To think being “passionate about your job” is just code for being exploited?

[ThatMintyCritic]

The second an employer hears you’re “passionate,” suddenly you’re working longer hours, doing unpaid extras, and burning out. AIBU to think “passion” is just code for “we can underpay you?”

Agree, if you are passionate about a spreadsheet /data/ projects then you really need to get out more. I think if you are doing something of a helping profession maybe it’s slightly more acceptable?

That wouldn’t be an employers definition of passionate I fear. It always translates into works stupid hours and can’t say no.

Depends on the job!

Some jobs might well be exciting and in your area of interest, so it's not like going to work at all (my husband was lucky like that, and now he's retired he still basically carries on regardless! Who was it who said 'Do a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life'?

But it's ridiculous to say you need to be passionate for most admin or business jobs. They are routine and require accuracy, commitment, efficiency, reliability, attention to detail, to be a good colleague etc....but not passion.

There was a thread about interviewing/recruiting recently and this very valid point was made there. It's insulting to go for a basic admin job and be asked to explain why you're passionate about it.

I think you do have to watch out for those kinds of phrases in job descriptions, they don't always mean what they seem to mean.

I work in a sector which has traditionally been female dominated, and also is seen as a vocation by many. It's chronically underpaid because of those things.

I find the idea of meaning in work, which a pp mentioned, more useful. I think people are happier and better at work if they think it's meaningful. It doesn't have to be high end stuff or hero stuff either, I know people who are really invested in providing good user experience in IT systems and get a lot of satisfaction about doing it well. So they put real care into their jobs. That's the ideal.

Unfortunately there are lot of jobs that are basically meaningless. At one point i was interviewing for corporate type stuff, I was secretly praying that through no fault of my own I wouldn't get one, because they did not seem like they would have any meaningful outcome for anyone, except maybe cash in the shareholders pockets.

Fine if climbing the pole is your bag but there are many of us who have no interest in that, we are happy to be in the position we’re in and do it well.

Yet we get the gobshites who exclaim that we should have ‘passion’ which means do the work of our managers on top of our day jobs in the hope of being like them one sunny day. My experience is that they assume we are in a state of great admiration and envy of their achievements and most certainly must want the same.

I have a good job, I’m well qualified, I keep up with my CPD and do it well. I have no interest in becoming a ‘leader’ and not doing the actual work of it.

My grandboss is passionate about her/our job. She has written several books on the subject matter. Our employer does not pay ffor conferences or courses, so she took AL and paid herself to go to a conference in Denmark. She uses annual leave to go do speeches, lecture other organisations etc. At least she is paid director level salary. She does not expect passion from us, just for us to do our work.