Understanding your career motivators

Knowing what motivates you at work is pretty important when it comes to making progress in your career. Yes, this might sound like the most obvious career advice you’ve ever received, but when did you last sit down and really think about the factors that you value in your career, the things that really motivate and inspire you?

By really delving into the things that engage you and give you energy, you can build a clearer picture about what is and isn't working for your career. Even if you feel like you’re truly following your vocation, it’s likely that there are some intrinsic elements that you’re not giving quite enough thought to, or some areas where what you love doesn’t quite align with what you do.

So, what does motivate you? Head over to your Voco profile and check out the Career Motivators panel to find out! But why do these motivators matter? And what else can they tell you about the choices you could make and the way you can progress towards your goals?
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Why do motivators matter?

Your career motivators contribute to why you feel satisfied or dissatisfied at work. They are some of the intrinsic factors that make you ‘you’, and that make you feel excited about getting out of bed in the morning. But if you’re in a job or occupation that doesn’t align well with your motivators, they’re also the reason why you just want to pull the duvet over your head and stay put all day.

Of course, not all of us can do exactly what we want, all of the time. We need to keep in mind the reason why most of us work in the first place: to enable us to live the lives we want to live. That’s the basic contract that underpins everything career-wise. But it certainly helps if your job aligns, at least in part, with your intrinsic motivators, making you more effective and more fulfilled at work.
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Understanding the impact of your motivators

In reality, we are all a blend of multiple motivator personas, and we may change the ones we overtly favour at different periods in our career - for instance it’s easier to be a challenge seeker when you have less responsibilities, although your intrinsic need for change and risk will still be there. But your dominant motivators do act as a useful guide to the sort of work you need to be doing in order to feel motivated and fulfilled.
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So if you relate most strongly to personas such as ‘independent spirit’, ‘challenge seeker’ and ‘entrepreneur’ but your current job or career draws more on characteristics from the ‘expert’ or ‘structure and security’ descriptions, then you’re likely to feel sapped of energy and disengaged. Likewise if your role places you in the ‘leadership all-rounder’ category but you strongly prefer adopting an ‘expert’ mindset, then chances are you’re both stressed and unfulfilled in equal measure.
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Understanding the intrinsics driving your career satisfaction is super important to the choices you make, the kind of work you pursue and the progress you make.

Now, we’re not saying you should immediately panic and quit your job if your intrinsic preferences don’t align to your current role or occupation, but understanding what might or might not be working for us is a start to making your career what you want it to be.
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The nine motivator personas

Leadership all-rounder: You value career progression and general leadership over specific functional expertise; you thrive on managing others and being able to take a horizontal view across complex organisations and topics. You enjoy responsibility, decision making and generally being in charge

Independent spirit: You do things on your own terms and don't like to conform to the usual trappings of perceived success. You thrive where you can set the agenda and have real flexibility, and you're willing to sacrifice stability, seniority and financial security to retain your independence

Entrepreneur: You are brimming with ideas for building businesses from scratch and innovating to solve problems. You are happy to take on personal or financial risk in pursuit of potential high rewards. You enjoy being accountable for your own success and the impact you might make.

Expert: You really know your stuff and never pass on an opportunity to deepen your technical skills. You love being asked for your expert opinion, and are happiest when your work challenges your specific area of expertise, pushing you to increase it further. You may be happy to manage others but likely only in the service of increasing overall technical competence

Challenge seeker: You live for the chase and thrive on change, competition and overcoming insurmountable obstacles. You're constantly searching for new challenges and opportunities to win, and you get bored quickly when things get too routine or easy

Purpose pursuer: You value purpose over profit, and are happiest when you're doing something that's of service to other people or the planet at large. You want your work to achieve something of value for society or humanity and are unlikely to compromise your values for career progression, financial reward, or other conventional measures of success

Structure and security: You want to feel comfortable, secure and valued at work. You are loyal, organised and reliable, and feel happiest when you’re delivering great results within your comfort zone, rather than risking something going wrong by pushing yourself too far out of it. You are driven more by the security that your job brings to your life, than by what you actually do

Lifestyle balancer: You see success as being about more than money and job titles - for you it's about how your whole life works and how you feel about it. You consider all the factors that affect your life - including other people - when making decisions about your career, and you often value balance over progression

Education evangelist: You love possessing knowledge and are constantly seeking new ways to acquire and apply it. You enjoy studying and value being viewed as highly educated. You seek excellence in achievement and will often pursue academic and intellectual pursuits for sheer pleasure as well as in service of your career

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