Key to hiring top workers? Look for a sense of passion

By John Eckberg

The difference between high achievers on the job and everybody else is one word and one emotion – passion.

It’s as simple as that, say a handful of local executives who depend on finding people with passion to fill open positions across a variety of industries and occupations.

“Passion is found by persistence,” says Carter Randolph, chairman and chief executive of Planet Products and manager of 100 employees across a variety of firms and nonprofits.

“When thinking about hiring someone, I want them to chase me down, tackle me, throw me against the wall, demand the job and be totally relentless in pursuit of working for the best place on earth.

“Few do this, but those that do make great hires and are great contributors to our success,” Randolph said.

Speed-talking may be an indicator of passion. Speed-thinking of quick problem solving could be another litmus test for smart, passionate people. What they have to say about topics that interest them is yet another.

But one interview may not be enough to figure out who is passionate and who is a poseur.

“It’s more important to find when people don’t have it,” says Jay Woffington, president of Bridge Worldwide. “Anyone can show and go for an hour or daylong interview. So you have to look at how they live their whole lives: do they eat their lunch with passion, do they vacation with passion, do they have outside interests or are there outside passions? Do they have a whole-world mindset?”

Robert K. Riggsbee at Inside Media has a silver-bullet indicator that he believes is pretty much foolproof.

The formative years of high school mold personalities and people, says Riggsbee, so it’s important to do more than just go to a class and score A’s and B’s at every opportunity.

Would-be hires who were also ping pong champs get special attention because Riggsbee was one. So do debate team members.

“Sports, band, drama club, it’s all part of my interview process. I always find out what people did in high school,” Riggsbee says.

“And people get extra credit for the debate team. Sports is much more common, and that’s good because athletes naturally compete, but for me the debate team or debate club is Numero Uno.”

“I will pay top dollar for the most passionate people so I don’t have job hoppers,” says Riggsbee, founder and president of Inside Media, a media research planning and buying agency based in Newtown.

People with passion seek challenges and want to know how they can grow into positions and with companies, said Bill Stakelin, president and chief executive at Regent Communications.

They realize that opportunities are experiences waiting to happen and almost never dwell on compensation and benefits.

“These folks rarely begin the process with what is the pay, and they zero in on how they can learn and grow,” Stakelin said.

“The employer is not faced with turning them onto prospects – just monitoring and directing the passion that is clearly visible in a new hire.”