Why could saying "I do my best work on what interests me" sink my employment chances like a stone?
We urge you to find your passion and follow it, but you need to carve out a contrary corollary in the early part of your career – during the job interview and in the first year or two of work. WHY?
Especially in a conversation about grades, it is human nature to say "I do well in things (classes) I like." Why might that language create a huge roadblock to employment?
Your interviewers know that every project cannot possibly engage your energy and intellect at the level you seek. They know that your assignments may be difficult, tedious, confusing, or dull. They know that your work will be new to you, and they know from their own experience that you may not “like� all of the work that you get.
As professionals, they would never tell a client “I’ll only do my best work on projects that I like.� Interviewers don’t want to think that you would say that to them once you were hired.
What can you say instead? As a student, you had some luxury to focus on classes you liked more than others, however, as a law clerk or lawyer, your know that your focus will be on doing the best job that you can for each client.
NOTE: This issue has come up in conversations with interviewers during the past two months.