Tips For Answering Interview Question "What motivates you?"

An Overview:

Because of the critical importance of motivation in the workplace, employers look for motivated employees. Consequently, motivation questions become very common in job interviews as they should be. For the interviewer, it is important to know how to construct the right motivation question.
For example, a question -‘How motivated are you?’ tends to sound embarrassing and attracts null answers such as, ‘I am very motivated. If I get this job I’ll work hard..’
However, when the right motivation question is asked, it usually begins with the words why and what in order to stimulate a conversation or a statement.
Here are some of the classic examples of motivation interview questions (and answers – link to the specific article):
☛ Why do you want this job?
☛ Why do you want to work in this company?
☛ Why are you applying for this job?
☛ What interests you about this job?
☛ What motivates you?
☛ Why did you choose this career?
☛ What do you like/dislike about your job?

What Really Motivates You And How To Prepare For Motivation Questions?

An effective way to handle the above motivation questions is by asking yourself ‘what are the sort of things I like doing AND I get in this job?’ Or, to put it another way, ‘What motivates me – why do I like this sort of work?’
When preparing your answers to motivation question, think about what you like about a particular job, you need to look at the duties of the job very carefully. You want to be as specific as possible when preparing a list of things otherwise your answer will sound content-empty.
Avoid broad-ranging statements such as ‘I love sales’, this statement is not nearly as convincing as:
☛ I love interacting with people on a day to day basis.
☛ I love the excitement of making a sale and having a new customer on my list.
That’s because the last two statements not only project that you love sales, but also explain why. Avoid timid/uncertain language because you will sound unconvincing – Job interviews are the place where you want to express your enthusiasm about the job very descriptively.

Examples Of Motivation Statements

Here are some examples that excite employers (but make sure to back up any statement you give with a specific example):
✓I love working with people. Interacting with people is what gets me out of bed every morning.
✓I love selling. This is what I love doing the most.
✓I enjoy the sort of challenges [A,B, C] I will get here.
✓I like working with numbers. I can’t get enough of this kind of work.
✓I always enjoyed working on my own.
✓I love learning new things and I am a curio person.
✓I love coaching. To see people in progress.
✓I really enjoy solving complex problems. I’m very keen on solving technical issues.
✓I get a deep sense of satisfaction when I teach children.
✓I am an handyman and love hand-on works, such as – computers, hardware etc.
✓I really go for working in this sort of environment.

A Note:

You will surely notice that all of these statements have one very noticeable quality in common. They are all enthusiastically expressed.