Let’s say that you’re a hiring manager at a TV network and you are trying to choose between three qualified candidates for a receptionist position. Candidate A has 7 years of experience as a receptionist at a bank; Candidate B has 3 years of experience as a receptionist at a medical device company; Candidate C has 12 years of experience as a receptionist at a competing TV network. Who would you hire?

The answer is the same at it always seems to be…it depends. Here is what it depends on for me…PASSION. The person that I want to hire is the one who wants to be hired in this job in this industry and at this company more than anyone else who I have interviewed. Why? Because passionate people make the best employees. Someone who has been doing everything possible to get a foot in the door of the entertainment industry, and who lights up like a Christmas tree when I explain the job responsibilities, is the person I want to hire (assuming they are qualified for the role). That person is going to work harder than everyone else, be more motivated to succeed than everyone else, and will be more likely to build a home at my company for the next 3-5 years. Passionate people also tend to get promoted more quickly because they are drivers of their own success.

So, which candidate would I hire? If each candidate presented herself equally and each appeared capable of performing the job well, I'd be inclined to select the one who seemed the most passionate about the position even though they might have less industry experience than the other candidates.