There are a lot of aspects to consider when interviewing candidates for an open position—skill set, years of experience, ability to fit into the company culture, etc. The list goes on and on. However, there’s one factor that many companies completely overlook, and it can often come back to haunt them.

That factor is passion. A candidate’s passion for what they do could be considered the “X Factor” of any search. That’s because when a person has passion for their job, they’re compelled and they’re driven to not only carry out the duties of the position, but also to do so extraordinarily well. For people with passion, going through the motions is not an option. In fact, it’s not even a consideration.

Here are three reasons why employers should hire people with passion over people who lack it:

1. They’re more productive—People with passion don’t leave at 5 p.m. on the dot, and they often work through lunch. They love what they do, so they do as much of it as they can. That translates into more productivity . . . a lot more.

2. They’re more engaged—You don’t have to make sure they’re engaged in their job and with the company. If they have passion for what they’re doing, they’re practically self-engaging. This makes it far easier to retain the person over the long haul.

3. They’re intrinsically motivated—You don’t need to throw huge amounts of money or a slew of perks at these candidates in order to make them happy. Verbal compliments and other forms of recognition for a job well done go a long way. Once again, this increases the chances of retaining their services. As you can see, passion has a distinctly important role in the hiring process. Failure to identify which candidates possess it and which ones do not can have a negative impact on that process. In fact, it could even result in hiring the wrong person for the position.

Job benchmarking is the most important step in beginning a selection process.

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Written by Hiring by Design Contributing Author:  Gary Sorrell.

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Posted March 9th, 2010 | | | 3 Comments »