Map Your Job Context Motivation

by Dejan Mladenovic | Last Updated: April 30, 2021

Motivation comes from the Latin term movere which means to move and defines as factors that initiate, guide, and maintain your behavior. When we talk about motivation factors they give you energy in life to take action, perform and accomplish different tasks both in life and work.

It gives an answer to the question. What do you want?

After reading this article you will have a better understanding of

• what motivation is,
• different types of motivations,
• what job-related motivation factors are,
• learn when is important to explain your motivation while applying for a job, and
• some of my own thoughts from personal experience related to motivation.

Types Of Motivation

There are two main types of motivation – extrinsic and intrinsic.

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation comes from the external factors that give you the energy to accomplish your tasks or avoid negative consequences. External motivation factors can be paycheck, bonus, time off, perks, promotion, and the threat of job loss – some are positive, some less so.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation comes from internal factors such as your own desire, interest, or joy to do something, and accomplishing the activity is enough reward in itself.

What Is The Difference Between Intrinsic And Extrinsic Motivation

The obvious difference since you now know the definition of both is the source of motivation factor. Extrinsic motivation use external motivation factors and intrinsic motivation come from your own internal motivation factors and they are different from person to person.

Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation are important sources of your behavior.

Generally speaking, intrinsic motivation is considered more effective than extrinsic when quality, understanding, learning, development, and creativity are more important than quantity.

Motivation Factors Related To Job

Some common motivation factors related to a job can be:

Job-Related Motivation Factors

• Freedom
• Varied everyday life
• Challenges
• Get Feedbacks
• To see results
• Trust
• To take responsibilities
• Creative work
• Help others
• New insights
• Competence development
• Mastery
• Well-being
• Physical work

What Motivates You

Motivation factors are different from person to person and what motivates you cannot necessarily motive someone else. If you are still looking for an answer and do not know what motivates you maybe answering these questions can help you:

• How are you behaving when you are motivated? (body language and attitude)
• What…
  • …feelings do you have when you are motivated?
  • …thoughts are present when you are motivated?
  • …did you do when you were motivated?
• Who was around you in situations when you were motivated?
• What type of tasks can be a motivation factor for you?

What Motivates You When Target Particular Job Position

When you are applying for a certain Job position the motivation factors are usually answers to the following questions that you need to ask yourself.

• Why am I applying…
  • for this particular position?
  • to this company?
• Why should the employer choose me as the right candidate?

When you are applying for a particular position your focus point is to explain what is exciting about this position to make you apply for it. The next focus point is the company itself, maybe the company’s values, reputation, location, etc. are important for you.

Finally, motivation can be part of the selling points of you as the right candidate for the position in addition to your working experience, education, strengths, and social skills.

What Motivates You When Target Particular Company

When you are applying for a Job at some particular company the motivation related questions are:

• Why am I applying to this company?
• Why should the employer choose me as the right candidate?

Usually, when you apply directly on the company’s website you are writing an open application and your motivation is targeting the company and not the exact position since you are sending an open application and not a targeted cover letter.

Sometimes you know the position you are applying for but the company is more important due to the company’s reputation, values, projects, location, or something else you value more than the position itself.

These cases are good reasons to focus more on motivation and excitement reasons working for the company rather than position.

Motivation Cornerstone Mapping Template

We have created a Word document that you can use to write down all your motivation factors. In addition, you can write down all the other cornerstones as well in the same document so you can have an overview of all of them in one place.

Get our FREE Competencies Cornerstones Mapping Template Word Document.

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When To Explain Your Motivation While Applying For A Job In Norway

There are many stages while looking for a job when you should explain your motivation. Here are just to name a few and we will explain each of them after this list:

• Job Vacancy Analysis
• Competencies Cornerstones
• Elevator Pitch
• First Phone Call To Contact Person
• Targeted Cover Letter
• Open Cover Letter
• Targeted Resume (CV)
• Self-presentation
• Job Interview

Job Vacancy Analysis

When you analyze a Job Vacancy there is a section where you should write your motivation to apply for that position. On the infographics, you can see that we are matching Keywords with Motivation.

For example, if you are looking for a Database Administrator position your keywords are database and administrator so you are explaining your motivation why you like working with databases and administrate them.

It is important to notice that both Job Vacancy Analysis and Competencies Cornerstones Mapping go hand in hand and as a result of these two processes, you will match different features from both worlds like you just did between keywords and motivation.

Keywords are from the Job Vacancy Analysis process and Motivation Factors are from the Comptentecies Cornerstones Mapping process.

So make sure that you have done proper Job Vacancy Analysis as we have described in our post How To Analyze Job Vacancy In Norway.

In our opinion, the best option is to combine Job Vacancy Analysis with Competencies Cornerstones mapping that we will mention next.

You can download and use our Word document for Job Vacancy Analysis where is a motivation section to write down for the job position you are intending to apply for.

Get our FREE template Word document for Job Vacancy Analysis.

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Competencies Cornerstones

Competencies Cornerstones is a professional and personal mapping of your competencies (both formal and real), motivation (this article), values, personal characteristics (attributes) that will turn into strengths and social skills. You can do the mapping separately and then use the results in your job application process or you can combine the mapping with Job Vacancy Analysis (which we recommend) and do a certain matching between the two.

The important thing is to have that mapping since it is very handy and to update it as you progress and evolve in your professional and personal life.

When we talk about motivation as a cornerstone we think about having clear answers to the questions:

• Why do you apply…
  • for this job?
  • for this job at this company?
  • to this company?
• Why do you want to…
  • work in this country? (if you relocate)
  • change your career? (if you are changing career path)

We have written the article Learn To Use Competencies Cornerstones For Job Search In Norway which explains the mapping in more detail regarding other cornerstones and not just motivation.

Elevator Pitch

Elevator Pitch is a short self-marketing message that you can pitch to the contact person usually during the first phone call.

As you can see on the infographics an Elevator Pitch has a motivation section and we have written the article How To Make Perfect Elevator Pitch When Applying For Job In Norway

This article will explain to you the power of the Pitch message and how motivation fits within it. So please learn to use Pitch and how to present in the right way by reading mentioned article since it is extremely important, impacting, and helpful to have in your sleeves as a joker card while you are making first impressions to your potential future employer.

First Phone Call To Contact Person

Now is the time to pitch our previously prepared Elevator Pitch. Just remember to have a few questions about the job position that you will ask the contact person. Be prepared well for this stage since this is your first impression to the potential employer or read our article When To Call Job Vacancy Contact Person In Norway.

Phone conversation is a valuable resource of information that you will get from the contact person. You will use the answers to your questions to further fill out your Job Vacancy Analysis and prepare a targeted Cover Letter and Resume (CV).

While writing Cover Letter you can use the phone call as a relation and connection factor and in addition, you can state your increased motivation applying for the position after a phone call.

Targeted Cover Letter

Cover Letter has a motivation section where you can write about motivation factors to apply for the position. If you have previously done a phone call to the job vacancy contact person that can be a reason to restate your increased interest and motivation to apply for the position. This will remind the readers of your Cover Letter that you have already been engaged and the Cover Letter is not the first impression of you to the employer.

Open Cover Letter

Open Cover Letter targets more towards company rather than certain position so you need to adjust your motivation factors accordingly since you do not know exactly which positions they will have available in the future.

Targeted Resume (CV)

The resume has key qualifications sections where you can shortly restate your motivation applying for the position.

Self-Presentation

Whenever there is a need for personal presentation either during a job interview, introduction round, some event, etc. You should present yourself as a beneficial person that has value so you can slowly build up credibility with the audience.

As you can see on the infographics a Self-Presentation has a motivation section and we have written the article How To Make Perfect Self-Presentation When Applying For Job In Norway that explains how to write one.

Job Interview

A job Interview is one of the most important stages in the job application process and has a part when you should present yourself as a candidate. This is a moment when you must mention your motivation to apply for the position so better be ready to have good motives and there is no reason not to have them if you have read this article and answered all motivation-related questions.

MOTIVATION – PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Let me share my motivation while searching and applying for jobs in Norway from abroad. To look for a job is one thing but to look for a job in a completely unknown country is an adventure. It is very important for anyone to understand that searching for a job in a foreign country means for sure one thing and that is being away from the comfort zone so get used to it and make it home ground as fast as possible.

The main moto line that kept me going was:

“Knock on the thousand doors ten will open for you through one you will pass.”

– DEJAN MLADENOVIC

I was almost every day searching for new Job vacancies and have sent many applications. Moreover, I called many times contact persons, had a bunch of phone interviews and traveled twice to Norway for job interviews. However, I was NEVER thinking of stopping or quitting and I knew that each try is making me one step closer to the goal.

Hopefully, my experience that has been written in many of the posts on the Norway Abroad website will help you to have a lot easier journey in your job search from abroad.

Be sure that you can find many useful tips and tricks here and more to come since my motivation is:

• The deep satisfaction of creating something worthwhile.
• The thrill of discovery.
• Curiosity.
• The desire for elegant design and intrinsic fit.

Useful Vocabulary

Here are some useful words in Norwegian used in this text.

Next Step

You should now focus on mapping the next cornerstone and that is the cornerstone of the value.

Find Job In Norway By Following These Easy 19 Steps

Don’t forget that this article is part of a text serious about finding a job in Norway. Depending on the phase you are in at the moment maybe you can find some articles useful for yourself. So please check them out.

Below you can see the infographic with an overview of all the texts in the series. If you click on the link above you will be sent to the page where all these steps are listed.

Author: Dejan Mladenovic

I moved my family of 3 to Norway in 2008 and created this website so that I can share what I’ve learned with anyone that’s thinking of moving or traveling to Norway. It’s such an awesome place, and I want you to get the most out of it!