|January 10, 2025
Care Assistant Interview Questions And Answers: How To Prepare
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Next in our series of deceptively tricky interview questions to answer… It’s the what motivates you interview question.
First things first – if a company has offered you an interview, well done! Employers only interview 6 candidates on average, the UK Careers Fair reports.
With corporate job openings attracting applications from 250 candidates on average, according to NGPF, that means if you’ve received an invite to interview for the role, you could already be in the top 2-3%!
But now the hard work really begins, because there are a lot of potential interview questions to prepare for and you want to give a good account of yourself. That brings us to the “what motivates you” interview question.
Similar to the “tell me about yourself” interview question, with such an open-ended question with various possible answers, it can be hard to know where to start with your answer.
Risks include spending too long thinking about your answer and seeming unsure of yourself, or replying with information that the interviewer doesn’t want to hear or thinks is irrelevant.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help. Let’s explore why interviewers ask this question and how to answer it, with some sample answers.
Interviewers may phrase this question in several ways. It’s similar to the what brings out the best in you interview question, what inspires you, what makes you want to get up and work every day, and so on.
Overall, the intention is to start estimating if you would be a good cultural fit for the company. Are your motivations similar to those of star performers in the business?
Your answer doesn’t need to be perfect, but at the same time, there are some answers you could give that would be counter-productive to your chances of getting the job.
We’ll cover those later but in short, the interviewer wants to make sure you’re not trying to get the job for a reason they won’t like.
Different reasons why interviewers ask “what motivates you” include the following:
The what motivates you interview question is an example of strength-based interview questions. Arguably, there are three main principles to keep in mind when answering this question:
The first thing is to know what your motivations are in advance of the interview, so that the interviewer doesn’t catch you too off guard with this question.
The second thing is to make sure it’s a motivation they’ll like the sound of – for example:
And the third thing is to answer the question well. Use your answer to demonstrate an understanding of the role, or the company, while continuing to sell yourself as the right person for the job by accentuating one or more of your strengths.
Our advice for answering the what motivates you interview question is to:
The last point is key. This is an important interview question to answer well but in the context of your full interview, there will be other ones later on – more specific to the role – that are worth spending more time replying to.
In other words, don’t ramble or go on a long tangent in your answer! Other traps to avoid falling into include:
To structure your answer, consider using the STAR method to back up your answer – describing a relevant situation, task, action and result that demonstrates your motivation.
See how these use the STAR method:
Problem-solving
“The opportunity to solve complex problems motivates me. In my previous role as a software developer, there was a performance issue with an application.
My task was to identify the bottleneck. I decided to thoroughly explore the codebase, do thorough profiling, and I discovered an inefficient database query.
I redesigned the query and implemented caching mechanisms, which also resulted in a 50% improvement in response time.
This experience reinforced my passion for problem-solving when there are issues to fix and the satisfaction I get from overcoming technical challenges.”
Developing new skills
“Learning and developing my skills are major motivators for me. For instance, when my company decided to migrate our infrastructure to the cloud, I saw it as an opportunity to increase my knowledge and skillset.
I had no prior cloud experience, but volunteered to lead the migration project, as we didn’t have anyone else available. I spent my evenings studying cloud architecture and obtained relevant certifications.
Throughout the project, I used the knowledge I gained to successfully migrate our systems with minimal downtime.
This improved our company’s operations but also significantly broadened my skills, fueling my enthusiasm for taking on new learning opportunities.”
Making a positive impact
“What motivates me is the chance to make a meaningful difference. In my last role as a product manager, we identified that our software wasn’t fully meeting the needs of users with disabilities.
I had the task of improving accessibility features in our product. I conducted significant user research, then collaborated with our design and development teams to implement new accessibility features.
As a result, a follow-up survey showed a big increase in user satisfaction among those with disabilities and we received praise for our inclusive design.”
We hope you found this article useful and for more interview advice, take a look at our blog – for example, recently we have explored:
For specific sectors, we have also covered:
We also recommend checking out the video guides on our PurpleCV’s YouTube where we explore how to deal with nerves in a job interview and many more topics.
PurpleCV also now offers one-on-one expert interview coaching, so you can practice the tactics you need to succeed.
And if you need to line up more interviews, we can lend a hand with our professional, fast CV writing service. Please contact us, we’re happy to help!
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