Is this job applicant all talk?

Any candidate can create a great resume, but strong credentials on paper don't always translate into all-star workers. As a hiring manager, one way to tell if a candidate is passionate about their job or just along for the ride is to ask about their future, what they plan and hope to do, not just what they have done in the past. Asking a candidate, 'What do you want to do?' creates a discussion/interview based more on what they want to do instead of what they have done. Now, the candidates past experience is important to discuss as well and offers hiring managers a peek into how innovative, persistent, and passionate they are about their work. As you interview the candidate on their past experience, the more details they offer you about their past projects, sales calls, presentations, etc., the more likely they have not fluffed their resume to make them presentable on paper. Kevin Tracey, President and CEO of Feinstein Institute for Medical Research of the North Shore-LIJ Heath System was recently interviewed by the The New York Times on separating truly great candidates from those who look good on paper. At the close of the interview Tracey made this statement: "Some people can actually go through a lot of jobs, doing a lot of tasks, without thinking about them and really not having any insight into what they're doing. But creative people and innovative people will tell you every detail about what they did, because they found a way to do them better."