Understand Your Passions to Help Your Job Search

By Joshua Waldman from Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies

Showing genuine passion can reassure a hiring manager that you are who you say you are and that you’ll be as enthusiastic in six months as you are now, during a job search. This means that you need to know what your passions are and find a way to channel them in a constructive way. Having a firm knowledge of your passions helps you infuse your personal brand with authenticity and energy.

To discover your passions, ask yourself the following simple questions:

What can I talk about for hours without getting bored?
What really wakes me up in the morning?
What do I do that makes me lose track of time?

Write down the answers to these questions in a notebook and then refer back to them when you write your value statement.

Although you may discover that you really love to cook and can do it for hours without thinking of the time, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should be a chef. It can simply mean that you love to be creative and work at a project that pleases others. Really think about what’s behind the activity that you enjoy and use the core principle to help define your passions.