Hire Great People
What Trait is Best – Pedigree or Passion?
Recruiting talent is essential to your success. You want educated and career focused employees who will execute your vision as guided by your leadership. It is they who will build your company, hopefully becoming “partners” over time, rather than just people who work for you. One or more of them might even be your successor. How can you choose; what is most important: Pedigree or Passion?
You certainly want an educated candidate, and there are many ways to become educated, all of which have value: Vocational/Technical School; Books; Apprenticeship; Community College; On the Job Training; University. A pedigreed candidate looks great on paper, possessing degrees, diplomas, and certificates. Pedigree alone though cannot reliably indicate capabilities, skills, or aptitude. You need a candidate that has what you have – Passion!
Think back to the time when you decided to become your own boss, to become the owner. What business operational skills did you have then? Did you have a good understanding of government regulations, lease negotiation, salesmanship, finance, hiring, accounting, marketing, financial statement analysis, and the myriad other skills that are necessary to successfully run a business? Were you academically accredited in business management, possess decades of experience or blessed with a business lineage? Unless you are that atypical person who acquired all of those abilities before starting your own company, you began your business with a specific talent, and then leapt into the business world to make it on your own. You struggled through innumerable challenges and learned what you needed to know along the way. Mistakes, lost opportunities, financial stress, and sleepless nights were your uninvited companions. In spite of your early naiveté, you made it work. You succeeded! And, how did you do it? You had perseverance, commitment, and pure, raw passion. Passion is the secret ingredient that propelled you to excellence.
OK, so how do you recognize passion? Through action, behavior, attitude, and response: The job will get done!
When you ask for results, you’ll hear, “Certainly”, “Of course”, or “I’ll take care of it”. And, if you ask for something that your employee does not yet know, or does not yet know how to do, you’ll still hear, “Certainly, I don’t know now, but I’ll find out!”
When given a choice, hire passion over education and skill every time.
You can teach someone to do almost anything; however, you cannot teach passion. Pay attention. Look for it. When you find it, rejoice. You’ll have found a gem, another “you”, your potential successor!
Watch for a future issue with interviewing tips, “Discovering Partners”.