Be careful of the word "passion" in a job interview

We all are passionate about something in life. The question is, how should you address passion during a job interview?

During a job interview, you may be asked by an interviewer, or you may reveal it yourself. It's crucial to remember that expressing your passion should be authentic and not forced. This authenticity can help you connect with the interviewer and demonstrate your genuine interest in the job.

But what if your passion does not resonate with the interviewer? If that happens, you may fall into a trap you probably can't easily escape. This one word could doom your chances of getting the job.

How do you handle this question?

For the interview, your passion is the job you are interviewing for, and that's it. If there is something else that is your passion, then you should not be interviewing for the job. As far as you are concerned, other things are your interests and hobbies. For instance, if you're passionate about marketing, you can express this by discussing your excitement for creating innovative campaigns or your interest in staying updated with the latest industry trends.

In the book The Devil Wears Prada, Andrea Sachs is being interviewed for a job as Miranda Priestly's assistant. Priestly, the editor of a fashion magazine called Runway, lives and breathes fashion; thus, she is very demanding and has a reputation for being difficult. During the interview, Andrea reveals to Miranda that "Writing has always been her passion." Miranda asks, "So, does your affinity for writing mean that you're not particularly interested in fashion?" This scenario illustrates the importance of aligning your passion with the job you're interviewing for.

Andrea was trapped. She had to come up with a good lie. She says, "Oh no, of course not. I adore fashion...I'm looking forward to learning even more about it since I think it would be wonderful to write about fashion one day."

Miranda is a demanding boss and would not have hired Andrea unless she was impressed with Andrea's comeback and her potential to develop a strong passion for fashion. Now, this is a nice fiction, but in real life, you may not be able to get out of a trap like that; hence, you will have blown your chances with that answer.

Why?

When you are interviewing for a job, you better be as passionate, if not more, about the business the company is in and the work you have to do. If you are not, it is unlikely you will get the job. Even if you fake it and get the job, you will soon lose interest and not be happy, underscoring the importance of genuine passion in job roles. 

And Andrea Sachs lasted only a year for Miranda Priestly.  In a Paris car ride, Miranda tells Andrea, " Clearly, you know nothing about fashion, and more than that, you don't seem to care."  Andrea eventually had a fallout with Miranda and quit.   Again, this is fiction, but there is some truth that when you are not passionate about a job, you will be unhappy and leave.  Andrea's heart was in writing, which she pursued after she quit Runway. 

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I guide people succeed when they must win, such as getting a good job, advancing in career or winning a sales deal.
I wrote a practical, no-nonsense book on winning throuhg speaking titled Winning Speech Moments: How to Achieve Your Objective with Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere. 

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