"What Motivates You?" Interview Question: How To Answer With Confidence

When preparing how to answer "What motivates you?" in an interview, it's best to use responses that include your work ethic, career experience, and goals so that the employer understands your drive and passion. This question often requires you to understand what makes you an enticing candidate, and it's a good opportunity to show off your knowledge of the listed position. But, what do you do when the question is finally asked? And what perspective will give you the best chance at keeping you at the top of the list?

At DARCARS Careers, we've met hundreds of thousands of qualified candidates for a variety of roles. Let's explore some of our favorite examples so you can have the best chance at landing your next position.

"What Motivates You?" Interview Question Explored

The question "What motivates you?" might seem overwhelming at first. However, it's actually a core inquiry for most companies. The interviewer is trying to find out the following facts about you:

Experience: The interviewer has almost certainly read through your resume, but they want to know how you connect your previous work ethic to the current listing.
Ambition: The conversation will touch on your future plans for your career. Employers want to know about your ambition, including priorities and goals. This is a perfect place to make an impression.
Goals: Are you motivated by exceeding quotas or other short-term goals, or are you excited by moving up the corporate ladder? Interviewers may ask about your goals, depending on whether your position has that upward momentum and if the business has a go-getter attitude for managerial positions.
Culture: Does company culture matter to you? Are you driven by the activities, ethics, and morals a company offers its employees?
Knowledge: Employers want to hear how knowledgeable you are about the field you're applying to. Asking, "What motivates you?" is a great way for employers to gauge how your education drives your goals.

Now that we've covered why employers ask about your drive, you can enter any conversation about your career with full confidence. Your preparation and research will help you answer the question more specifically and with a pointed answer.

Answering "What Motivates You at Work?" Key Points

We have a basic idea of why the interviewer is asking, "What motivates you to perform your job well?" Now, let's touch on what parts of the answer you need to land. There are three areas to focus on:

The Motivation Itself: Your specific motivation can come from several sources. Here are just a few examples:

Intrinsic Motivation: This is a central, personality-based belief, and it's the most common. Examples include wanting to see change in the world, seeing a smiling face, helping others, and having a passion for the subject since you were young.
Extrinsic Motivation: This is an exterior, typically reward-based belief, and should be saved for companies and cultures where advancement and profit are heavily emphasized. Examples include: climbing the ladder of promotions, achieving my goals quickly and easily, and receiving awards.

The Example: Whenever possible, your motivation should have "proof." This can be a point in your career, an award received from school, or even an anecdote from an extracurricular activity (though the more official, the better!).
How It Connects to Your Job: You should always personalize your motivation to your chosen career. What motivates a salesperson and a technician can often be very similar, but they should be explained and connected in different ways. If both the salesperson and technician are motivated by helping people drive a high-quality car, the salesperson should connect it to their conversational and tone skills, while a technician should reference their enjoyment of seeing a car work again and imagining how happy the owner will be.

How an Interviewer Asks "What Motivates You?"

Outside of straight-up asking it verbatim, figuring out how to answer "What motivates you?" in an interview becomes much harder once you learn how many ways the question can be asked. Here are just a few:

What motivates you to do a good job? This question doesn't change much about your answer, though you may want to think about how your past work ethic directed you toward excellence. Maybe a customer service reward or an employee-of-the-month designation comes to mind.
What motivates you the most? This direction should have a succinct, straightforward answer: tell them exactly what moves you toward this job listing (upward momentum, passion for helping others, etc.) and consider a short example. Don't give multiple angles.
Why did you choose our business? This might not necessarily sound like "What motivates you?" but it follows the same structure. The reason you applied to this position is for its ability to motivate you to do good work, so you can pre-empt a more pointed question by looping your ambitions into this one.
What drives you? "Drive" and "motivation" are used in the same way in this context, so answer as you normally would.
What makes you tick?" or "what makes you happy in a workplace? This question is couched in the idea that what motivates you and what makes you like your job are one and the same. If you're asked what you enjoy the most about a workplace, try to work into the conversation what motivates you and underline your enthusiasm for the position.

"What Motivates You?" Examples of What to Avoid

Now that you've learned how to answer the question, let's talk about what you shouldn't do.

Don't Talk Too Much About Money: While you can use extrinsic motivations for competitive, profit-driven companies, talking about how you're working for raises or a paycheck can come off as overly dismissive and non-committal. Try to find different ways to say you're driven financially, such as wanting stability or a chance to advance in your field.
Don't Use Generic Language: While researching the company, jot down notes on their "About Our Team" section. Do they want to craft a family-friendly environment where employees know clients' names? Does it seem to be a cutting-edge company that needs people driven by success? A generic answer can sound detached.
Don't Skip the Example: If you don't have a good example of a motivation that you believe would work for the company, try a different angle. Just saying you're motivated by hard work without the backing of strong anecdotes about overcoming obstacles can make you sound unprepared or rote.
Don't Take Too Long: This question is a great way to quickly move between conversation topics, and should be easily answered in two to three sentences. Spending too much time on a single example or core motivation can quickly make it rambling and feel unnecessary.

What Motivates You to Work? Sample Answer & Response List

Our guide has now covered how to answer the question about your motivation, as well as responses to avoid during your interviews. Now, let's walk through a handful of example answers so you can hear what they might sound like in motion.

Sales Representative

I've always been pushed to meet my quota quickly and consistently, as you can see from my position as a customer service agent. I plan to bring that 15% efficiency increase to your dealership.

Head Technician

Nothing pushes me more than solving a complicated problem with a solution that benefits everyone. After a decade of experience at my local mechanic's shop, I learned how to workshop and address issues from scratch, and my 97% customer satisfaction rate shows how consistently I could adapt.

Financial Analyst

I'm emboldened by success, and a team that recognizes my hard work can push me far. In my position at Bank of America, I utilized our private AI model to increase customer throughput by 35%. Your corporate page makes me feel like you all recognize your employees just as much, if not more, than my previous position.

Janitorial Service

I'm motivated by the knowledge that my work makes people happy, even if they don't see it. My time at the University of Maryland saw me earn Employee of the Month, and I hope to bring that same level of commitment to this position.

General Manager

I am driven by a desire to see my team succeed. When I gave status reports to my staff at Sephora, my favorite parts were showing them their improvements from the previous year and giving them promotions for their hard work. I'm excited to bring that positivity to our dealership staff.

Lube Technician

As a student from Virginia Tech, I was always driven by a competitive spirit that kept me working hard in classes and at the school's computer repair shop. I want to bring that spirit to our dealership, fostering friendly competition among my fellow technicians to help me grow quickly.

Remember, while you can follow a "What motivates you?" sample answer to get the gist of how the conversation could go, you should always personalize your response to the business, position, and even interviewer you're talking to. A generic or overly simple answer can seem like a lack of care, rather than being prepared for a variety of roles.

Answer "What Drives You?" With a Team That Cares: DARCARS Careers

If you're ready to tackle the next phase of your career with a team that's experienced, consider DARCARS Automotive Careers. From our parts department to high-end managerial positions, we have roles for people at every step of their career journey.

We make it easy to pinpoint exactly what about our business is so motivating. Take our DARCARS benefits, for example. We care deeply about our staff, and you'll receive transparent plans for health, dental, vision, and life insurance – all of which you can customize to fit you and your family's needs. While saying "benefits" as an answer to "what motivates you?" might not be the best approach, you can mention how working for an organization so dedicated to its employees makes you eager to give back.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the top three things that motivate you at work?

The top three factors that motivate you at work should be inspired from your past, but also be related to your next position's goals. Generally, you'll want your top three to be:

Self-reflection, like passion or curiosity, which shows you have natural aptitude and ambition.
Recognition, such as through performance, to underline that you want to continue working at the location.
Competition, such as through quotas.

Why do employers ask what motivates you in an interview?

Employers ask what motivates you in an interview because they want to make sure your trajectory aligns with that of the company. A business always wants someone who's motivated by good work or solving problems, but some HR representatives want to hear more about how you're motivated by a familial culture, working with cutting-edge technology, or having a specific passion for a position.

What should you avoid saying when asked what motivates you?

You should avoid tying your motivations directly to payment, such as being driven by a high or growing salary, as that can imply you're only applying for the dollars. You should also avoid vague language, such as "I just like to work hard," as this can suggest disinterest in the role. Finally, don't talk too long. Make it a clear answer.

How do you choose a good motivation example for an interview?

Your motivation example should be drawn from previous experiences and align with your new company's goals. A good example helps sculpt your career's narrative, even if you have little experience. For example, when talking to your interviewer about a new sales position, you can pull your college coursework to show how you're a go-getter who always aims for the highest scores, and you're driven by opportunities to learn.

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