Commentary

Hiring Right - A Career vs. A Job

Have you ever heard the old Army tagline, "It's not just a job, it's an adventure"? This is one of the most well-known taglines ever created, and one that I like to periodically use to raise awareness for what you are doing on a day-to-day basis.

Back in 1996, when we were building an agency in the interactive space, I posed this question to a number of the people that I worked with as a means of gauging their commitments to working hard, working long and working smart. I felt that if this was just a job to someone, then they would never go the extra mile, but if this was a career then they would certainly go above and beyond the call of duty to do a great job and stand out among the pack.

I still maintain this is the case today and I think we need to be aware of this as we enter into the impending growth stage of our industry.

I will maintain that at least one reason for the bursting of the Internet bubble is that our industry was flooded with Job-Seekers and Money-Seekers rather than Career-Seekers. The former were the folks who came into the Internet in search of the Golden Fleece, while the rest of the folks were the passionate ones. The Fleece-Seekers were looking for fast money and a way to retire by the age of 35, while the passionate ones were the folks who were interested in the challenge of laying the groundwork for something that would continue to grow for years to come. Luckily, there were some people who were passionate, as well as stumbled upon their Fleece, and did retire. I say Kudos to them. When the bubble burst, many of those in search of the Golden Fleece went scurrying for the hills, leaving the Career-Seekers, the passionate ones, left holding the bag. We held the bag for quite awhile, but now we are ready to see the fruits of our labors.

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The passionate, career-oriented people are the ones whom you want to hire. These are the ones who work very hard, they put in the time, they step back and examine how they work to try and find the best way to get the job done. These are the people that take pride in their work and see their work as a reflection of themselves. These are the people who drive the growth of companies. These are the people who seem to taking the reigns today.

How do you recognize these people and identify them for future growth?

You don't. They identify themselves. When you hire people, you should always look for their passions and what they are interested in. See what they have done over the last few positions. Ask them what they enjoyed and what they felt could have been done better at their last position. Ask them what they see as a trend in the industry, and allow them the chance to speak to it. The people who are passionate are the people that can't say enough at this point. The Job-Seekers send out hundreds of resumes. The Career-Seekers are the ones that send out only a few and they know where they are sending them. The Job-Seekers are the ones who surf the Internet, the Career-Seekers Interact with it.

What does all this mean and why am I bringing it up?

I am raising the issue as I see that we are entering into a period of growth for our industry. All forecasts point to ad-spending increasing. All signs point to a positive outlook on the economy, even if it is a few months away, and the best way to avoid the inflation of another Internet Bubble is to hire and bring in people who are passionate and career focused rather than those who are just looking for another quick buck. Managing our growth this time around as an industry will be important, and the people who are best capable of managing that growth are the people who are most understanding and have a vested interest in making it work. These are the people to hire, and these are the people you should be looking for.

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