Looking for a Job? Any Job? I’ll Never Hire You

I do a lot of networking, it’s key for entrepreneurs – or really anyone – these days. From social meetups to professional ones, to just bumping into strangers at a ballgame, or while out for a bite to eat, you really never know who you may meet, or more importantly, how you may help each other.

Lots of the fine folks I meet are either underemployed or unemployed. Kudos to them for being brave, and when I ask what they do, they tell me directly that they are looking for work.

When I was – well – younger – looking for work was almost shameful.

“I’m in between jobs,” many would say, as they were ashamed, even embarrassed to be looking for a job.

Everyone had a job, and if you didn’t, others would wonder: “what’s wrong with you?”

Looking back, that’s probably not the right attitude, but that was the prevailing way we thought of ourselves, our work, and our lives back then.

There isn’t anything wrong with being out of work. It happens, people outgrow companies, and companies outgrow people. It’s the nature of our human-driven social structure.

These days, more people are looking for work than ever before. Not because there is this sudden influx of jobs. No. Sadly, it’s quite the opposite. The economy has shifted across our global working world, tossing more than a quarter of the planet’s population out of work.

So, looking for a job is no longer a shameful thing, and it certainly is a lot more of the commonality people have at many networking functions.

Being underemployed or unemployed is so common, the immediate standard response to someone looking for work has become: “so, what are you looking for?”

Or at least, being an entrepreneur that may hire someone, or know others that may be looking to hire people, I always ask that.

“Anything,” or “I don’t know,” or “something better, anything better, than I’m doing now,” are the worst possible answers.

Looking for a job? Any job? I won’t hire you.

I don’t have just any job at my company, and I bet most business owners would agree with me on this.

PASSION is one of the most important things I look for in bringing anyone aboard my team. 

PASSION is falling in love with a specific job, industry or career path. Studies show that those who are passionate about what they do, will do it far better than those who aren’t.

Though PASSION is important for many other reasons too.

In creating the perfect workplace, I want to only hire people that WANT to be there. I don’t want people working for me that dread getting up in the morning, because they have to go to work. I want people that leap out of their lover’s arms, because they just can’t wait to get to work.

Well, okay, maybe not that passionate. But close.

People that hate their jobs, bring down the entire workplace. Negative attitudes about the company, the management, the work, or even the furniture are more easily contagious than positive ones. Even to those that don’t agree – because when someone lacks passion for their work, they usually have an abundance of passion against their work.

Negative colleagues spread rumors, talk behind other’s back, mock management, don’t arrive on time, and may even slack-off at their tasks.

And worse, negative colleagues can turn positive, passionate ones into negative ones, so even those that love what they do and where they do it could become slackers spreading stories.

So if we ever meet and you’re looking for work, and I ask you what you are looking for, you’d better have any answer other than: “anything.”

Because if you tell me “anything” you’ll never work for me – nor be recommended by me to others.

We’re not children, I’m not asking you what you want to be when you grow-up. This isn’t recess – it’s life.

And if you really don’t know what you are passionate about, and what you want out of life, you’d better find it – fast.