There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!
This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question
How to Answer “What motivates you?”
Positively framed interview questions are great, as they give you the opportunity to highlight your strengths. But this question traps you into framing the question that doesn’t do you any favors
The generic go-to answer that most applicants use is “To do a good job! To be on time! To get the job done!” You hear these types of answers all the time and they all have 1 problem…..
How to Answer the Interview Question
Each of these job interview answers are about the applicant! Yes, ok I heard some of you gasp. Let me explain;
I know the job interview is about the interviewee. And the job interviewer is asking job interview questions to better understand if you are a good fit for the team, right?
But your job (in the job interview) is to be offered the position. Which means you need to know what type of interview answers will get you the best score
The employer is building a team that fits in with the company culture. Rarely do employers want humans machines to simply act like robots.
It is this company culture and the attached company values which is the clue to how best answer the job interview question “what motivates you?”
First research the company values – what is important to the company? What is their vision for the organisation?
Employers are looking for employees who meet these values and who they see will help achieve their vision and work well within the company culture they have purposely created
Instead of answering this question by stating what is important to you, instead answer the interview question by describing the common interest/passion between you and the organisation
Apple, one of the worlds leading computer company’s mission is “to bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services.” And in a manifesto dated 2009 Tim Cook set the vision specified as “We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing.”
So you cloud talk about getting the job complete, meeting targets and working as a team, but Apple isn’t interested in you, they are interested in the customer. Apple wants to hire staff who are motivated by the user experience
Job Interview Advice
