Even as junior as I am, recruiters know that the motivation of a candidate is important, and they are being trained to identify the job motivation during the interview and out the interview.
I acknowlege that it is a good way to choose suitable employee, but I also worry that people rely on it too much. Many executive search firms may not have these problem, because most of their candidates have lower motivation than a job-seeker in the market, since their candidates normaly don’t positively find a job. So these firms focus more on their background and capability.
As an in-house HR, I see some managers/supervisor regard candidate motivation as a very important part, but in another way. Normally people will find his/her next job when he/she still works in current company, and without doubt, they don’t want to disclose it (but maybe some will let his/her boss know for a certain purpose, eg promotion, salary increase ). On the other side, their potential next employer will require something that put them in a very awkward situation.
I have heard a manager’s negtive comment on a candidate, she thought the candidate showed her a very low motivation because the candidate can not follow her calendar for the interview. I was very embarrassed since I was the person to arrange the schedule, I knew the candidate had meetings with his current boss that day, and of course I explained on behalf of the candidate. To my surprise, the manager insisted that if a candidate has motivation to get the position, he should come at any time she planed.
I then imagined another situation, if a candidate showed strong passion and motivation, eg. saying he/she cancelled a meeting with his/her current boss for this interview, would the manager think he/she will be a good employee.
My understanding of candidate motivation should be within following area:
- interest of working in the industry
- passion about the job (NOT the position)
- willingness to know company’s history and agree to the culture (this is very hard during the interview)
- the compensation and benefit that a company can offer
I will prefer to think about candidate’s motiviation from above area, and I really think the motivation of getting a job can not be said as a positive motivation.
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