Follow Your Passion Is Bad Career Advice

Follow Your Passion Is Bad Career Advice

I was on a panel on “How to Advance At Every Stage in Your Career” hosted by Google for diversity professionals in advertising. Topics ranged from job search to career progression to mentorship and giving back, and at every turn, most of the advice centered around passion. How do you distinguish yourself from the competition? Show your PASSION! How do you change careers? Win naysayers over with your PASSION! How do you get a promotion? Be more PASSIONATE!

I have to say that I too contributed to the passion parade because I said (and I still stand by this) that if you ask 10 recruiters who they would choose between the average skilled but much more passionate candidate v. the highly skilled but lukewarm candidate, all 10 would pick the passionate one.

But a focus on passion is dangerous and outright bad advice for most people.

The recruiting observation I made about how passion wins in the end is based on comparing two candidates that both meet the skill requirements BEFORE passion plays into the equation. If you don’t have the skills, expertise or background for the job, you can jump up and down with all the passion in the world and it won’t make a difference.

In fact, people will get annoyed and will question your passion if you don’t have the skills, expertise or background to back it up. It’s a case of style without substance. How can you say you’re passionate about a job or company or industry that you know nothing about? How can you say you’re passionate about something you’ve never tried before? If you’re so passionate, why do you have to keep telling people you are (instead of just showing them)?

This isn’t to say that you need to have years of traditional, full-time, paid work experience in an area to demonstrate passion for that area. But you have to have something tangible, actionable or measurable as evidence that your passion manifests in something real. Volunteer work in your passion, a side business in your passion, an encyclopedic knowledge of your passion, and an extensive network of contacts active and influential in your passion are examples of ways to tangibly demonstrate your passion. Yes, it will take time, energy and focus to accumulate any of these – that’s the point!

Don’t just say you’re passionate. Demonstrate your passion. If you’re too busy or tired or frustrated to do anything more than what you’re currently doing, then you haven’t found something you’re passionate enough about. Encouraging people like this to get more passionate is like encouraging people to practice more wishful thinking. Fantasizing does not get you jobs.

Now, if you work 24/7 and never take a step back to question what you should be focusing on, then you might be a candidate for more passion-centered encouragement. If you’re a hard worker AND you can tap into your passion, then that IS a magical combination to success. So passion does play an important role. Just make sure you’re doing the hard work behind it.

Caroline Ceniza-Levine is a career and business coach with SixFigureStart®. She has worked with executives from Amazon, American Express, Condé Nast, Gilt, Goldman Sachs, Google, McKinsey, and other leading firms. Follow Caroline’s weekly leadership column on Forbes (where this post originally appeared).

James A. DeMeo, M.S.

Higher Education | Adjunct Faculty Instructor | Sports Security Professional | Crowd Safety Solutions | Best Selling Author | Professional Speaker| Event Security Staff Training | Personal Safety & Preparedness

8y

I always say that if you are not working hard someone is outworking you. Actions speak louder than words for sure. You can't expect to get the corner office if you have not paid your dues. It's that simple.

I disagree that you need skills, expertise or background to add value in a position. Everyone has to start somewhere. All you need is the ability and willingness to experiment, measure results, and adjust accordingly. You don't need to show up knowing everything. In fact you can't. Everyone who is successful learns on the job. However I do agree that there are ways to demonstrate your passion and build up your skills besides a full-time job, such as volunteering and taking classes. And if someone hasn't done anything like that, then their "passion" is likely just talk.

Michael OBrien (He/Him)

Mindset and Executive Coach, Speaker, Podcast Host, Meditation Teacher and Creator of The Pause Breathe Reflect Meditation and Gratitude App

8y

Great read Caroline Ceniza-Levine. We have all heard about proof of concept and I agree we need proof of passion as well.

Carol Watson

Global Chief Inclusion Officer, Board Adviser Tech Startup, Foundation Board Member

8y

Glad you articulated what it means to be passionate. I too have heard the words overused and not quite explained. Great article!

I couldn't agree with you more. Someone with passion on top of their impressive skill sets are hard to beat. Great article!

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