Lot of great insights there I think. I especially like Leah's "When an engineer is a fan of the product, they stand out." That is something I look for in candidates, passion for the work they will be doing.
How do you differentiate passion for the work they'll be doing from a complete willingness and competency to do the job because they've got to put food on the table?
I'm not passionate about programming (and certainly not passionate about freight logistics), I just happen to be very good at it, I like my coworkers..oh and it pays the rent and tuition.
The metaphor I like to use is, I'm looking for a carpenter that likes building structures, not a carpenter that likes using hammers.
But that's just what I'm looking for, and what I believe many engineering-centric orgs are looking for. There are definitely companies out there that just want another assembly robot in their software factory assembly line and plenty of people happy to take that role.