Technology At City University of Seattle

One of the things I continually talk about with students is how to manage your career. One of the questions I ask is what do you have passion about, what is important to you, and how can we help you get there. Often people do not think about jobs, the future, what they want to do in terms of passion. But I have a very good reason for asking this question. I ask because many hiring managers are going to ask the same question when someone applies for a job.

Ok, the really good hiring managers that are looking for the top 10% or even top 1% all know that people who are passionate about what they are doing will often have a greater influence on what they are working on than people who are disinterested or disengaged from their work. The best employees, and people most likely to be hired when times are tough are those that are truly passionate about what they are doing, and love what they are doing. Somehow this message seems to have gotten lost, but with all the hiring managers and CEO’s that I have talked too recently, they want to hire true believers, or people who are enthused about what they are doing. Some of the interesting hiring questions I have heard lately when I am talking to our group of advisors is:

1. What would you be willing to discuss in front of a room of 400 people? What trade show could we send you to, so you can talk about some new technology or programming technique that you found?
2. What web sites do you read?
3. Do you blog about the cool things you are working on? If yes – how big is your following?
4. Do you social network with other people in your field?
5. How do you stay on top of all the changes that are happening in your field?

All these kinds of questions are about how people stay relevant in a technology field. I find myself often going through three or four hundred different files every day staying on top of my chosen field of expertise, I also follow news trends, have Google alerts and a lot of other ways that I stay informed on what is happening in my profession. I also follow community leaders and people who are doing what they are doing for a living and love what they are doing.

As we slowly come out of this recession, I really want people to sit down and take a look at what they truly love to do. The things that make them want to go to work, things that make them stay up trying to solve a problem, or know how to keep up with all the changes that happen in the technology field on a daily basis. So when someone calls and I ask my question, “what are you passionate about” when figuring out your career move, it is because hiring managers are going to ask the same question, and they will want a well formed answer.

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