Using motivational questions in recruitment

Interviews can be a strenuous exercise at the best of times, and while it is important that you do not appear rehearsed or wooden when being interviewed it is essential that you sound fluent and authoritative. Thinking about the type of questions that you might encounter prepares you for success. This series covers a range different questions and follows the same structure - providing a commentary to help you think through your answer; some insights into both +ve and -ve indicators that interviewers will be on the look out for and finally some possible question variations

Motivational Question: What do you like most about your current job? What do you like least?

Answer Commentary: The normal approach is to ask the positive and then the negative so think about both. The different versions are subtly different so shape your answer around the specific one asked. On the negative one make sure you have a follow up to how you ‘manage' it and it does not get in the way of your effectiveness. For example ‘the thing I dislike the most is having to do routine paperwork' [be ready with an example of what this is] and ‘so I have therefore got into the routine of doing it for the last 30 minutes every Friday evening just before going home, its my sort of permission to enjoy the weekend task!'

Marking:

• + good self understanding
• + range of positives +gave examples to illustrate
• + genuine example of managing the negatives
• + enthusiastic about work
• - sounded like they made up the negative to look good
• - poor self awareness

Variations: What motivates you to go to work? What frustrates you? What makes you get up in the morning (best to play this straight and not make a joke and say ‘coffee' unless you really have developed a rapport with the interviewer and there is only one of them - if you joke with a panel of interviewers you run the risk that one may not have a sense of humour). There is a whole series of this sort of question.

See all the questions