John,

I would say stick to your gut. In my opinion you are right. While there must of course be some practical basis for a candidates consideration on knowledge of the job, you cannot substitue a candidates passion and attitude. I have had 2 such success stories, both of which were competent staff taking a crack at their first management position. the passion and attitude I referred to helped them to embrace their goals of being effective managers and this has now translated into them both being leaders in our organization. People who know the technical components are out there. Finding the ones that can apply it, motivate others to share in the corporate objective and culture, and that you can trust to make the organization, yourself, and themselves better are hard to find and deserve the opportunity. Good luck

Please see my comments on background checks and performance measurement questions. You are right on...don't give up.

I agree; go with your gut - as long as you have met the basic HR requirements. Generally, discussion with an HR rep is very helpful for me. In my department and within its responsibilities, organizational and team "fit" is very important. I'm in marketing/corporate communications/PR, so some skills are non-negotiable, such as excellent writing skills. But one of the best PR people I have hired to date had no PR experience as we typically define it. She had many years of experience working for a U.S. congressman in Washington and the home district and dealing with constituents every day. I fgured if she could handle irate constituents, she could handle the intense pressure of our environment and the daily interaction with everyone from senior managers to staff to the media. I took a chance and so far it is working beautifully.