Career motivation is both a science and a personal journey that can help you achieve your career goals.
To get the best out of yourself it is useful to understand both motivation theories, which can help guide your career decisions, and practical strategies, which can help ensure long-term career satisfaction.
Studying and applying career motivation will help you stay engaged, perform to your best and achieve career success.
Key Motivators
Your own career motivation will come from many different sources, which will depend on your own goals, values and drive, thus ensuring that you stay focused and inspired.
Key motivators include:
· Purpose and Passion in a career that meets your values and interests
· Continuous Learning and Development
· Achievement with recognition where you are appreciated for your skills and rewarded
· Financial growth, security and rewards
· Great work-life balance
· Positive workplace culture and environment
Career Motivation Theories
There are a number of theories that can help explain motivation and you can apply them to your own career journey.
Motivation theories give us insights into an Individual’s behaviour, driven by their passions and interests. By applying these theories, you can place yourself in scenarios that foster your individual advancement and contribute to your overall progress.
Content Theories & Process Theories
Process Theories
Process theories of motivation focus on the psychological and cognitive processes that affect motivational levels. These theories explore how people choose to work hard or not based on their expectations, goals, and perceptions of fairness.
Key process theories include:
Expectancy Theory (Vroom): This theory suggests that individuals are motivated to engage in behaviours depending on the expected outcomes of such behaviours. It is based on the belief that effort leads to performance, and performance leads to rewards such as career growth, achievement, recognition and responsibility.
Expectancy: Here the belief is that increased effort will lead to increased performance: if I work harder then it will be better
Instrumentality: Here the belief is that if you perform well, then the outcome will be a valuable one for me: if I do a good job, there is something in it for me.
Valence: is how much importance the individual places upon the expected outcome. For example, if someone is motivated by money, he or she might not value offers of additional time off.
Using this theory will help you seek roles that offer a clear connection between the effort you put in and what you get out of it such as career growth, higher salary, recognition and security.
Content Theories
Content theories focus on the specific factors that motivate individuals and primarily aim to identify what needs or desires drive human behaviour.
The most well-known content theories include:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: This theory is well known in business and psychological circles and proposes that humans are motivated by a hierarchy of needs. The most basic to higher-level career needs include salary, job security, growth, recognition and purpose.
Alderfer’s ERG Theory: This is a modification of Maslow’s theory. Alderfer proposed three categories of needs: existence, relatedness, and growth, suggesting that individuals can be motivated by needs at more than one level simultaneously.
Alderfer’s model says that all humans are motivated by these three needs. The most concrete and motivating of Alderfer’s three needs is existence, which really relates to physical and psychological survival.
The next level is the need for relatedness, a sense of community and a good relationship with yourself. The least concrete, but still important, of needs is growth, which really relates to self-development, fulfilment and the sense of achieving your potential.
Unlike Maslow, he did not see these as being a hierarchy but being more of a continuum.
Alderfer is of the opinion that when a certain category of needs is not being met, people will redouble their efforts to fulfil needs in a lower category.
Alderfer also states that individuals can be motivated by multiple levels of need at the same time, and that the level which is most important to them can change over time.
In other words, an individual’s priorities and motivations may be fluid and can move between the existence, relatedness and growth levels of need over time. They can move upwards, and they can move downwards.
Using these two theories you can identify what stage your career is at and set further goals accordingly.
At the highest level, we seek to grow, be creative for ourselves and for our environment. When we are successfully growing, we feel a sense of wholeness, achievement and fulfilment. This covers Maslow's Self-actualization and Transcendence.
Other theories include Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory where the motivators are career growth, achievement, recognition and responsibility.
The Self-Determination Theory by Deci & Ryan states that people are motivated by Autonomy – having control over their work, Competence – where you develop skills, and Relatedness – where you connect with others at work.
How do I motivate myself?
Now that we can understand more about career motivation theories, we need to take steps to apply them practically and this can be achieved in several ways, including:
Setting Career Goals
Use the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).
Example: “I will complete a professional certification in six months to qualify for a promotion.”
Developing a Growth Mindset
Embrace challenges as learning opportunities.
Seek mentorship and networking for career insights.
Leveraging Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic: Find joy in the work itself (problem-solving, creativity).
Extrinsic: Seek rewards like promotions and bonuses.
Balance both of these for sustained motivation.
Career Transitions & Adaptability
Stay open to new skills and industries.
Regularly update your resume and LinkedIn Profile.
Take courses to remain relevant in your field.
Overcoming Career Burnout
Recognise signs (loss of motivation, fatigue, lack of focus).
Prioritise work-life balance and mental well-being.
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