When a hiring manager asks you to share what motivates you, she is not looking for your favorite ways to get through the week like a great cup of coffee, loud music, and the hiking trip coming up on the weekend. There’s much more to this question. When answered correctly, this is the question that can really show the hiring manager you will be successful in the job and will convince them to hire you. Let’s show you how.
Variations of this question
“What are you passionate about?” · “What drives you?” · “What aspects of the job make you feel fulfilled or inspired?” · “Why did you choose this career?” · “What inspires you?” · “What makes you excited to come to work?”
What the hiring manager is looking for
The hiring manager wants someone who is, of course, capable of doing the job, but more importantly, they want someone who will be successful. They ask this question to understand what gives you drive and ambition to succeed in a job role and whether you will be a good fit for their specific managerial style and company culture.
What your goal should be
Your goal is to vividly explain what internal and external motivators drive you to succeed. These motivators can come in way of work environments, work styles, passions, and skills. They should also be work-related and, ideally, applicable to the job and company culture you are applying for. When relating these motivators, you will need to tell a story of a previous success so a hiring manager can visualize what you mean. Do not just list motivators.
Preparing for this question
To prepare for this question, start by thinking of 3–5 of your most successful projects or accomplishments. Then, run through the following questions for each:
- What part of the project made you feel the most energized or happy?
- What were the environments like and what did you enjoy about them?
- What kind of skills or tasks did you perform that made you feel fulfilled?
From this exercise, pick one or two motivators and their corresponding stories to share. Another helpful thing you can do is review the company website and the job description to ensure the motivators you chose align with the company culture and job requirements.
Answer Structure
Your answer should be no longer than 2–3 minutes and should contain the following elements:
- Start by simply stating your first motivator. This should take 10 seconds.
Example: “One of the things that really motivates me is my desire to craft an excellent experience for a customer.” - Then, tell a story to explain your motivator using the S-T-A-R interview response method, by explaining the Situation, Task, Action and Result of your story. This step should take no longer than 2 minutes.
Example:
Situation- “A few months ago, an executive was using an app that had nothing to do with our industry but that had a feature he liked a lot.” (~15 seconds)
Task- “He thought the feature would help our customers and asked me, as the UX Design Lead, to design a similar feature for our app.” (~15 seconds)
Action- “Although, I appreciated his proactivity and desire to help our product team make the best product for our company, I had my doubts about his suggestion. Instead of blindly obeying his request, I decided to ask some questions to understand his intent. I asked him what problem he felt he was trying to solve for our customers, how this feature would solve the problem, and what outcome he was hoping to see for the company. Afterward, I held 10 customer interviews and learned that though they did have the problem the exec was trying to solve, there was possibly a much better way to do it. So I designed a couple of different solutions and ran some usability tests. I then showed the executive the solutions I had come up with and the results, explaining that his suggestion was actually not as effective in solving the problem.” (~60–90 seconds)
Result- “Just as I had hoped, he was okay with us building a different feature than the one he had suggested. With the data I had presented, he could see there was a better solution and he was quite happy that we could solve our customers’ problems. We implemented the feature and it had a 5% increase in revenues!” (~30 seconds) - Repeat this process with another motivator if you have time to do it. Remember, though, to not exceed 3 minutes because you risk the chance to bore the interviewer.
Extra tips
- Don’t talk about motivations that are not related to the work. The hiring manager doesn’t care if you want to live abroad or climb Mt. Everest, they just want to know if you will succeed at the work they need you to do.
- Take into account the culture of the company. If you know that teamwork is important to the company and that is something that genuinely drives you, then make sure you mention that.
- Check out our related articles: Answering the job interview question: “What are your strengths?” and Using the S-T-A-R Interview Response Method.
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