”Why are you applying for this job?” Understand your motivational factors and have influence

People are motivated by different things and reasons. One takes a project to help the other person, the other wants to challenge himself by learning something new. There is a reason that helps you to get things done even when perseverance is required. I do not believe that the amount of motivation for a job can be measured, it is rather a question of how well the desires and needs of the position and the applicant meet.

When applying for different assignments, the hardest part for me is to answer the question “why are you applying for this job” in a clear and concise manner. It feels difficult to express your own motives for the job that you are applying for, even though it is all clear in your own head.

Some motives may seem finer to express than others, but in the end, the most important thing is to understand your own motives and not to judge the motives of other peoples. People who speak the loudest about their motivation for the job are not automatically the most motivated ones. Therefore, it is important to give each applicant an equal opportunity to speak for themselves.

In the past, I became a student representative for administration because I wanted to change my own degree programme. I did not apply because I wanted to be a student representative, but because things had to be improved. In other words, I had a strong need to have influence and achieve change. Over time, communities and belonging in them became another important issue. In my job in the Student Union, it is particularly important to help others to transform university and society.

In the autumn, there are various recruitments in organisations, when you can consider and explain your motivational factors time and time again. Would you like to be a student representative next year, for example?

The selection criteria for student representatives in Aalto University administration include the applicant’s interest and commitment to the assignment, a vision of how to have influence in an executive body, as well as contacts with students through organisations or other activities.

More information can be found at: https://www.ayy.fi/fi/toimijarekrytoinnit-vuodelle-2020-tulevat-save-the-dates

I wish you all a motivational rest of the year.
Minna Mäkitalo, AYY’s Specialist