How to find your motivation? Wherever you are applying for a job, an internship or a voluntary service – it is always crucial to identify your needs and the real, indistinct motivation. Why do you want to apply for this, particular position? What motivates you? Do you have the skills and competences required to work at this position? If you take some time to think about it, it can be the most important step in your career path (and maybe not only).
Before you decide to apply for a new job or change your professional path, it is important to take time to think first about motivation. Every person is different and is driven by other things. But we can identify general motivators that employees seek for. Among them are:
1. Challenging Work
Challenging work can be a great motivator, as it can keep employees engaged and interested in their role. For many people, having to overcome some level of difficulty in their work is much preferable to the boredom of an easy, unchallenging job without a perspective for self-development.
2. Recognition
Recognition helps employees see that their company or organisation values them and their contributions to the success of their team and the company overall. This is particularly key when organizations grow or change. It helps employees build a sense of security in their value to the company, motivating them to continue great work.
3. Employee Involvement
Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. The concept is also known as employee participation and participative management.
4. Job Security
Job security is the probability that an individual will keep their job; a job with a high level of security is such that a person with the job would have a small chance of losing.
5. Compensation
Compensation is the total cash and non-cash payments that you give to an employee in exchange for the work they do for your business.
Before you apply for a particular position it’s good to find your motivation and if the company or organisation that you’re applying for will meet your expectations.
Next step is to analyze your personal strengths and weaknesses and also to identify opportunities and threats in the job market. Strengths are the things that you do better than others and things that drives you in the business. Weaknesses are the things you could improve, and the sorts of practices you should avoid. Those are your internal ‘powers’ or ‘low points’. But the job market has also its opportunities and threats which are not depending on an individual person. Before choosing the future position, the company of profile, it is good to analyze those external factors as well. The useful tool to do that is SWOT analysis, that can help you visualise all of those things and somehow prepare for the future. Read more about SWOT analysis here.
If you are interested in applying for projects or a job, and want to learn more about SWOT analysis and how to prepare a CV and motivation letter, subscribe for our workshop ‘CV & cover letter for ESC projects’.
