What motivates you?
What motivates your work and studies?
What motivates your job search?
Is it passion for the subject, interest in the project/company/organisation, the career progression opportunities, the salary, the location, the team, the benefits package? None of the above?
Figuring out what motivates you is crucial if you ever want to answer the “Why do you want to work for us?” with any degree of honesty.
Fresh after graduation or while still studying, this question generates a high level of exasperation in young people. Because 85% of the time the honest answer is “Because I need a job and you happen to have an opening that will pay enough so I don’t starve.” But you can’s say that. You really want to, but can’t. And so you come up with an elaborate answer aligning your interests and future career goals with the company’s “vision” and projects and hope for the best.
Although I find the idea of money being the primary factor for anyone’s job applications sort of revolting, we have to admit that it is important. Unfortunately, there are companies who fail to realise just how important. Once you are older and more experienced you look for other things of course – maternity/paternity leave arrangements, pension schemes, annual holiday, bonuses etc. Because you can afford looking for other things. But once you are older and more experienced you also know exactly how much your talent is worth.
When a job posting’s desired skill set list is 45 items long (with a minimum of 3 years related experience) but the salary offered is £23000 pa max you can’t help but laugh. We are not talking about a small business or a start up here, where any career move can be classified as a leap of faith. This particular example is from an international company, well known. It makes you wonder whether their recruitment process is a spin off of the hunger games – only those excited by the prospect of going hungry and broke while working on highly demanding projects will be invited to an interview… How much do you have to love a company or a project to agree to this? What should the development and progression opportunities be to make it worth it?
Long ago my job search used to be a bit hectic. I had my eyes set on an industry or two but the roles I used to apply for were almost everything and anything as long as it is within that industry. Big mistake. It was a lot of work that produced zero results. So I thought about it – what do I want? What do I know and what can I do? What would I like to learn? How much would I like do get paid? Where do I want to live? What holidays do I like to take? What roles allow for part time study and flexible working hours? Would I like to work from home? What team do I want to work with? What projects would I like to be associated with? Do I prefer independent work or carrying out instructions? Where do I want to be in 3/5/10 years time?
This filtered out 70% of the advertised roles. And with the remaining 30% I have decided to focus – research, network (whenever possible), re-qualify (if necessary), target and apply. It is a thorough process but it does render much better results in the end. And even if a particular role does not happen for you, you will have gained skills and contacts that you wouldn’t have otherwise. If you apply aimlessly you are just a number, if you target your projects you become an asset.
So… what motivates you?
Career Clichés 