Acing the Interview: Fit, Passion, and then Ability?

I recently spoke with someone who had been through an extended period of unemployment and many, many interviews. He had some insightful advice on the deciding factors that lead to a “yes” once you managed to secure an interview. While I didn’t find these three factors surprising, the weight of each I did:

• “Fit” 50% – in the culture of the company, division, department, and of course, with the manager.
• “Passion” 40% – for the industry, the company, the job.
• “Ability” 10% – to do the job.

Are you surprised?

From my experience, this is true, as a manager I interview for those first two. Frankly, they determine how easy it will be for the manager to integrate them into the team and that they will want to succeed. I generally leave it to my staff to provide feedback on the candidate’s “ability” after their interviews – but given the constant changing nature of skills needed, and that we have “our way”, the candidate will have a learning curve ahead of them anyway.

Interestingly, this is basically the opposite of what it seems internal HR recruiters do: they focus on trying to determine “Ability” from the details of the resume. So, what’s going to get your resume in the door is not what’s going to get it past the manager’s shredder.

I’d really like to hear your comments on the standings of Fit, Passion, and Ability!