Do You Have What it Takes to Succeed?
In over 1000 presentations in the last decade to CEOs, Company Presidents, and Senior Executives, we have heard the vast majority indicate that the number one behavior they have seen lead to success is initiative and self-motivation.
Brad and I have personally screened either in-person or on-the-phone well over 200,000 candidates over the last 25-30 years. We’ve seen young kids come out of college at 21/22 years old and who are now CEOs, company presidents, and senior executives. We’ve also seen many young graduates from 25-30 years ago who have had mediocre careers and are stuck in low-mid level jobs without much success. What’s the difference?
In our Success Factor Methodology that has been implemented as a structured hiring process in thousands of companies around the world, we identify 3 primary behaviors that help lead to success: Initiative and Self-Motivation, Flawless Execution, and Leadership. Each of these leads to a specific question in our 5-Question Success-based Interview.
Initiative/Self-Motivation is the primary behavior that stands head-and-shoulders above all other behaviors in determining job and career success. No other behavior comes remotely close to influencing career and job success IN ANY JOB!
Do you have a high level of initiative and self-motivation? Do you have the ability to prove in a job interview?
How many of the examples that you’ve assembled and practiced contain elements of demonstrating your initiative and self-motivation?
Let’s take a moment and define initiative and self-motivation:
- Going above and beyond the call of duty
- Anticipating what needs to be done
- Not waiting to be told what to do
- Showing INITIATIVE
- Being PROACTIVE
- Being assigned project “A” and returning “A” plus 10%
- “Out-working” your peers – higher more intensive effort
- Helping others when you were not required to do so
- Offering positive suggestions/recommendations
- Solving problems/obstacles without putting the monkey on the back of your boss
Can you claim to have lots of examples that fit the definition above in your last job? How about the job before that? And the one before that?
Here’s a great exercise: Write down every example of self-motivation and initiative from your last 3 jobs. Weave those into your examples/illustrations you offer in an interview or on your resume.
Here’s another great idea: Comment back on this blog post about your best example of demonstrating self-motivation and initiative in your last job. Brad and I will review your example and offer our insights from 25 years in the recruiting trenches.
If you would like to understand, how to prepare your examples, illustrations, and demonstrations of showing initiative and self-motivation, check out FREE audio downloads in our Job Search Library from our past Radio Shows. Brad and I have frequently discussed this topic of initiative and self-motivation.
We also cover the topic of initiative and self-motivation in-depth in our popular Job Search Workbook, This is NOT the Position I Accepted. If you would like to get a feel for the 5-Question Interview of best practice interview questions asked by Hiring Managers, especially the initiative and self-motivation question, take a look at our award-winning book on Hiring, You’re NOT the Person I Hired.
Barry Deutsch
Tags: Interview Questions, Interview Tips, Interviewing Mistakes, Job Search LinkedIn Discussion Group
Interviewing, Job Search Mistakes, Job Search Preparation | Barry Deutsch February 21, 2010
About the Author
Barry Deutsch is a founding Partner of IMPACT Hiring Solutions, co-author of "You're NOT the Person I Hired", and "This is NOT the Position I Accepted". Barry is an award-winning international speaker, retained executive recruiter, and expert on hiring and retaining top talent, and executive job search.
