Pushing Your Personal Passion to Graduate Employers

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Push Your Passion to Graduate Employers

Published 20 August 2010 by Lucinda Crossley Meates, Careers Services Manager, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Sydney

Have you had to demonstrate your passion for a job/industry to an employer? This question used to really stump me when I was applying for graduate positions – it seems so hard to demonstrate something so vague and abstract! It’s surprisingly easy and is the number one way to put yourself way ahead of other job applicants. It’s a crucial element of every job application.

So, where to start?

You need to begin by understanding what it means to be passionate about your job/industry. A person who’s passionate about the job/industry will do it more for the love rather than any other reason like salary, perks or kudos. A person who’s passionate will want be involved in that area as much as they can, often using up their own precious spare time and money to devote to it.

The first question to ask: how interested in the job/industry are you?

When you think about it, does it get your blood pumping? Your mind racing? Can you articulate what it is exactly that has this effect on you?

The next question is the important one: how do you DEMONSTRATE this passion?

The key to demonstrating your passion is to do a variety of things to learn more or be involved on the topic or in the industry…and then talk about them! On a cover letter or resume, ALL remotely relevant experiences and exposure you’ve had to the field should be listed in their relevant sections. Students tend to leave activities off their documents because they don’t see the relevance but actually they are crucial in establishing that sense of passion. Use industry language and refer to industry specific skills you now have.

In an interview, be mindful that it’s not just about what you say, but how you say it. Non-verbal communication will often be more powerful than simple words. Can you comfortably talk about the detail of a topic? A passionate person will love that stuff and be able to talk for hours. What’s your body language like? Is there a level of enthusiasm? Does your vocal tone change?

This finally came to life for me during a chat with the graduate recruitment team from a well-know international finance firm. They revealed how really easy it is for them to sort out the students truly passionate about finance from the applications. The vast majority state that they’re passionate about finance because they’ve studied the topic at university or done some passive activities like reading Warren Buffet’s books. But the few genuinely passionate candidates stand out from this pack – they’ve put their knowledge into action by doing things like attending trading game days, running their own Commsec accounts or started their own small business.

As a Careers Adviser, I talk to students wanting advice on how to get high profile and highly paid jobs in the banking and finance industry. When I ask if they regularly read the Financial Review or Business Review Weekly, most say no. Think about it from the employer’s perspective – would you be convinced this student could manage a multi-million dollar client if they aren’t even interested enough to read the business pages of the newspaper?

So, you’ve worked hard at uni, got good grades - why do employers need this passion as well?

Employers ask themselves 3 questions about each candidate then rate each person compared to the others – can they do the job, will they do the job and will they fit in with the culture? The more passionate you are about the job/industry, the stronger you’ll be in answering those questions. They’ll have little doubt you’ll enjoy the job and most importantly for the employer, that you’ll stay in the job.

If passion is so important, can you fake it?

Employers interview lots of people. They’re very savvy at being able to read people beyond the content of what they say very quickly. When it’s genuine passion, a person’s face “lights up” and they seem to “come alive” with energy, forgetting their nerves and becoming more animated. You can’t fake it. Employers would regard a candidate who can talk freely about a topic with natural depth and expertise with more authenticity than one that has a polished answer with no depth.

If you think you’re truly passionate about a job/industry, can you be doing more to demonstrate it? Take some steps to ensure you are not only pursing your passion, but selling it as well.

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Push Your Passion to Graduate Employers

Published 20 August 2010 by Lucinda Crossley Meates, Careers Services Manager, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Sydney

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