What are your motivations for this position? is one of the most systematic questions in the job interview. What are the good and bad answers to give to the recruiter? Our article tells you everything.
You have spotted the job of your dreams and you have been called for a job interview. To give yourself every chance of getting the job and winning over the recruiter, this exercise requires careful preparation. Prepare at home, in a quiet place, the answers to the traditional questions asked by the recruiter to assess the compatibility of your profile with the vacant job.
An essential part of the job interview, the question “What are your motivations for this position?” allows the recruiter to test your motivation and the reasons for this motivation to get the job. It is also a way to check that you have understood the issues and missions. While you should not remain silent, some answers should be avoided so as not to discredit yourself. Follow the guide!
Expressing your motivations for a position
How to express interest in a position? Your attitude and phrasing are essential. Practice before the job interview to convey your motivation and enthusiasm for landing the job.
Use the lexical field of enthusiasm
During the recruitment interview, and without necessarily waiting to be asked about this point, clearly express your motivation to the recruiter by using positive and enthusiastic vocabulary.
EXAMPLE
“I am very interested in this job”, “Being involved in this role is exactly what I expected”, “I would be very happy to join your company”, “This mission represents, in my eyes, a real opportunity for personal development”, “Your business project seems exciting…”. This type of very explicit wording is not to be avoided, quite the contrary!
Adopt a positive general attitude
General attitude also demonstrates motivation. Positive behavior, a smile, attentive listening, and acquiescence are all signs that demonstrate enthusiasm. How can you demonstrate your desire to join a company if you physically position yourself in the background, if you don’t smile? Gestures and non-verbal communication play a fundamental role in demonstrating professional motivation, which translates intuitively to the recruiter.
Talk about your experience
Your experience can influence your motivation to take on a new position. If you are applying for a job that is a continuation of your career, do not hesitate to explain how you want to use the skills you have acquired in your future role in the company. You can also explain how your skills motivate you to obtain new responsibilities where they will be better used.
Show your interest in the position, but not only that!
Your goal is to convince the recruiter that you are made for the job and that you have the qualities for it. Prepare yourself to answer the question “What exactly motivates you?”, and to illustrate it with concrete, rewarding examples. Beyond the position that excites you, emphasize the fact that the company itself interests you: its values, its reputation, its commitment… In many cases, the recruiter will ask you the traditional question: “What are your motivations for this position?”. Prepare the answer in advance.
Our advice: highlight the suitability of your profile for the position you are applying for. Look for similarities between your CV, your skills, and the job advertisement, and then take the time to showcase them. Project yourself into the position.
List of professional motivations to obtain a position
Explaining your motivation for a job in a job interview is perhaps the most difficult thing to do. From one candidate to another, professional motivation can be diverse: search for meaning in work, interest in the company itself, etc. There are no magic answers. This is why we advise you, before the interview or even before sending your application, to make a list of what might interest you in this type of position.
This will allow you to be clearer about your expectations but also about your levels of compatibility with the target company. To help you, we offer you a list of professional motivations that you can explain to a recruiter to obtain a position:
- search for meaning at work;
- interest in the company (value, manager, organization, etc.);
- professional project;
- missions that match your skills;
- autonomy proposed in the position;
- innovation ;
- technologies used in the company…
Examples of answers to the question: what are your motivations for this position?
Your goal is to show the recruiter that you didn’t respond to the job offer by chance. Your motivation is real and several perfect answers will tip the scales in the right direction and allow you to succeed in your job interview.
Your motivation for the position is to join the company
You will explain to the recruiter that the moral values conveyed by the company are particularly important to you. You put at the forefront of your motivations the adequacy of your principles with those of your employer.
Our Shelookbook advice: consult the employer’s corporate website, and you will surely find the company’s charter of values there. Take inspiration from the latter to construct your answer and cite two or three inspiring values (mutual aid between employees, customer focus, kindness, protection of the planet, etc.). You can also take inspiration from the company’s press releases and social networks, as well as press articles in which it is quoted. This will show the recruiter that you have found out about their company and followed its news.
Your main motivation is to occupy this position
The job description presented in the job advertisement corresponds in every way, or almost, to your professional expectations: missions offered, management of a team, tools provided, etc. This is what motivates you to change jobs. Be specific by mentioning the precise characteristics of the position that particularly motivate you. Don’t hesitate to talk about the daily missions as well as the more global challenges and issues to underline your motivation.
You have a good number of the expected skills – do not hesitate to list them by matching them with the characteristics of the position – that you can use to the benefit of the company. If you lack some, they contribute to your motivation to get the job because you will add new assets to your portfolio. Learning new skills or deepening mastered skills is in itself a real source of motivation.
Your motivation for the position is to be part of a career plan
The position you are applying for is part of a well-thought-out career path. With this perfect answer, you show the recruiter that you have ambition and that you know where you are going. Explain how you see yourself developing professionally in the company: focus on yourself, it means hiring an employee who will stay for a long time.
Your motivation is to evolve in a certain sector of activity
Beyond the position itself and the company, you may be motivated to work in a particular sector of activity. It is very innovative because it has been a dream of yours since childhood… Don’t hesitate to explain what specifically attracts you to this sector, and how it corresponds to your values and skills.
If your previous company was already operating in the same field, you can highlight the consistency that led you to build your career in this sector of activity. If, on the contrary, you are changing your world completely, explain how the position you are applying for is an opportunity to join a field that you have been passionate about for a long time.
Expressing your motivations to the recruiter when you are already in a position
A little subtlety to master if you are already in a position. Why would you want to leave your current position and join another company? The recruiter will check that you have thought carefully and that you are ready to leave your current employer.
What are the right answers to provide to convince the recruiter of your real motivation?
- You want to take on a new challenge: you have been in your position for several years and your current employer can no longer offer you internal advancement.
- You would now like to join a smaller (or larger) structure.
The risky answer: you no longer recognize yourself in the company’s strategy. Be careful, venturing into this type of answer can be a minefield because you risk falling into the trap of denigrating your employer. If this is the case, we advise you to justify your statement in a very factual manner: “There was a change in governance in the company last year and the new rules put in place no longer suit me because they relegated the customer to the background” or “a voluntary departure plan was put in place, which led to many departures in the departments and the atmosphere deteriorated sharply, giving way to tensions”.
Answers to avoid the question: what are your motivations for this position?
The salary
The subject of compensation is sensitive, whether in a job interview or with colleagues or your manager. What are your motivations for this position? Simply answering: “My primary motivation for joining you is the compensation. I feel that I am not paid my fair value in my current company” is very risky. You could come across to the recruiter as someone pretentious and whose only reason for joining the company is money.
If you still want to highlight the fact of being poorly paid, we advise you to use more tweezers and temper your response: your primary motivation is for example the position itself, but also the remuneration offered. Changing companies is the best way to enhance the skills acquired during your professional career and to obtain substantial remuneration.
Another strategy that can pay off: talk about salary when the recruiter asks you another traditional job interview question: What are your salary expectations?
All the answers that badmouth your current employer
If you only remember one piece of advice from our entire article, it’s this: the golden rule to follow in a job interview is to NEVER badmouth your former employer. The recruiter must sense your positive side. Even if you are on bad terms with your manager, refrain from talking about it during your job interview. Your interviewer is not a psychologist and telling him about your latest misadventures will only ease your conscience.
So, think about all the other possible motivations to justify your presence in front of the recruiter, but do not mention the difficulties you have suffered or have had in your previous experiences.