn't sound patronising or condescending.

I've been an interviewer. I've done a ton of interviews, enough to know that it's a lazy question, asked by poor interviewers who don't know what they're looking for and couldn't frame a decent question to uncover it.

But I wouldn't say that. Here's how I would bat it back: Don't answer the question. Blank it. Give an answer that you want to say about yourself. Obviously, your strengths will differ, but consider:

Wally interviewer asks: "What / passionate about?"

You: "Let me tell you about myself. I'm never late. I abhor situations that force me to keep people waiting. I've never missed a deadline I promised to hit. I dislike casual sloppiness. I like loose ends tied up even if it means staying a bit later. I want to do the very best I can, whether it's a spreadsheet or neatly parking in the car park. I love to show other people what I know, especially younger staff who never get on-job training these days...

"I don't know if that amounts to passion, but it's the kind of person I am: reliable, diligent, honest, collegiate and caring. I hope that's what you're looking for in this position."

Many people may disagree with me, but my experience is that honesty is a big tick in the box. The passion (or similar) question is a red herring. It's like the "where do you see yourself in X years?" bullshit.

Just prepare a few things about yourself and your qualities, and look out for a chance to lay them out. If you're an introvert like me, this will feel all wrong, but honestly, interviewers aren't expecting you to address the precise question. That doesn't matter. Dealing with the question fluently, and pitching some of your strengths will earn double-plus bonus points.

:thumbs:
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Even that makes me want to run out of the room and just give up on life - the sooner we get rid of this bullshit the better.

I'll turn up and do a job if someone pays me an adequate wage to do so, it is really that simple, anyone stating why this is their dream in life is either in the lucky few % who wants to do a particular job, or is lying/buttering up the interviewers :D

(EDIT: I look forward to the glorious day when I don't need to sell myself to get a menial job, I'll just be put on the bin collection rota like everyone else and will go and do my bit for the good of humanity/the area I live in without having to make out that it is my dream in life)
 
MickiQ said:
There are loads of people out there who work harder and in jobs far more valuable to society than mine who aren't getting a fraction of what I do (Mrs Q likes to try and make me feel guilty about this every now and then)
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I'll PM you my bank details so you can transfer 50% of your salary each month.
 
We get this shit every now and then in the form of little pep talks from the site manager about needing to show commitment and passion. On £9.25 a fucking hour he should be grateful that we show up and stay awake all day.
The only part of my job I'm passionate about is clock-watching.
 
JoeyBoy said:
We get this shit every now and then in the form of little pep talks from the site manager about needing to show commitment and passion. On £9.25 a fucking hour he should be grateful that we show up and stay awake all day.
The only part of my job I'm passionate about is clock-watching.
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Yeah, you'd think that someone in the very early pages of whatever management textbook they get these ideas from, it would say "before coming up with nifty strategies and pithy sayings to Motivate Your Workforce, do make sure there aren't tons of glaring injustices and daily shit which are likely to render your message laughable, at best".
 
I've walked out of a few interviews with people who expected serious answers to shite like this. I realise I'm very lucky to be in a position to be brutally honest enough to do that, but I don't see the value in pretending to be something you're not in an interview and then have to keep up the pretence. I can understand some hare-brained recruitment drone asking boilerplate crap like this instead of something related to the job they know nothing about, but when it's your potential future boss asking it, it's a strong indicator that bovine excrement will be a large factor in any future employment and that's a massive turn-off. Interviews are, of course, a two way street as it's also your insight in to how the company culture is, not just your fitness to work. All of this motivational headbanging is profoundly depressing proscribed nonsense.

I do remember one interview for a sysadmin position where I was asked this question and gave a semi-honest answer which was nothing to do with the job where I stated I had hobbies outside of work and quite enjoyed making good cocktails, soups and roast dinners and zero about IT but the only thing I could say I was passionate about what the avoidance of any and all bullshit. The person who asked seemed visibly taken aback (not sure if it was the honest answer or the use of the word "shit" in an interview, the other three rolled their eyes and chuckled).

I've probably spent too long in the IT "this is most definitely the most cynical profession!" salt mines to be able to tell, but is there anyone who likes or thinks there's any value in these sorts of questions...?
 
I wrote four job adverts this week and you'll be relieved to know I did not include a requirement to be passionate in any of them.

I did, however, include four essential requirements (i.e. things that candidates must be able to do) and was then challenged by our recruitment "advisor" that four was far too few; it should be ten or twelve essential things. I knew immediately that he was an idiot and kept it to my original four.
 
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I've heard that whoever compiles these job ads goes around each department asking them for a list of what their ideal candidate should be able to do. So realsistically, you're not expected to be able to do all the bullet points on an ad, just most of them. If there's one bullet point you don't meet, apply anyway.
 
Helen Back said:
I've heard that whoever compiles these job ads goes around each department asking them for a list of what their ideal candidate should be able to do. So realsistically, you're not expected to be able to do all the bullet points on an ad, just most of them. If there's one bullet point you don't meet, apply anyway.
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If they've had a recruitment person write the advert/job description, that just means it wasn't written by the person who actually wants the new person working for them. So quite possibly it bears no relation at all to either the job or the sort of person who would be able to do it.

If anything I would think a professional recruiter would be motivated to recruit the wrong people, so as to create more work for themselves six months down the line and to reinforce the idea that recruitment is such as subtle and delicate art that even a highly trained professional specialist in the field still fucks it up three times out of four.
 
'Passion' is such a shit word in this context. What they mean really is 'vocation', but that only really applies to certain underpaid and stressful jobs/careers. I find it hard to swallow when describing jobs people have to do as a means to an end.
 
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