Describe a time when you motivated yourself to complete an assignment or task that you did not feel like doing.
The interviewer wants to know that you will still get the job done even when you aren't excited about the task at hand. The goal of your response is to show that you are a reliable person who delivers high-quality work, regardless of how motivated you feel at the moment. By the end of your reply, the interviewer should feel confident that you are a self-motivated individual who takes accountability for your work.
"(Situation) My current company receives an incredibly high volume of online job applicants every day. (Task) As the HR assistant, it is my job to review the resumes in our job portal every week. The task can be repetitive, and it takes a lot of care and attention. (Action) I set rewards for myself. Sometimes there will be up to 200 resumes to review. They all begin to look the same over time, so I set a goal to look at 20 at a time, give myself a quick break, and then return to the task. (Result) I do this every week and have been able to get through all the new resumes every week. As a result, no applicants wait more than seven days for a response, which I believe is an excellent business practice."
"(Situation) Part of our project process is to have an initial discovery call with our clients. The call is supposed to take about an hour, but I tend to take up to two hours explaining our process to the clients. I began to dread these calls. (Task) As the marketing manager, I lead these calls. I know that at least 50% of the call is not a good use of time for my team, myself, and my client. We spend so much time explaining our approach and less time talking to the client about their vision for the project. (Action) I decided to have our team create a library of resources for our clients. We would share these digital resources before the initial client call, allowing the client to learn more about our process upfront. (Result) Now, I spend much less call time relaying tactical information and more time getting to the necessary details. These calls are much more enjoyable for everyone now."
"(Situation) At Company ABC, every sales rep must document in the CRM immediately after a client appointment. (Task) As a salesperson, I do not always like filling out the CRM immediately. It's time-consuming, and I often need to get to my next client appointment. Also, I like the call, the chase, the close. Taking time to pause and write out the details of the conversation and projections is not something I look forward to doing because it slows me down. However, I understand that it's a necessary step in the sales process. (Action) To ensure that I am compliant, I now give myself an extra 15 minutes between appointments to ensure that I have the time to document properly. (Result) Not only does this approach keep me on track with my notes, but it has helped me to sell more since I have more up-to-date client analytics. I realize that our CRM is an essential sales tool. It helps me and my company to succeed, even if it takes slowing down and doing a seemingly monotonous task."
"(Situation) Recently, my boss asked me to clean out our huge office supply closet. It was a daunting job. (Task) The 3,000 square foot room had become a dumping ground of junk and random items that we never use. As the admin assistant, I knew it was up to me to put my whole heart into the task to make the lives of my co-workers so much better through the art of organization. (Action) I came to work over the next four days, prepared with comfortable clothes and shoes, and tackled the job. I created a pile for keep, one for recycling, one for donating, and one for the garbage. (Result) In the end, the supply room looked like an office supply store! Everyone appreciated my hard work, and I was glad that I chose to shift my mindset and find the motivation to get the job done with enthusiasm."
"(Situation) As an assistant manager for the clothing department in Department Store X, my least favorite task is cleaning out the dressing rooms and doing take-backs. (Task) However, these tasks are a significant part of what I do and an important part of keeping the store clean and organized. As the assistant manager, I never show my dislike for these particular tasks. (Action) Instead, I incentivize myself and my team to make these tasks fun. I will run little contests for the team. For example, one day, I bought a coffee for the person who organized their section of the store perfectly. (Result) I have been able to change the attitude of my team and department by implementing these incentives. As a result, our store now looks clean, tidy, and organized. The customers appreciate the added effort since it makes their shopping experience much better."
"(Situation) We all know that the report card season is busy and can be overwhelming. (Task) As a junior-high teacher for our city's largest middle school, I have over three hundred students, so it's an enormous task. (Action) I make these report cards personalized, knowing the parents appreciate the added effort. So, it becomes a rather large project. I make sure to break the reports up by class and complete one class per day. (Result) It's not a fancy process, but it works for me. I believe the extra effort is appreciated as I often receive kind emails from the students' parents, thanking me for the added detail on how their kids are performing in class."
"(Situation) In the warehouse where I currently work, our turnover is high due to the strenuous nature of the job. (Task) I manage over 500 warehouse associates and see around a 5% turnover rate month-over-month, which equals about one person per day. This number means a lot of terminations, which I do not enjoy leading. (Action) Although I dread this task, I balance it out by reminding myself that we have a fantastic new employee lined up as a replacement who will perform better and compliment the positive workplace culture. (Result) By changing my mindset, I can better focus on the job at hand, which is leading and growing the associates who want to be there."
Tell the interviewer about a specific situation in which you completed something you didn't feel motivated to do. Outline the situation, describe your responsibility, and explain why you were not excited about it. Be sure to tell the interviewer that even though you were not enthusiastic about the task, you did it promptly and with care, knowing that it would help the organization as a whole. Give as much detail as you can about the actions you took to reach the finish line. If your hard work made a measurable impact, be sure to offer details about this accomplishment.
'Describe a time when...' means that the interviewer is looking for a story-based example for this behavioral-based interview question. This style means forming a response using the STAR method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Organizing your response using this framework will ensure that you provide the interviewer with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer.
Avoid giving a general answer regarding your level of self-motivation. Stay away from vague statements like, 'I cannot think of a time when I struggled to complete an assignment or task. I am a very self-motivated person who rarely has trouble staying on task.'
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I usually get bored to complete assignments which are monotonous. For example, in my current role, I am driving a regression suite automation, which means that some functionalities in our development will be handled automatically in the system. To start with, we needed to clean up our folders by sorting them instead of releases, which we had three years back, per functionality instead. This took so much time and was really like doing the same thing all the time. What I did to get me motivated in that situation, was to do a little in small sessions, but by breaking it off with other tasks continuously. This did that I did not get too bored during the day, and still get a variated workday, by doing it in small session and meanwhile doing other things. This developed my patience also as well as result-oriented, that even though it was boring I needed to complete it to the deadline no matter what.
Rachelle's Feedback
This is a great example you used here. I would remove words like "bored" and replace with "not challenged," so your potential employer doesn't feel like you will get bored easily if something is not fun or exciting.
"When a task is monotonous, and I am not feeling challenged, that is when I need to motivate myself the most. In my current role, I am leading a project in which some functionalities are automatically handled by our system, thus relieving me of some duties, but also creating more monotonous tasks for me to complete. To get through these tedious tasks and to motivate myself, I split my tasks into smaller sections, that I can finish over a couple of days. This way, I get a varied workday mixed in with all types of functions, making it more exciting and challenging."
