Interview Question: What motivates you to do a good job?

Interview MotivationWhen you hear this question, the interviewer really wants to know if he or she can do something to help motivate you while doing your job. Since they can’t ask directly, hiring managers prefer to analyze potential candidates with open-ended questions like this.

Since there are a lot of things that can motivate you, you have to carefully pick which factors you’d like to mention. You can choose from these elements to help:

  • Factors that will reflect positively on you as an individual
  • Something that will benefit your prospective employer
  • A motivation that will not burden your employer or colleagues

Of course, money is a major factor when it comes to motivation. A lot of people are driven by money as a reason to keep the job they currently have. However, you shouldn’t mention money as a primary motivator. Your hiring manager might see you as someone that’s overly selfish.

Try to put yourself in your employer’s shoes to get the right perspective. If you were a boss, how would you want your employees to be motivated?

Depending on the nature of your expertise, you can cite these factors as your primary motivators:

Challenges. A difficult task can be stressful. However, a tough project will help you sharpen your skills and broaden your knowledge, especially if the task is somewhat out of your comfort zone. Do not be afraid to accept new challenges; instead, think of them as motivators to help you become a better employee.

Results. If you want to deliver positive results, you don’t want to hand in a project that’s too rushed and not fully prepared. Think of positive results as your fuel to bring something new to the table every single day.

Recognition. Of course, who wouldn’t want to be recognized by their superiors? Have you done something in your past work that benefitted the company greatly? Do you have ideas for the new company you’re interviewing with? If you have been and plan to continue being successful, recognition won’t be a problem. (Unless your bosses are too busy to notice you.)

These tips should be able to help you motivate yourself in the right way. Strive to work hard and you’ll eventually reap the results you’re looking for.

Read 12804 times Last modified on Friday, 12 February 2016 09:52
Alan Carniol

Alan is the creator of Interview Success Formula, a training program that has helped more than 80,000 job seekers to ace their interviews and land the jobs they deserve. Interviewers love asking curveball questions to weed out job seekers. But the truth is, most of these questions are asking about a few key areas. Learn more about how to outsmart tough interviewers by watching this video.