How to Answer: What motivates you?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for an Amazon job interview.
3. What motivates you?
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
The interviewer is looking for insight into why and how you are motivated to achieve workplace goals and succeed at the job. They are also seeking to discover whether the factors that motivate you align with Amazon's goals and the role in which you would be working. This question can help interviewers narrow their pool down to the individual who is the best fit for the position, the marketing team, and the organization.
Written by Sue Oberliesen on June 4th, 2022
How to Answer
Most people are motivated by many factors, including pay, prestige, making a difference, seeing results, and interacting with interesting people. Providing insight into what motivates you at work can be a window into your personality and work style, thereby helping your interviewers understand you as a person and a potential employee. Take some time to prepare for this type of question; it can be difficult to think of a good answer for this question on the spot since it requires a bit of self-reflection.
Written by Sue Oberliesen on June 4th, 2022
1st Answer Example
"I have always been motivated by the desire to meet a tight deadline. Setting and reaching deadlines gives me such a sense of accomplishment. I love being challenged and enjoy creating an organized schedule for completing tasks and achieving my goals on time. For example, when I ran a marketing event last year, I set multiple deadlines for a variety of tasks leading up to the event. Achieving each milestone motivated me to keep working and helped me to ensure that the event ran smoothly."
Written by Sue Oberliesen on June 4th, 2022
2nd Answer Example
"I'm driven by results. I like having a concrete goal to meet and enough time to figure out a strong strategy for accomplishing it. At my last job, our yearly goals were very aggressive, but I worked with my manager and the rest of my team to figure out a month-by-month strategy for meeting the year-end numbers. It was a real thrill to accomplish that."
Written by Sue Oberliesen on June 4th, 2022
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