Are You Passionate? - About Your IT Career?

By Sandra Hubert

I wake up every morning and I am excited about what I do and I am excited that I am changing people's lives for the better in the IT industry.  I see a 'paradigm shift' or a 'tipping point' of what IT professionals are looking for in their career.  People are changing jobs and even stepping down in title and rank to find more meaning in the work they do.  People want to connect on a personal basis and connect their work to a purpose in their life. 

It's fresh and it fits with who we are at Elite IT Services.  We're different, we look for passion and talent first.  We have a Mastermind quote on our white board that reads "We believe Anything is Possible and Miracles Do Occur!"  and "For everything that has been - Thanks! and To everything that will be - YES!" - We are passionate about what we do and it transcends to our clients, employees, and candidates.  Candidates come in and look around and say in a puzzled look "Where Am I?"  Inevitably, they connect and open up to us.  Our goal is simple - find out what your passions are and what (if anything) is holding you back from living out your full potential in life.  We start with that and then we can get into your skills, background and talents. 

Many companies are beginning to change and adopt this new "rule" to hire people with passion. They are looking for someone that has a fire in their eyes - not just looking for a paycheck. A story in Fortune several months back confirmed the old rules of "rank and yank" is being replaced by the new rule of hire those with passion.

While studying companies trying to transform themselves, Christopher Bartlett of Harvard Business School and a colleague found the major obstacle was inefficient use of increasingly disenfranchised employees. "People don't come to work to be No. 1 or No. 2 or to get a 20% net return on assets," Bartlett says. "They want a sense of purpose. They come to work to get meaning from their lives."  Fortune July 24, 2006

Is this a new rule or are companies just now realizing what keeps a culture ignited and alive in an organization? We are probably all guilty at some point in our career of forgetting about the purpose and passion and our eyes become glazed over with dollar signs.  I'm not knocking dollar signs, dollar signs are good but without passion and excitement in the 1,880 hours a year in work life, you're just a walking zombie.  If you're not feeling passion and you're struggling with achieving goals in your life - you need to hook up with Elite IT Services - we've coined the phrase "Raise Your Standards" for a reason - you shouldn't be settling for second best.  Sandi Hubert